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Syrian refugees are detained by the Turkish coastguard after they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on March 3, 2016.BULENT KILIC/AFP / Getty Images

The donor: Thao Choi

The gift: Raising $22,000 and climbing

The cause: Humanitarian Coalition

When Thao Choi saw pictures of Syrian refugees trying to get to Europe, she recalled her own struggle to leave her homeland.

Ms. Choi and her family fled Vietnam in 1980, enduring a harrowing boat trip to Malaysia, where they ended up in a refugee camp before coming to Canada.

They had minimal food and water and had to be rescued by a Polish ship.

"I really could relate to what [the Syrians] felt like and what they were going through," Ms. Choi said from her home in Oakville, Ont.

She decided to do something to help and, together with a group of friends, organized a gala in January to raise money for the Humanitarian Coalition, a Canadian charity that works with a variety of aid agencies. They raised $22,000 from the event. Ms. Choi is now working with another group to sponsor two families from Syria and raise money to help them get settled.

"I understand why they have to leave their country when they have nothing left to live for there," she said.

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