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IN THIS ISSUE: Letter from the
President ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS Advisory Council CULTURAL NEWS Iznik Tiles |
| VISION To create a model
for peace and sustainable democracy in the Middle East by encouraging
the growth of Turkish civil society. MISSION To support the education system in Turkey; to strengthen Turkish nonprofit organizations; and to promote cultural exchange. |
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| Friends of Anatolia P.O. Box 20511 |
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| Volunteer Center 236
Castro St. Unit 1 Volunteer Center is solely staffed by our dedicated volunteers. Please call ahead if you would like to visit us. |
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| ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS Advisory Council
New members continue to honor our Advisory Council. We have now four new people who accepted to share their experience with us and be our mentors. Bonnie
Joy KASLAN |
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| Board Changes
According to Sema, “she is very happy to be part of the dynamic team that has already made Friends of Anatolia a success in a very short time.” Sema will be taking over as Vice President from Cagla Eroglu who will remain on the board as a director. In other news, Kristof Richmond has resigned from his Director position on the board to focus on his acedemic studies. To see these changes, please see our Board of Directors pages. |
We are pleased to
welcome Sema Basol to our Board who started volunteering for
us as an Advisory Board member in the beginning of the year and
decided to take further responsibilities to help Friends of Anatolia
grow. | ______________________ |
| Volunteer Corner
There are so many wonderful, talented people involved in making this a great organization, which in turn is making the world a better place. There are also so many potential projects and ways to involve volunteers here in the Bay Area, abroad in Turkey and all over the world!" |
"I
have worked and volunteered for many nonprofit organizations
around
the United
States for the past 10 years. Volunteering
with Friends of Anatolia is both a challenging and rewarding
experience. | ______________________ |
| Online
Volunteering
With this tool we have already gained 10 new volunteers from all around the world! |
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| Volunteer Orientation To join our growing network of active volunteers, please contact us and attend the next orientation in November. |
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Volunteer Center Donors The Volunteer Center was fully furnished by in-kind donations of our generous supporters below. Without them, the Center would not have been possible. In-Kind Donor List Omer and Leman UYUKLU - Major Donor Isil Gulin YILMAZ & Bruno Volunteer List The volunteer Center was set-up by our following dedicated volunteers. We appreciate their time and energy! Sema BASOL |
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| Donor Rolls from Past Events Below are the donor rolls listing those who made financial contributions to Friends of Anatolia towards different campaigns and challenge gifts. Dibekduzu
- May 21 Dinner, |
| Letter from the President
So many great things are happening, and our journey continues on... In less than a couple of hours, I will be in a flight to Turkey and I am so excited to complete our school projects. I cannot wait to see the faces of the children who will benefit from these projects. I am hoping to bring you back many big smiles and great photos of the students in Dibekduzu and Sarikoy. Many thanks to Basak Toker, our volunteer coordinator in Turkey, for helping us prepare this trip and to Mary and Kaya Tuncer for their mileage donation. Last week was a very good week for us: First of all, we had a wonderful time at our Open House Party for the Volunteer Center. More than 50 people came and there was a tremendous amount of sinergy in the Center. This is the first Turkish-American Volunteer Center in California. Thanks to all seven restaurants who donated food for this event. To open such place was not easy and to keep it open will not be any easier, but I have faith in you. I think people support good things and this project is one of them. Fortunately enough, our Advisor Korhan Titizer proved me right by donating $1,000 at this event. Furthermore, I was selected as the 2005 Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year, which is such an incredible honor for me. This is my first recognition in the US and I hope it will not only help me build my credibility, but also help Friends of Anatolia gain credibility as well as visibility. I sincerely thank everyone who contributed to this result. Lastly, after the Open House Party, I went to Los Angeles to meet with the leaders of the Southern California community. It was really amazing to see everyone coming together and sharing their experience. Thanks to our Advisor Sema Basol who made this event possible. These are all very inspiring and encouraging news and without your support these couldn't have been done. Please continue to be involved with us! Best Regards, Demet Yezgi |
Dear Friends,| ________________________________ |
| YNPN Award
YNPN’s mission is to promote an efficient, viable, and inclusive nonprofit sector that supports the growth, learning, and development of young professionals. YNPN will honor Demet at the awards ceremony on October 20th where a representative from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office will present the award. If you would like to attend the awards ceremony, please sign up here. |
Our
Founding President, Demet Yezgi, has just been selected as the
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) 2005 Young Nonprofit
Professional of the Year! A selection committee of nonprofit
leaders from the Bay Area chose Demet as the best and most qualified
person
to hold this honor. | ________________________________ |
| VOLUNTEER CENTER OPENING
The support of dedicated volunteers and generous donors, especially Omer Uyuklu, who has donated most of the furniture, helped make this dream come true. Special thanks to the wonderful restaurants who donated delicious food for this event: Cafe Baklava To read more about this event and learn more about the Volunteer Center, click here. |
We are very excited about the opening
of our new Volunteer Center in Mountain View. We celebrated
the completion of the new Volunteer Center with an Open House
Party on Friday, October 7th and opened its doors to all volunteers
who would like to contribute to a worthwhile cause. | ________________________________ |
| Completing the School Projects
To learn more about the education projects, click here. |
Following the opening
of the Volunter Center, our Founding President Demet Yezgi will
go to Turkey to evaluate the school repairs in Siverek, Sanliurfa
and
Midyat,
Mardin.
She
will complete these projects by buying and distributing school
supplies to the students and participating in the opening ceremonies.
The generosity of
Mary and Kaya Tuncer who donated their mileages for a free flight
ticket made this trip possible. Demet will
be in Turkey between October 13 and October 24. | ________________________________ |
| ANNUAL CAMPAIGN Until now, most of our fundraising efforts were based on project specific campaigns. As a long-term strategy, we decided to launch an annual campaign for the rest of the year in order to continue and accomplish our program goals successfully. Please see our annual campaign letter for further details. Currently, our aim is to raise an additional $35,000 by December 7th, our first anniversary, so that our infrastructure can grow with our programs. As a newly established organization, we will be able to qualify for U.S. government and foundation grants next year, only after we complete our first year of operation. These funders also look for wide community support in choosing whom to fund. Our campaign is moving along slowly as we have been currently primarily focusing on our programs and the new Volunteer Center. Furthermore, we realize that fundraising efforts throughout the U.S. has concentrated on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. We are, however, on track with our fundraising plans and have initiated new efforts such as signing up for E-Bay and freepledge. |
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| Sonoma
Gathering
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| BUILDING ALLIANCES Sunday Brunch in Los Angeles
To read more about this and other events, please see our past events page. |
On October 9, 2005,
over twenty representatives of Los Angeles area Turkish-American
nonprofits, media and businesses got together to learn about
Friends of Anatolia and the upcoming Women’s Art in Anatolia
exhibit at Cal State Northridge. The Sunday Brunch was hosted
by Friends of Anatolia Vice President Sema Basol and her husband
Bulent Basol at their Manhattan Beach home. | ________________________________ |
| Backpack Angels
Please check out their website and help them raise money to be able to send 10,000 backpacks to children in Turkey,in Afghanistan and Kenya by December 1st to be distributed before the end of December as either Christmas gift or New Years gift depending on the country. |
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| "Shop the Same Way, Donate a Different Way!"
Currently freepledge is in association with Amazon.com. To read more about freepledge or to have part of your purchases donated to Friends of Anatolia, click here. |
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| Missionfish
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If you sell an item on eBay, you can donate a percentage
of your proceeds to Friends of Anatolia! | ________________________________ |
| Turkish Website The first draft of our Turkish website is up. This site is under construction and there is a lot more to do. If you would like to help or share your feedback, please e-mail us. |
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| FOA Banner We have designed our first web banners. If you would like to use one of these on your website, please e-mail us.
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| CULTURAL
ARTICLES Iznik Tiles
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The
Turkish ceramic tiles, also known as Iznik Tiles, are a unique
product with a dazzling history originating in the XV and XVII
centuries. The Ottoman Emperors built magnificent palaces and mosques,
lovely fountains, beautiful public baths, kitchens, estates, and
covered their walls with ornate hand painted tiles. These famous
tiles and other ceramic wares were designed and produced by the
artisans of the little town called Iznik, one time the capital
of the Empire. 
The designs of these
tiles were prepared by court artists, and inspired by the flowers
at the Sultan's palace: tulips,
carnations, pomegranate flowers, roses. The colors, however,
were inspired from the semi-precious stones: cobalt, lapis lazuli,
turquoise,
coral and emerald. The fame of the artists went beyond their
artistic skills. The Iznik artisans also found and invented some
tile making
techniques, including; successfully adding red color to the tiles
and application of the white under-coatings and glass-like hard
glazes._________________________
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Sanliurfa
Sanliurfa lies in South Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. According to both the Bible and Quran, it is the birthplace of Abraham before his migration to Canaan, now Palestine. The city has a vast religious heritage as Jethro, Job, Elijah, Abraham and Moses all lived in the region. Over time, pagan temples were converted to synagogues, synagogues to churches and churches to mosques, resulting in a uniquely eclectic architecture.
Today, Urfa is one of Anatolia's largest metropolitan areas, partly due to the nearby Ataturk Dam and efforts to make the city the center of Turkey's new Fertile Crescent. Restaurants are packed with locals and foreigners dining on the famed Urfa kebab of Turkish cuisine and other delights of the area. |
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| Did you know that Anatolia... The number of archaeological excavations going on in Turkey every year is at least 150. The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk, Turkey (7500 B.C.). Anatolia is the birthplace of historic legends, such as Homer (the poet), King Midas, Heredotus (the father of history), and St. Paul the Apostle. The words "Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)" were said by Julius Caesar when he went to Anatolia in 47 BC. |
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| Dish of
the month Thinly rolled pastry,
often the Traditionally it was said that no girl should marry until she had mastered the art of borek making. Preferred fillings are cheese, minced meat, spinach and potatoes. In the form of rolls filled with cheese or minced meat mixtures and fried, boreks are known as "Sigara (cigarette) boregi". Boreks should be light and crisp, without a trace of excess oil. |
paper thin variety known as yufka, is wrapped around
various savory fillings or arranged in layers. The myriad types
of borek
are unmatched delicacies when cooked to perfection. Boreks can
be fried, baked, cooked on a griddle or boiled. | _________________________ |
| Facts about Turkish Here are some words in English with Turkish origins: Yogurt, pilaf, coffee, baklava, shish kebob, pita, kilim, sherbet, caviar, kielbasa, musakka ... Here are some Turkish words with no English translation: "Eline Saglik"= literally, "Thank
your hands." Usually used
to thank a cook for a great meal. |
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Friends of Anatolia is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization
under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.