Families of all faiths eager to welcome visitors

CHRISTINE BOYD, The Globe and Mail
Friday, July 26, 2002

Margaret Allore, head of billeting for the Roman Catholic festival, said 6,000 new hosts have come forward, raising the number of private accommodations to slightly more than 20,000, up from 14,000.

Volunteer hosts include not only Catholics, but also Anglicans, Muslims, Lutherans, Jews and members of the United Church, she said.

"People have really come forward and opened up themselves: They're getting excited about the event and want to be a part of it. . . .

"Parishes are yelling at us to send them more people because we haven't got enough to send them."

About 79,000 of the 206,000 registered pilgrims are sleeping in schools, but the surge of hosts means organizers needed to use only 10 other centres instead of 200 originally planned.