Refugees-The-Right-Thing-to-Do.pptx
December 21, 2016 6:50 AM   Subscribe

Jim Estill put up $1.5 million to bring 58 families to Canada. He found them homes, gave them jobs and even bought one man a dollar store. How the mild-mannered CEO of an appliance company became the Oskar Schindler of Guelph. [slTorontoLife]
posted by cichlid ceilidh (14 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
Should have edited to be clear these are Syrian refugee families!
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 7:01 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


Interesting. One factual note in the article... The Canadian refugee sponsorship program was started by the Clark Conservative government, not Pierre Trudeau.
posted by chapps at 7:28 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


I like this guy. I'm also curious to know more about his success habits.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:34 AM on December 21, 2016


Tangent:

It is impossible for me to look at the title phrase on this post and NOT hear it in the cadence of that line from Hamilton:

"Immigrants - we get the job done!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:46 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


Goddammit, I'm about to tear up at work.

Thanks for this.
posted by notsnot at 7:54 AM on December 21, 2016


They already speak English remarkably well. Their main tutor was Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air—someone gave the family a DVD set of the show, and they watched it on a loop in the months after they arrived.
Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
posted by zamboni at 7:56 AM on December 21, 2016 [9 favorites]


As he watched the news, Estill got worked up. “I didn’t want to be 80 years old and know that I did nothing during the greatest humanitarian crisis of my time,”

More like him please.
posted by gusottertrout at 7:56 AM on December 21, 2016 [27 favorites]


They already speak English remarkably well. Their main tutor was Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air—someone gave the family a DVD set of the show, and they watched it on a loop in the months after they arrived.

They also display an inexplicable fondness for dancing to Tom Jones.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:03 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm also curious to know more about his success habits.

Estill is a prolific blogger, as far as CEOs go.

Success Habits and Why we do Time Management
CCSBE Wisdom from Jim Estill
Success Habits - The Book
posted by zamboni at 8:08 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


I think this guy is amazing, although I find the article itself a bit odd in tone and can't quite pinpoint why...
To me his major innovation. Is formalizing a way for a single (large) business to interact effectively with the existing sponsorship program in such a formal way.
There are many businesses doing this in informal ways across Canada by partnering with the local sponsorship groups, but this is in-house ESL and work.
posted by chapps at 8:14 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


That's amazing. May the 1% contain many more like Jim Estill.

(BTW, don't read the comments. I know it's an internet truism, but on this one, just don't.)
posted by chavenet at 8:21 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


In these times, it's nice to add a company to my "support" list. I'm not in the market for any appliances right now, but when I am, I'll be looking at Danby.
posted by urbanlenny at 9:01 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


They also display an inexplicable fondness for dancing to Tom Jones.

Factual note: inexplicable is never the right word for this.
posted by asperity at 10:52 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


She recently started working part-time at the University of Guelph, helping international students settle into Canada. She no longer calls herself a refugee and prefers to say she is a new Canadian. “But one day I’ll be a real Canadian,” she tells me.

Actually you already are a "real Canadian" Nadeen. You just haven't realized it yet.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:24 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


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