Massive local effort underway to send earthquake aid to Turkey

As news broke of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday, local volunteers in Toronto began to organize relief efforts within hours.

Restaurants and other businesses across the city and the GTA quickly offered themselves up as collection centres for donations of much-needed supplies and clothing.

“One of my customers bought 50 winter coats, and then his car was full of the coats, and then he came here,” says Selda Oncel, owner of Leziz Kitchen, who opened her doors to donations.

Oncel has family in Turkey, some of whom lost their lives when buildings collapsed during the largest quake the country has experienced in more than two decades.

“I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I cannot explain how tough the situation is … so when I have that response from [my customers], it makes me so emotional,” she says.

Oncel says she’s been driving donations to drop-off locations herself, and customers have been offering to do so when her vehicle is full — part of a large, coordinated effort by local organizations and volunteers under the consulate general of Turkey.

“We connected with our Turkish companies to get help from them, and one of our companies gave us this warehouse to use for donations,” says vice consul Erkut Bisirici, speaking at one of two warehouses in North York used to sort and pack donations. A third warehouse has also been made available in Mississauga.

Selda Oncel stands behind the counter of her restaurant Leziz Kitchen, which is serving as a drop off centre for donations for Turkey. CITYNEWS/Dilshad Burman

Volunteers have been working long hours over the past four days to ensure aid reaches Turkey as quickly as possible.

“It’s basically been like almost 50 volunteers here at any given time,” says volunteer coordinator Sadberk Agma. “We’ve had people who are just here like international students, we have people who’ve been living here for 30-40 years who are homemakers, we’ve had students, retired people, people who have jobs who’ve been taking days off just so they can come help — any common denominator does not matter to them or us — they say ‘ok, let’s help.'”

More than 23,000 people have died in the earthquake so far, and as the death toll continues to mount, volunteers say they felt compelled to help.

“Things happening in my country are really devastating — I just couldn’t sit still. Some of my friends are there, and they’re also trying to help – it’s the least that I can do,” says Ulgen, an exchange student from Turkey.

“It’s really important to help out, not just by sitting and waiting for a change — but you have to be the change, so you have to come here and help out,” says Shams, explaining why she chose to volunteer at the warehouse.

Volunteers help to pack donations of aid supplies to be shipped to Turkey. CITYNEWS/Dilshad Burman

The three main donation items being requested are unused sleeping bags, blankets and winter tents. New winter clothing items like hats, gloves and socks are also needed. Used clothing is not currently being accepted due to the risk of pests and the lack of man power to sort through them for quality control.

There’s also an urgent need for last rites supplies for those who have perished.

“This morning, we got messages that there’s an urgent need for burial bags,” says volunteer and logistics coordinator Bilge Kelo.

“There are so many people that are now being put in plastic bags – so we are calling out to mosques, to any company that can donate burial bags that we can send over urgently.”

Currently, donations are only being sent via passenger flights. Items being shipped must adhere to common airline restrictions like no liquids or aerosols.

“We need cargo planes – if you have connections to anybody that can get us cargo planes to help us ship all of our donations, that would be very useful,” says Kelo.

In addition to donations, Kelo is also organizing efforts in Toronto to reach people on the ground in Turkey.

“One group is working directly with Turkey, and we are coordinating and helping to find the people that are under the rubble. That group is making calls directly from here to make sure that those people have been found,” she says.

“We’re updating all of that on an Excel sheet and letting their families know — because, unfortunately, most of the people here, they’ve lost their families or their friends.”

The following locations in Toronto are accepting donations for Turkey:

• TEPAC
• Ozzy Burger
• Leziz Kitchen
• Kebab 49
• Efendi Turkish Restaurant
• Flame Plus
• Lokum Eats
• Barans Restaurant
• Atelier Ayana
• Toronto CigKofte

Warehouse locations:

• 1170 Sheppard Avenue West, Unit 15
• 325/A Flint Road, North York
• 3063 Universal Drive, Mississauga (food items only)