The JQ Appeal organised by the Acapella Bar and The Hockley flyer asked you to ‘fill’ the Acapella bar in our appeal for winter clothing after those terrible Earthquakes and aftershocks in Southern turkey and northern Syria.
The JQ community did not fail to impress. Monday afternoon (13th Feb) Seyhmus, owner of the Acapella had to say “no more for now, but we will be taking more clothing donations soon,” This is in order to take stock of what has already arrived, although not turning anyone away who knocked on the door, of course. Also still taking cash donations although originally we were not, supporters insisted we did!
Monday evening it was all hands- on-deck to start sorting and boxing the clothes ready for transport to Turkey and Syria, and I arrived with 20 large extra strong boxes to make another small contribution.
After about an hour we ended up getting better organised with the two lovely and very hard-working ladies Jasmine and Mina sorting the clothes into respective piles, along with Shar sorting the heavier items.
Seyhmus ended up doing a lot of the packing and I found my place finishing the packing of boxes to make them secure ready for transport.
With a system in place, we made great progress. At just before midnight and closing time Mina decided she was starving so went on a trip to the Syriana Restaurant at 1 Constitution Hill.
Arriving back with lots of food but also Mina brought more awful news that everyone working at the Restaurant had lost at least one family member in the awful disaster.
When they heard about the JQ appeal by the Acapella Bar / the Hockley Flyer, Syriana Restaurant sent along extra portions – cheers! Adding, “we want to send donations as well.”
We extend our sincerest condolences to everyone at the Syriana, and thoughts and prayers of course to everyone who have lost so many. It was now after midnight and I left the rest of the team to carry into the small hours… Ongoing….
Special Report by Mark Haddleton, editor
More information:
https://www.syrianarestaurant.co.uk
If anyone else has been affected please let us know, also if you have done collections yourself we would also love to hear from you.
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