Canadian insurance co-operative the Co-operators said Monday that it has pledged $250,000 in funding as part of a national effort to welcome refugees from Syria to Canada.

Additionally, through the co-operative’s own Community Economic Development Fund, a special grant program was created to support organizations that are helping prepare refugees for employability in Canada.

The Community Economic Development Fund was established in 1995. Since then, the Co-operators has provided more than $5m to organizations that have selflessly guided disrupted peoples toward economic self-reliance.

The co-operative is also encouraging its employees to volunteer and do their part in welcoming the immigrants.

"People and organizations throughout the country are lending a helping hand to support the resettlement of Syrian refugees as they begin a new chapter in their lives here in Canada," said the Co-operators president and CEO Kathy Bardswick. "This is a national project of historic proportions that demands the support of not only government, but community organizations, private enterprises and individual Canadians."

The government previously announced that 25,000 Syrian refugees will settle in Canada. Arrangements by both government and nongovernment organizations are being put into place to secure the immediate needs of the refugees, such as transitional housing, job training and skills development.