Orange County Turkish School, Irvine, CA

Orange County Turkish School is an informal educational and cultural school developed by OCTAA as a service to the Turkish-American community in Orange County.  The School’s primary goals are: (1) to teach Turkish-American children and adults, and any interested community members the Turkish language (at varying levels) emphasizing the whole range of communication skills, speaking, writing, reading and comprehension; (2) to familiarize the students with the history of Turkish people and Turkey, its geography and people at a level equivalent to elementary/middle school education in Turkey; and (3) to teach the basics of Turkish culture, heritage, music, tradition, and customs.  The School is intended to teach Turkish as a second language to improve the language skills of children with Turkish ancestry, adults, and interested community members.

The OC Turkish School operates based on the educational principles of a democratic, secular, and progressive society as well as the guiding principles of the founder of Turkish Republic: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and modeled after the schools in Turkey.  Furthermore, this School’s policies are socially, politically, and religiously nonsectarian. This School is open to all OCTAA membership and general public.  The language and cultural classes are held at the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center located at 9 Truman, Irvine, California 92620.  For more information, please visit: http://www.octurkishschool.org/

Families Forward, Irvine, CA

Families Forward is a non-profit agency dedicated to help families in-need and homeless families achieve and maintain self-sufficiency through housing, counseling, education, and other emergency support services.  Families Forward addresses families’ needs at any point in their crisis by providing a broad spectrum of services and organizes food and toy drives during the holidays.  You can also donate household items by checking their wish list at http://www.families-forward.org/wishlist.html. OCTAA will also be organizing food and toy drives in the upcoming months to benefit this organization.  To learn more about this local organization, please visit: http://www.families-forward.org/.

“Boots/Coats/Backpacks for Kardelens"
Bridge to Turkiye Fund, TURKEY

Education is a fundamental right of every child. Unfortunately, children continue to be kept from school in many parts of rural Anatolia.  Poverty leads many parents to prioritize and a child’s right to education is compromised when his or her family cannot afford school expenses, or when they have to work in order to support their families.  Bridge to Turkiye Fund’s campaign aims to raise funds from North America to provide the children with basic back-to-school supplies for the new school year and the coming harsh winter conditions.  The objective is to help the kids by properly outfitting them for their difficult journey to school, facilitate their education with a positive approach, relieve their parents from the financial burden, and motivate their teachers who hopelessly feel trapped in forgotten and remote areas of Anatolia with little resources at hand.

Bridge to Turkiye Fund is partnering with the CYDD (Cagdas Yasami Destekleme Dernegi) and ILKYAR (Ilkogretim Okullarina Yardim Dernegi) to help distribute the school supplies which include a pair of winter boots, a winter jacket and a school bag filled with basic schools supplies.  With your generous contributions, you can help them reach their target goal of $20,000 required to support 500 children in the remote villages of Bingol, Bitlis, Agri and Denizli.

Bridge to Turkiye Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is a grassroots philanthropic bridge between the U.S.A. and Turkey, is organized for charitable purposes to serve the socio-economically disadvantaged segments of Turkish Society (Tax ID: 58-2678580). To learn more about this organization and this campaign, please visit: http://www.bridgetoturkiye.org/.

Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği (CYDD)
Association in Support of Contemporary Living in Turkey

CYDD is currently organizing two major projects: Orada Bir Okul Var Uzakta (There is a School Out There) and Bin Cicek Acsin-Bin Fikir Yesersin (1000 Flowers Flourish-1000 Ideas Are Born).  You can donate to these projects and support schools in rural Turkey by providing the much needed basic supplies, educational equipment, furniture, sport equipment, uniforms, computers, and books to build libraries.

OCTAA can select the schools based on their needs or a specific location, etc.  For more information about these projects and CYDD, please visit: http://www.cydd.org.tr/?sayfa=proje

“Bir Şey Değisir, Her Şey Değisir”
Tüvana Okuma Istekli Çocuk Eğitim Vakfi (TOÇEV),  TURKEY

TOCEV has been established in 1994 to provide educational opportunities and materials as well as moral support to the children at all educational levels who are otherwise deprived of training due to the economical difficulties.

During 2007-08 educational year, TOCEV and NTV Radio are partnering in launching a new campaign to provide educational sets/back-to-school supplies to the students of YİBO [Yatılı Ilköğretim Bölge Okulları (Regional Primary Schools with Dorms)].  The cost of each educational set is $20.  TOCEV also provides projects in the areas of:

§  Winter Boots/Coats/Hats/Scarves ($40 per student)
§  Clothing/Shoes/Socks/Underwear ($35 per student)
§  Text books ($25 per student)
§  Backpack and school supplies ($20 per student)

For additional information, please visit: http://www.tocev.org.tr/

Please join any or all of these fund raiser campaigns/projects TODAY and help reach out to communities in need both locally and in Turkey…Teşekkürler!