Dear friends,

As one of the founding partners of the Child Amputees of Türkiye Earthquake Project (Project CATE), the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) would like to express its sincere gratitude to the individuals and local organizations: American Turkish Association of Washington, DC (ATA-DC), Indiana-American Turkish Association (IN-Ataturk), Oregon Turkish American Association (ORTA), Turkish American Association of California (TAAC),  Turkish American Cultural Association of Michigan (TACAM), Turkish American Society of Northeastern Ohio (TASNO), and Utah Turkish American Association (UTAA) for contributing to the Project CATE.

On February 6, 2023, eleven provinces in Türkiye were devastated with multiple earthquakes leaving the children in these regions with incalculable psychosocial, economical and health care related burdens. The purpose of Project CATE is to help amputee children grow as functional adults and be part of society by building the infrastructure of social, psychological, and physical rehabilitation opportunities. This initiative will start by ensuring child amputees receive age-appropriate orthopedic aids such as orthoses and prostheses, physical therapy and psychological support in tandem with their long-term education. Immediate interventions include replacing their extremities with prostheses and providing physical and psychological therapy to ensure these children will be able to live independently and become active members of society. For this purpose, a new Child Wellness Center (Çocuk İyilik Merkezi) which operates under Cukurova University in Adana was opened in October 2023. At the opening ceremony, ATAA was acknowledged with a trophy for its contribution to the project. ATAA took this trophy on behalf of all Turkish Americans who contributed to the project.

Together with the Project CATE Partners, we continue to raise funds for this important and ongoing project. The costs of each prosthesis vary according to its features; however, they are estimated to be around $9 to $16 thousand US Dollars per limb.

Please consider donating to this project to help these children recover and empower their future.

Project CATE Partners List: