South Suburban Realtor Creates Successful Social Media Campaign to Assist Syrian Refugees Relocating to Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2015 (Newswire.com) - The greatest part of being a realtor for Christine Ciana Calabrese has always been helping homebuyers create their "new beginnings." Calabrese shares,  "I love the energy, the hope, and the optimism that comes with helping someone move into a new home." Hearing about the Syrian Refugee Crisis hit Calabrese particularly hard because it is nightmarishly juxtaposed to her own reality. "Not only do these people have no home, but they have no homeland and no resources...and they have very little hope...I couldn't imagine..."

Calabrese set to work identifying different refugee sponsoring organizations in Chicago once she heard that a select number of Syrian refugees were being allowed to migrate to the U.S. She chose to work with RefugeeOne, a Chicago-based not for profit organization offering a variety of services for refugees, such as language immersion classes and job placement programs, but it was the  Co-sponsorship component of RefugeeOne that won Calabrese over. Although apartments are secured for the refugees by RefugeeOne for a finite amount of time, Co-sponsorship allows ordinary citizens the opportunity to provide refugees with the funds and essentials they will need to start their new lives.

Christine Ciana Calabrese took to Facebook and launched a humanitarian campaign seeking volunteers to assist in any way they could. "Everyone can do something, no matter how small." The response was phenomenal. Dozens of strangers started messaging Calabrese asking how they could help. 

With millions of Syrians fleeing their homeland, when asked if she finds her project daunting in the least, she paraphrases one of her heroes: "Mother Teresa always said not to get overwhelmed thinking about the masses you can't help, but focus on the one that you can, and see your mission through to completion." She adds, "I may not be selling real estate, but I am going to do everything in my power to see that one family knows what it feels like to be home again."