Serve the City International is deeply distraught over the situation in Türkiye and Syria. We are all devastated by the tragic loss of life and so many who have lost everything or made vulnerable in some way. For many it is loss on top of loss. Our hearts are broken.
Probably many in your cities are asking what they can do or what Serve the City is doing. As we do not yet have STC leaders or teams in either country, it is not obvious how to best be involved. But of course we do not want to be passive or unresponsive just because it is beyond our current borders.
This crisis is causing us to reflect on what we would like to do in globally important moments like these. Oh that this were the last earthquake, but we know that’s not the case. Even though our main area of expertise is not relief, there are many other volunteer roles that present themselves in the short and long term, and our expertise in volunteer management could be very helpful.
We will have the opportunity in the coming days to have some direct feedback from Türkiye thanks to Jay Benfante, our Network Coordinator for South East Europe. Jay will join a relief team from Kosovo that travels to the affected region next week. We will offer daily updates from his experience so we can all learn together.
For now, if you would like to get involved in the relief efforts, here are a few verified organisations to donate to and articles that share how best to help:
Articles:
https://www.insider.com/where-to-donate-to-help-earthquake-victims-turkey-and-syria-2023-2
https://www.msf.org/four-things-know-about-earthquake-response-t%C3%BCrkiye-and-syria
Donate to Türkiye:
https://bagis.unicefturk.org/turkiye_earthquake
https://en.afad.gov.tr/earthquake-campaign
Donate to Syria:
https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/how-you-can-help/emergencies/syria-crisis-appeal
https://molhamteam.com/fr/wecan
With Hope,
Carlton Deal, CEO of Serve the City International
