Turkish charity delivered Ramadan aid to 15 mln

ISTANBUL

Turkish Red Crescent (“Kızılay” in Turkish) lent a helping hand to 14.7 million needy people during the holy month of Ramadan.       

Kızılay said on June 5 that it delivered aid to needy people in 38 countries during Ramadan.       

Alone in Turkey, it distributed 400,000 packages containing food to 1.6 million people over the past month.

It also launched an aid campaign to collect donations to be given to the poor under the name of “fitre” (Ramadan charity), which is widespread in Turkey.  

Under this campaign, 150,000 households in Turkey received about 50 million Turkish Liras (approximately $26 million) in cash donations.

Kızılay also accepts blood donations throughout Turkey. During Ramadan, 3,500 Kızılay staff collected 134,756 units of blood at 300 locations across the country. This was 9 percent more than the blood collected during last year’s Ramadan.

The charity also served iftar (fast-breaking) meals to over 1 million people in Turkey and more than 40,000 people around the world.       

The Red Crescent is the largest humanitarian organization in Turkey, with an international network to help nations in need. 

The charity names its mission as: “Providing aid for needy and defenseless people in disasters and usual periods as a proactive organization, developing cooperation in the society, providing safe blood and decreasing vulnerability.”

It also says on its website that it vision is to become an “organization which is taken as a model in humanitarian aid service in Turkey and in the world and the organization which is with people in their hardest time.”