Sponsored Syrian refugee family to arrive Jan. 1 in Waterloo

Karen Scian feels "astonished" now that the big day is finally here.

Scian and a group of Waterloo residents are sponsoring a Syrian refugee family of seven. She got news lateon Wednesday night that the family was on the way to Canada and would arrive in Toronto late in the nightas New Year's Eve becomes New Year's Day.

• Refugee sponsors in Waterloo Region search for housing

"We've got it all planned out, we head out tomorrow [Friday]morning, we've got a couple ofvehicleslined up because it's a big family and wehave no idea what they're arriving with," Sciantold host Andrea Bellemare on CBC Radio's The Morning Edition Thursday."One of the funny things about this experience is that there are so many unknowns and we just have to be ready to roll with them."

Scian's group will meetthe family at their hotel and bring them totheir new home, a 3-bedroom townhousein Waterloo.

"It's a home, it's safe, it's warm, it's secure, it's comfortable, it's not fancy, it's just a home," she said."It's right in the middle of a really great school district."

Earlier in the fall, Scian told CBC K-W that housing was the biggest challenge her group was facing in preparing for the family's arrival.

"In September when this all started to happen ...we just didn't know what to do and we were frustrated and we had no idea how to proceed so we decided just to jump in, full-fledged," she said.

"To think that [from] September to now, January first, we're going to successfully help four kids, and a grandmother and theirparents resettle in Canada is prettyhuge," she said.

• LISTEN: Refugee sponsorKaren Scianspeaks with Andrea Bellemareon CBC Radio in Kitchener-Waterloo