Your Compassion in Action

While the news cycle has moved on and the earthquakes are out of mind for many, people in Syria and Turkey who have lost so much are still facing incredible need. IOCC’s assessment team very recently reported from Turkey that needs are vast — access to food, housing, and psychosocial support are all dire necessities.

IOCC is partnering with an international relief organization in Turkey to provide grocery vouchers to displaced people — so they can buy exactly what they need for themselves and their families. In Syria, IOCC continues working with Church partner GOPA-DERD* to get essentials to displaced families and meet their extensive need for trauma support.

“Since the night of the earthquake, my son has not had a full night’s sleep,” a worried mother in an Aleppo shelter told staff. “He wakes up in the middle of the night telling me he feels like something is moving on his body.”

With its experience doing exactly this kind of work, IOCC is responding. Psychosocial support activities are designed to help children deal with the terrible disruption of losing home, build their resilience, and even get a peaceful night’s sleep. Support like this helps children (and adults too) cope with trauma and loss. “I just need someone to talk to my son,” the same mother told us. So IOCC is meeting humanitarian needs like this on the ground.

Please continue praying for everyone facing loss and uncertainty in Syria and Turkey. Additionally, as our Lenten journey concludes, you can support our earthquake response with a gift to our International Emergency Response Fund. Thank you.

*Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development