TU/e community raises €90,000 for earthquake victims
Students and staff donated generously and the Executive Board doubled the donated amount.
On Monday the TU/e created its own collection box within Giro555 with the aim of raising money for the victims of the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. In doing so, the Executive Board pledged to double the amount raised until Wednesday evening. That resulted in a wonderful combined result of almost €90,000! You can still donate in the TU/e collection box, by the way, although that amount will no longer be doubled.
The TU/e community sympathizes deeply with the victims and the approximately 400 employees and students directly affected by the disaster. This widely shared sentiment on our campus leads to a lot of heartwarming initiatives to actively help. With our own online collection box for Giro555, we as TU/e want to offer our support.
Between February 13 and 15, we raised €44,140 with over 1,800 donations. The Executive Board doubled this amount at the end of the national fundraising day, February 15. This brought the intermediate balance on February 16 on behalf of the entire TU/e to almost €90,000.
On behalf of the Executive Board, Nicole Ummelen tweeted: “Dear all, we would like to thank you so much for the many, many generous gifts to support the victims of the earthquakes. Together we raised €44.140 by the end of the action day, we doubled this, and new donations still come in. Thanks a million.”
Information and donation on campus
At various locations on campus these days, students are standing at booths to provide information about the recent disaster and why our donations are crucial and will continue to be needed for the foreseeable future. Feel free to stop by these booths to support your fellow Turkish and Syrian students and colleagues.
Two of these students, Atacan Tutulmazay and Zeynep Uğur, are positive about the action and are also looking towards future rebuilding. “The earthquake in Türkiye and Syria is considered to be this century's disaster. Witnessing the suffering of 20 million people who lost their families, houses, and even cities due to this earthquake, the reasoning behind this title becomes apparent.”
“As Turkish students living and studying in the Netherlands, we want to emphasize that this support from all parties of our community really feels like a warm hand reaching out to all of our outcries. The wounds opened by this disaster are beyond what a single campaign can fix.”
“We have to take further action to recover fully. These actions need time and continuous support, not only monetary or humanitarian, but also culturally. We hope that this campaign has started a conversation spanning over borders, cultures and differences and can lead to a better understanding for our community and all of humanity,” according to Tutulmazay and Uğur.
Offering support
In the wake of this tragedy we ask staff and students to reach out to one another, take an interest and comfort others whenever possible.
If you are personally in need of help in any way please reach out to your manager (for employees) or academic advisor (for students). Please contact us to see how we can best support you in this time of crisis. You can find additional information on our wellbeing pages for students and employees.
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