A Message From Our Youth Leaders
Students walking around in the halls. The sound of pencils scratching on paper. Catching up with your friends on how eventful summer was. You know what that means- school is officially back in session! The volunteers at Turkish Educational Foundation-Youth Leadership Group (TEF-YLG) are excited to start yet another year of learning. The first few weeks have gone by smoothly and our volunteers are very happy with their classes and teachers. We have so many classes to choose from such as art, dance, journalism, and computer science. However, not all children have this same opportunity in Turkey.
In Turkey, some middle school and high school kids do not get to experience the exciting moments school has to offer. Since their families cannot afford a proper education, young kids spend their youth working around the house and helping their families out financially. We, the TEF-YLG, plan to provide children with the similar experience that we tend to take for granted.
With the help of our partners, our goal this school year is to provide schooling for even more students in areas where they do not have the privilege of education past elementary school.
The work we do in TEF mainly consists of helping children receive the education that they deserve! Our goal is to serve over 1000 students this coming year, which translates to $250,000. With your help, we can achieve this goal! For just $250 you can help support a child for a whole year. If you have not donated yet, please consider joining other Bir Mum donors for $250, Yeni Ay donors for $2,500, or Gunes donors for $25,000. You can donate using the information on the link https://www.tef-usa.org/donate, write a check written to The Turkish Education Foundation, or select "Turkish Educational Foundation" while on smile.amazon.com and automatically donate while shopping. We count on your support!
TEF Youth Leadership Group
Ece, Ebru, Esin, Lara, Kayra, Selin
Here is a short tutorial that shows how to change your charity on amazon smile:
Aydın bir Türkiye için el ele.
48 years of philantrophy
Founded in 1969, the Turkish Educational Foundation (TEF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Public Charity dedicated to educating children-in-need in Turkey. Now more than ever, a massive educational campaign is urgently needed to bring enlightenment and hope to the millions of children living in dire poverty.
“Nasıl imkansız gökteki yıldızları saymak, işte öyle imkansız sizi unutmak... ”
— Supported Student
Our mission is to provide scholarships to children of low-income families for them to continue their education, and to furnish educational materials for schools in villages and gecekondu areas to improve the quality of education. Many of our students are raised in underprivileged families and without TEF's support they would not have been able to continue their education.
Let there be light to reach every needy child
The scholarships are based on a need and merit basis, with no religious or ethnic criteria. In its mission to provide scholarships, TEF cooperates with local charitable foundations like Türk Eğitim Derneği (T.E.D.), Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği and Anadolu Çağdaş Eğitim Vakfı (ANAÇEV). These organizations search out likely candidates for TEF’s scholarship program and send profiles of those students to TEF. The TEF board of Trustees select those with good academic record. Each TEF scholarship is one-year long, but students continue to get scholarships until they graduate from high school as long as they stay enrolled and successful in their studies.
Get Involved
TEF is supported by the voluntary work of its members. This allows TEF to work with minimal overhead and more than 97% of the collected money is distributed to the students.
Now more than ever, a massive educational campaign is urgently needed to bring enlightenment and hope to the millions of children living in dire poverty. Therefore we started a new campaign – Aydın Bir Türkiye İçin Elele, or Hand in Hand for an Enlightened Türkiye – to step up our contributions and help educate these children.
TEF has achieved the 2018 Silver Seal of Transparency on Guidestar! Click for more information.