Four Okanagan organizations are hoping to help the residents of Turkey and Syria after a massive earthquake tore into the countries in early February.
The Okanagan Gleaners in Oliver, uses its resources to process millions of servings of food annually that are sent around the world to help those in need. At this time of the year, they don’t have any food available so they will be helping out by collecting blankets.
Laura Allen with Shelters International Disaster Response in Kelowna, reached out to the Gleaners after she planned to head out for relief efforts in early March.
“We have worked quite extensively with Laura delivering food to places in need, she took two shipments into Ukraine in 2022,” Gleaners general manager Greg Masson said.
“She goes over there and makes sure it gets distributed and just doesn’t get dropped. So she had it on her heart when she heard of it and saw the initial disasters, and she approached us to see if we could help her.”
Okanagan Gleaners is spearheading a collection of warm blankets, where people can drop them off locally at their space on Road 3 or to Penticton Kia.
Another Penticton organization, Canadian food for children, will be helping out by gathering up the blankets at Penticton Kia and putting them through a bundling machine.
“There are humans in need. So anyway, we can help out, we will help out,” Masson added.
Blankets can be dropped off at the Okanagan Gleaners at 507 Road 3 in Oliver or at Penticton Kia 550 Duncan Ave West before Feb. 24.