Kalkan Good Causes

[DRBD]

itstime - Yes, we did likewise, always have something in the luggage.  Thanks

[Will]

 A very big thank you to everyone who brought gifts for the children at the Rehabilitation school, thanks to Parc Kalkan for collecting everything for us and to Aleysha who made up gifts of sweets for every child.

We had to abandon the shoe box idea, donations were so generous that we couldn't fit the items in a shoe box, so each child received a large carrier bag, packed with toys, sweets, paints, crayons, colouring books, socks and  underwear. The children who received the gifts were thrilled.  We had originally had 'girl' bags and 'boy' bags but the children were so completely oblivious to (our) gender stereotyping that we had at least one little boy lovingly clutching a doll and several little girls thrilled with their toy cars!

We have some items left over, paints, crayons and colouring books and we will pass these to the Kalkan nursery school after the Bayram festival so that as many childen as possible benefit.

We are very happy to accept items of children's clothing, used and new or shoes.  Shoes for the Rehabilitation school need to be velcro fastening, the children cannot manage laces or buckles.  We cannot yet give an idea of shoe sizes as very few of the children have ever had shoes bought just for them, they wear plastic slippers with no sizes on them.  We are in the process of having the children measured for the correct size.  For clothes, the children range in size from say an average six year old, to fourteen year olds who are the size of an adult, so anything given will be used.


We hope to extend our fundraising activities to reach a wider community of disadvantaged children in the area and we are already hearing about a number of children from very disadvantaged families who could benefit hugely from some support.

We have paid the boarding fee for a young man of 14 who has won a  scholarship to go to school in Fethiye.  This is a wonderful opportunity for him but it looked as though he would not be able to accept the scholarship as it only covers tuition, not weekly lodging.  His Father is dead and his mother works as a cleaner but of course has almost no income in the winter, so we have paid the fees for his first term and will continue to raise money to support him. With a good education, this young man will eventually be able to support his Mother and two younger siblings.

We plan to have Santa's Grotto in the week before Christmas in a local restaurant and we hope to attract visitors who will receive a mince pie,  a glass of mulled wine and rather than receive a gift from Santa, give one to him to pass on to the childre,  Baba Noel is  a much loved figure in Turkey and we will invite the children to visit him as well.

We are aslo planning a Christmas cake and preserves stall where we will sell cakes, mince pies, pastries, chutneys, jams and marmalade - we would be so grateful if anyone in Kalkan would bake or make something for that - more details later but you can pm me if you would be able to make something for this.

We will update everyone on our activities in the next couple of weeks and once again, thank you everyone for your donations.  You have made a great difference to so many children.

Will

[DRBD]

Will, thanks again for the update.  The next few weeks sound exciting.

[Mrs Enjoy Kalkan]

Thanks for the heatwarming update Will, it is good to know about what is happening in Kalkan to support disadvantaged people.