NORTH ANDOVER — Volunteers have worked with little sleep over the past 12 days bringing relief to victims of the Feb. 6 earthquakes that have killed more 43,000 people and left millions homeless in Turkey and Syria.
Each day after work Taner Gulbas, 51, of Andover — originally from Turkey — and his wife, Aysun, drive to the Freerange Market earthquake relief distribution center in Medford.
There, they separate, bag, box and load items into trucks, sometimes working as late as 2 a.m. In the day, Gulbas, who works for Citizens Bank, coordinates relief efforts as time allows. Gulbas has aunts who live in eastern Turkey. They were uninjured but left homeless by the historic earthquake, he said.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, David Lee, associate pastor of Intercultural Mission Church in North Andover, loaded sleeping bags, blankets and pain relief medication into his minivan bound for the Medford relief center.
“When we first heard the news, it was heartbreaking and left such a big scar in that area,” Lee said.
In response, the church sought a trustworthy aid source. Lee learned about Freerange and upon visiting the market he met Gulbas.
Lee and his wife, Joyce, set up a table for donations outside the North Andover Church at 57 Peters St. and will be collecting them on weekdays through Feb. 28. They have also collected $400.
Meanwhile, each day at the Medford distribution center, 100 volunteers have filled the equivalent of an 18-wheeler with boxes to be sent to Turkey by air and sea. More than 45 tons have been collected at two centers in Massachusetts, said Gulbas.
Freerange grocery owner Cenk Emre has been coordinating relief with the Turkish Consulate General in Boston.
Emre is driven to help, running on adrenaline and endorphins and sleeping only 3 hours a day. He has never felt more energetic.
“It’s been a very, very fulfilling 12 days in the battlefield,” he said.
The relief needs change as the days move on, Gulbas said.
For now, the greatest need is for winter tents, blankets, sleeping bags, generators and non-electric space heaters and monetary donations. Also, given the large number of amputations performed on earthquake victims, there is growing need for crutches and wheelchairs.
Gulbas lived in Turkey until his early teens when his family moved to Lawrence and then Methuen where he lived until 2014 when he moved to Andover.
Gulbas and his wife have two children, a daughter, a junior at Bentley University, and a son, a junior at Andover High School.
The Intercultural Mission Church was founded 20 years ago by 12 interracial couples (usually a Korean wife and American husband) who couldn’t find their own community in the traditional church model due to their complexity of mixed culture, said Lee.
The church has about 50 active members. Its senior pastor is Sam Kim.
Donations to the earthquake relief effort can be made at the Intercultural Mission Church, 57 Peters St., North Andover; or, Freerange Market, 325 Rivers Edge Drive, Medford.
Also, online relief sources include the Bridge to Turkiye Fund, bridgetoturkiye.org, and the Turkish Philanthropy Fund, donate.tpfund.org.