How to Help Survivors of Earthquake in Turkey

From Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

The loss of life from the cataclysmic earthquake in Syria and Turkey is truly hard to process. Over 30,000 people have died and more than a million people are in need of aid and shelter in rain, snow, and temperatures that often dip below freezing.

Our team at the Community Foundation has put together a list of organizations for those looking to give in support of earthquake survivors. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the scale and urgency of humanitarian needs will continue to increase.

We have focused on international aid organizations that are either based in the United States or have offices here so that donors can give with ease from their Donor-Advised Funds.

Our donors have asked for this guidance, and we share this summary with our local community. It is by no means an exhaustive list.

All of these charities work on many simultaneous international relief efforts. If donating through your Donor-Advised Fund, please specify “earthquake relief” in the description field in the donor portal.

Note: All charities listed on this document have received high ratings on either Charity Navigator, Guidestar, or both. The highest rating on Charity Navigator is 4-stars and the rating system on Guidestar goes from bronze to silver to gold to platinum. n

•••

Doctors without Borders/Medecins

Sans Frontieres is donating emergency and trauma kits, medical supplies and blankets to dozens of hospitals; running mobile medical clinics for people displaced by the earthquakes; dispatched extra medical staff — including surgeons — to hard-hit health facilities.

40 Rector St., 16th Floor New York, NY 10006 212-679-6800 donations@newyork.msf.org

Guidestar rating: Platinum

Charity Navigator: Four Star

•••

Global Giving is collecting donations to help fund emergency medical workers’ ability to provide food, shelter and medicine, among other necessities. As needs in Turkey and Syria change, the organization will focus on long-term assistance.

1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 202-232-5784 help@globalgiving.org

Charity Navigator: Four Star

Guidestar rating: Platinum

•••

International Medical Corps is expanding their health, mental health and psychosocial support, protection (including child protection and genderbased violence support), non-food item distribution, and water, sanitation and hygiene services to address immediate needs of the women, children and men affected by the earthquakes.

12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1500 Los Angeles, CA 90025 310-826-7800 inquiry@internationalmedicalcorps.org

Guidestar rating: Platinum

Charity Navigator: Three Star

•••

Save the Children is coordinating closely with local partners on the ground, including Turkish Red Crescent and Support to Life, to distribute tents, hygiene kits, clothing, heaters, blankets and other essential items. In North West Syria, they’re working with long-standing local partners to distribute tents and winterization kits as well as provide health centers muchneeded fuel

501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400, Fairfield, CT 06825

203-221-4000 supportercare@savechildren.org

Guidestar rating: Platinum

Charity Navigator: Four Star

•••

ShelterBox works to provide families with life-saving shelter and essential tools and supplies after displacement from natural disasters and conflict. ShelterBox teams are on the ground in Gaziantep- a large city in southern Turkey where ShelterBox has pre-existing humanitarian partners and suppliers. They are working around the clock to mobilize aid that has been pre-positioned in strategic hubs around the world into the affected regions of both Syria and Turkey and responding with blankets, mattresses, winter clothes, heaters, and shelter kits that include tarpaulins, tools, and solar lights.

101 Innovation Place Santa Barbara, CA 93108 (805) 608-2400 info@shelterboxusa.org

Guidestar rating: Platinum

Charity Navigator: Four Star

•••

Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) Foundation is a global medical relief organization working on the front lines of earthquake relief providing medical care for earthquake survivors.

For online gifts, select “Earthquake Relief Syria” under programs to support. PO Box 34115 Washington, DC 20043 info@sams-usa.net

202-930-7802

Guidestar rating: Gold

Charity Navigator: Four Star

•••

United States for United Nations Refugee Agency is working on the ground providing blankets, emergency shelter, lifesaving aid and medicine. 1310 L ST NW, STE 450 Washington, DC 20005 1-(855)-808-6427

Guidestar rating: Platinum

•••

United Nations World Food Program USA, has on-the-ground support underway providing food assistance for earthquake survivors in both Turkey and Syria. 1725 Eye Street NW, Suite 510 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 627-3939 giving@wfpusa.org

Charity Navigator: Four Star

•••

World Central Kitchen: WCK is delivering fresh meals to families displaced and local authorities stretched thin due to the scale of the disaster.

Attn: Donor Services Team 200 Massachusetts Ave NW, 7th Floor Washington, DC 20001 hello@wck.org

Charity Navigator: Four Star

“Toxic Chemicals” from page 7

Currently, there are thousands of chemicals added to food to make it last longer, taste better, and appear more enticing.

Most of these chemicals have never been independently evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or were last reviewed decades ago.

Instead, these chemicals have entered the nation’s food supply through a loophole in federal law—known as “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS— that was intended to apply to common household ingredients like vinegar.

As a result of this loophole, chemical companies have added new substances to the food supply with almost no meaningful federal oversight.

Many of the dangerous additives currently banned in the Er and other nations are found in processed foods and candies that are marketed to children, low-income consumers, and communities of color in the United States.

If enacted, AB 418 would make California the first state in the nation to ban the use of these dangerous chemicals in processed foods.

The measure is expected to be heard in committee in the coming weeks. n