Winter clothes and toys charity drive

Dear Friends

One of the latest events organized by Syracuse Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) and their American friends who are attending breakfast meetings is the "winter clothes and toys" charity drive where more than 400 pieces of clothes and toys were donated for refugees.

Pooling the efforts of the Turkish cultural center members in Syracuse, more than 3 dozens of bags filled with coats, hats, scarves, gloves, baby clothes and toys were collected and distributed by members of TCC.

 "This idea came to our minds when we were having Turkish breakfast meeting with our American neighbors. It's gone very well, with a lot of support from our American friends." said Ayna Yagmurova who organized this event. "I think a lot of people, when they heard about it through the TCC just opened up and donated stuff, because they know times are tough for refugees. Some people donated clothes, some donated toys, some people donated their times and some donated their cars to be used to collect the items. It was really inspiring to see how my neighbors, my friends wanted to help. I am very thankful to live in such a nice community"

TCC members arrived West Side Learning Center (WSLC-422 Gifford St, Syracuse, NY) in the morning to set up tables for the items. They also presented TCC activities and events to the students and teachers of the WSLC. Students and teachers at WCLS had participated the presentation with great attention. TCC members also cooked fresh pastries, brought fruits and drinks to be served during the presentation. Mr.Sula, who is also a student at WSLC, said " I have been noticing a refugee friend who comes to classes with very old clothes and she did not have a coat. I was feeling guilty to wear my coat next to her. I saw her getting lots of items during this event. These refugees need more winter items. Thank you for organizing this event and I hope we can help more."

"We were not expecting this much of items. This is the biggest donation ever happened at WSLC. We were able to reach more then 100 people. Thank you for organizing this event." Said Miss. Elise who teaches English as a second language at WSLC. 

Refugee families thanked to event organizers after presentation, and mentioned about their needs.  TCC members said, they plan to organize more events to reach more people who are in need and they are thankful for all people who donated items for this event and people who care about the others. 

December 2012 Turkish breakfast meeting (Last breakfast of 2012)

Merhaba

First, we would like to thank you for your interest in Turkish Breakfast. This month, we had many guests for breakfast and we hosted them in 3 groups. Thank you very much for coming. It was wonderful to have breakfast with you and to talk about our common values. 

Since 2011, we have been coming together around breakfast table, and we are discussing the events from women's perspective. We are sharing our culture and we are learning from each others experiences.

This month's breakfast took place in a sad environment due to Sandy Hook shooting. We expressed our condolences for deadly Connecticut shooting and we tried to answer the question of what turns a troubled person into a monster that pours death onto other fellow human beings. As caring parents, we pray to find the strength to illuminate both hearts and minds of our sons and daughters with the love, respect and compassion for others, and do whatever is in our power to help prevent the reoccurrence of such tragedies.

The other breakfast meeting were hosted by a  family who is from Karadeniz (Black Sea) region of Turkey and shared a short movie with us. Karadeniz is the most green area of Turkey and its climate is appropriate for tea agriculture. It was very interesting for us to see how black tea was prepared and come to our table. 

Some guests were making Turkey trip plans after these breakfast meetings and this made us very happy. We will be happy to host you in Turkey as well. 

We are hoping to see more friends in 2013 breakfast. 

Till then Hoshcha kalin

From Breakfast Table to Helping Campaign

Breakfast is the best meal of the day. It is as important as a refreshing sleep to start the day. If you are alone, you just past over the first meal of the day. But if you have a company for breakfast, breakfast is the reason to wake up happily in the morning.

The Turkish breakfast is more than a meal for Turkish-American women who had discovered the relationship of breakfast with happiness. Turkish breakfast times are special times to strength the friendship, to learn different cultures, to have friendly conversations. For Turkish women and their American friends these are the times to share a smile, to talk about helping organizations while having a cup of Turkish Coffee.

TCC (Turkish Cultural Center) Syracuse Women’s Club members welcomes their American friends each month within the framework of the "meet your neighbors" activity. Women have a chance to see a Turkish family breakfast tradition while having a Turkish tea/coffee and warm conversation.

The friendly atmosphere during these breakfast let these women to talk about helping organizations and campaigns. They had organized a bake sale for the famine victims in Africa, and they had dressed up Burmese families in Syracuse. The next topic in their agenda is helping Sandy victims.

These monthly breakfast activities, allows for the development of friendships.  The participants said that, they had welcomed by Turkish women and had a wonderful time in an sincere environment and they were looking forward to future breakfast.