Putt-a-Thon event raises over $2K to help bring an Afghan refugee family to Canada

A London man is raising money to help bring an Afghan refugee family to Canada..

The London Refugee Sponsorship Program received a $100 thousand dollar loan from First St. Andrews Church to bring the family of six adults to London, but now they have to pay it off by the end of 2023.

"We've got David Knoppert in our group and he comes up with all sorts of quirky ideas for fundraising. He lifted 50,000 pounds in September in support of the project. Now he's golfing," said Janice Elliott or the Refugee Sponsorship Program.

Each made putt length at Saturday's event added up, aiming for a mile in total.

"The only thing that's a roadblock for us right now is the refugee family has gone to Pakistan, but they have not had their interview with UNHCR to get their refugee status. They have to have that before they can come to Canada. There was a special program in the fall where they waived that need to have the registration, but that got filled up very, very quickly and it ended and we're hoping that we can get that extended and get more people because it's so difficult things aren't good in Pakistan."

Family members are set to join relatives in London, with the prority getting them out of harms way as quickly as possible.

Knoppert himself putt a total of 5,280 feet - 827 putts from three to ten feet in total.

The group raised more than $2,000.