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Every holiday season many Canadians extend the generosity they show to their friends and family to complete strangers. In December, donations and gifts pour into charitable organizations across the country.

While that shouldn’t change this year, Canadians will also be focusing their attention — now, and in the months to come — on a different group in need: Syrian refugees. Ever since the lifeless body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi pierced our hearts, many Canadians have sought to reimagine who we are and how we might respond to the global refugee emergency.

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In communities large and small, people are devoting time and energy to fundraise and put in place the goods and services that refugees will need to resettle. We have not seen such an outpouring of generosity toward refugees since tens of thousands of Vietnamese boat people arrived in the 1970s.

But our capacity for charity is not unlimited. And for the hungriest amongst us, that fact should not go unnoticed.