A fund to help Canadian families affected by the downing of Ukrainian Flight 752, will be getting over $240,000 from Mississauga businesses and religious, cultural and community organizations.

By the end of the Feb. 19, 2020 Mississauga city council meeting, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie announced that dozens of contributors had donated $246,400 to the Canada Strong Campaign.

The campaign is hoping to raise $1.5 million by Feb. 21 for the families of the 57 Canadians who died when the Iranian military shot down the flight on Jan. 8, 2020. All 176 aboard the plane died, including at least four people with connections to Mississauga and Brampton.

Mohamad Fakih, Paramount Fine Foods president, launched the campaign with a $30,000 pledge, as well as a promise to cover all of the administrative costs of getting the money to victims' families.

At the council meeting, he said each "Canadian in crisis and despair deserves to feel the warm embrace of Canadian generosity."

"I felt that generosity. I have lived the Mississauga generosity," he said. "I built my business here and I received a great opportunity for making my life better and making me who I am today."

Mississauga mosque Baitul Hadi, which is part of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada, donated $75,000 toward the campaign, the largest single contribution in the city. Lakeview Community Partners donated $50,000.

The federal government has pledged to match the funds raised in the Canada Strong Campaign up to $1.5 million.

Crombie said that the families affected by the crash need help to start “piecing their lives back together."

"We know the money isn't going to ease the pain or bring their loved ones back," she added. "But we hope that it will alleviate some of the financial stress."