The manager and the teachers hope that we will support and help the these children again in the future. We hope that these books will help educate and entertain the children. We would like to give our thanks firstly to all of you that supported this cause and secondly the principal and the teachers at the school for all their hard work

IWAI's 3rd Traditional Hello to Summer Charity Event

IWAI members and sponsors who got together on Sunday, June 1st 2008 at the Feronia Nature Sports Center in Urla had a very fun day besides celebrating the donations they collected.

IWAI’s 3rd traditional Hello to Summer Charity Event had a strong participation. Among the 80 participants in total were IWAI members, officers of our sponsors: McCormick – Kütaş, Tesco Kipa, and Akzo Nobel Toz Boya and their families and friends. Also, in the group were 2 children, Ayşe and Zeynep, that had completed their treatments at the Oncology Ward of the Dr. Behçet Uz Children’s Hospital in the past. They came along with one parent and the Psychologist of the Ward, Ms. Arife Kaygusuz.

There were 8 team of 6 people that had to compete in 7 games to win at the end of the day. Each team started their race with a different game. Some had to walk barefoot on the sand in order to pass the mine field, some climbed up a high wall, some were tied together, some had to go upside down through a spider web, some raced to find numbers in a row, and some had to make something out of shapes that looked like nothing. Those of us that thought that they would never dare play such games, were pleasantly surprised as they played in each game. Even, Ayşe and Zeynep climbed up the wall twice!

As the games went on, the Charity Committee was hard at work counting the money and evaluating the day. When they were first planning this day, it seemed so difficult to even reach 8,000 YTL. The purpose was to purchase at least one of the four machines that the Oncology Ward desperately needed. However, when the news that we were collecting donations reached the 3 sponsor companies and many people around Izmir, surprisingly the donations started pouring in. The final number that was reached, both took by surprise and delighted everyone.

McCormick- Kütaş  had first committed to a $4,000 donation, but raised that number to $5,685 in order to purchase the Plasma Warmer all by themselves! Tesco Kipa sponsored us with $4,000, Akzo Nobel Toz Boya also sponsored us with $2,700. “Moms from Izmir” group raised 2,063 YTL from their members in only 3 days to contribute to our cause. Last but not the least, Coca Cola provided cold drinks and umbrellas for the event, which provided the much needed shade and refreshment on a hot day. Feronia, our home base for the day also donated the 250 YTL it had promised when we reached 80 people. Demet from the Charity Committee raised the highest amount at an individual level with 1,100 YTL. All this said and done, individual donations combined with the money raised by selling desserts reached an impressive 5,000 YTL. Total tally of the day: 22,000 YTL!

All of the machines needed will be purchased for the hospital with this money. The IWAI Charity Committee presented a plaque to each sponsor at the end of the day. We hope that these machines will help save many lives among the children receiving treatment at the Oncology Ward.  

Ms. Arife Kaygusuz, Psychologist for the Oncology Ward, said after she was presented with the donation, “The time a patient spends at the Oncology Ward is an extremely difficult time. Our patients and we need all the moral and technological support that we can possibly get. I thank you with all my heart for all you have done.”

After the award ceremony, the teams that won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place received their medals from Feronia and a selection of Idol wines and Efe Rakı. All in all, regardless of whether or not they participated in the day, everyone that donated to our cause were winners!

Hatay Orphaned Children's Home

On Friday, May 2nd  ,2008 we visited the Hatay 80. Yıl Çocuk Yuvası, where orphaned children between the ages of 7 and 12 reside. This is one of the many residential buildings that house orphaned children within the Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu (Organization for Children’s Protection). As a matter of fact, this orphanage has 6 outside homes with children that are related to it.

In fact, the building we visited in Hatay actually houses children under government protection. This is why we were not allowed to take pictures of the building, the children, or even the principal. So, we did our best to show what we have done through a picture of our donations and the sign of the building outside. We are also given only the information that they could share with us publicly.

The building itself is similar to a dormitory with 6 different living areas, which are called “houses”. 12 children, 6 boys and 6 girls reside in each house. These houses have their own very homey kitchen, bathroom with plenty of space and showers, eating and study area, recreational commons area, lockers for “moms” that work there and very dorm-like sleeping quarters with 6 beds and 6 closets for the boys and girls in separate rooms. They have really worked to make this place a home for the children there with Winnie the Pooh curtains, fun colors for carpets, walls, and sofas. We couldn’t help but smile when we smelled the fresh baked cookies when we visited the kitchen. For those of you wondering, of course we didn’t take any of them J

We were told that this building was opened only 2 years ago, so people still are learning about it. This is why they receive slightly less donations than the other more established orphanages around Izmir. When we first wanted to donate to this orphanage, we were thinking about baking supplies and arts & crafts supplies. However, when we raised such an impressive amount of money thanks to the members that were at the April dinner, we called the orphanage to find out what they needed. They told us that since we raised such an amount, rather than spending it all on supplies, we could buy summer shoes and slippers for the kids. The children go to a summer camp every summer and some did not have shoes to wear there.  So, our assignment was ready.

After searching for wholesalers and finally locating a good one, we went shopping. And shopping that was! The orphanage needed 70 pairs of shoes, 20 for boys and 50 for girls. The sizes ranged from 30 to 38. With this wide range of sizes and a mix of boys and girls, it was a very complicated math problem to match the shoes with the wholesale boxes of 48 shoes each. At the end, we bought 2 boxes of 48 pairs with sizes ranging 30 to 35 and 1 box of 24 pairs with sizes ranging from 36 to 38. We added a minimal amount of money on top what we raised and we ended up with 120 pairs of shoes!

After this came the careful selection of the 70 pairs that the orphanage needed. We mixed and matched to give them the best and the prettiest of the bunch. The remaining 50, we decided to donate to the children at Dr. Behcet Uz State Hospital as we had previously seen children staying long-term wearing street shoes in the halls.

We hope that the shoes will be what the children at the orphanage wanted and that they will enjoy a long and fun summer while they wear them. We would like to give our thanks firstly to all of you that supported this cause and secondly the principal and the staff at the orphanage that made a home away from home for these children.

Charity Projects 2006

The first big project that the Charity Committee had taken on for this year was the Center for the Mentally Disabled, which is located in Cigli. They have a requirement from the Government to conduct one to one training and the provision of an internal camera system to allow both the teachers and the family to observe their progress will be an enormous help.
Money collected during the Charity Garden Party in June 2006 was spent buying a camera system for the school for mentally disabled children in Cigli, Izmir. On Friday 30 September a group of IWAI members went to the official 'opening' of this charity event. The camera's have been placed in almost all class rooms. The tapes of these recordings will be used to show the parents how their children are doing in class.
www.zicev.org.tr: This is the address for the national foundation.

Our second project was the University Children's Hospital in Bornova. They have recently received a new building provided by the Government with some basic equipment. The have an urgent requirement for furniture, medical equipment, school supplies and soft furnishings and for these they are currently relying on gifts. They have received about half of the beds, which they could accommodate and curtains are also a priority. Due to the fact that our Charity Committee is unable to give full support to both projects, we have offered our assistance with our time to assist in getting the building ready for their use, walking with the children, talking and playing with them and general assistance. They would also welcome volunteers to speak to the children in English to improve their language skills.
In September and October of 2006 a group of volunteers has painted murals in the new paediatric clinic of EGE university hospital. With a number of enthusiastic women and one man they have spend 4 days in the clinic and painted animals on the walls of the different wards. It was great fun, the hospital staff is very pleased with the result and we hope that the children will like them too.

Thanks to all these ladies and man for all the hard work, the ideas, the enthusiasm and the patience. Special thanks to Muge Avci, the artist who gave advice and helped with the drawings. This was the first volunteer job we did in the hospital, hopefully more will follow, we will keep you informed on this.

Every dinner a mini charity drive is organized to collect items that can help in small ways, like school supplies, food/clothing etc. Every dinner invitation will inform members what the mini charity drive is about. There will also be a list of these mini drives in the WiZ News, the IWAI's monthly newsletter.