Mersin Shelter For Refugees Assistance

Ramadan 7, 1443 (April 8, 2022) Update
The Syrian refugees seeking assistance do not want you to forget their sufferings and plight.  They are still desperate for our help.  The Mersin Shelter for Refugee Assistance is in serious jeopardy to close due to a lack of funds.  Though not necessarily in any of today's news headlines, these people still depend on all our efforts to help them get back on their feet.  Without your kind donation, many will be left to live on the streets and be homeless. Please consider for Sadaqah or Zakat.



March 2021 Update:  

Over 10 million people have fled Syria's ongoing civil war, with more than 3.5 million refugees currently live in Turkey.  Nearly 90 percent of those refugees are now living outside traditional refugee camps such as the Mersin Shelter for Refugees Assistance.  Living in camps one is not allowed to seek work for their families.  Work permits are highly regulated by the Turkish Government for domestic reasons.  Supporting the Mersin Shelter allows these people the dignity of getting their lives back and earn a living.







Dear Charitable People, Friends, and Followers.  I’m Shahid Siddiqui CEO of Project Fresh Start, the main office of our organization is in Atlanta, GA USA. We work in conjunction with Tareef Saeb the founder of Mersin Shelter and Masjid Jafar Al Rahmah Community Center of Johns Creek GA with Naeem Mulla, and Hamzah Islamic Center of Alpharetta GA with Shakil Ghaya.   We fund our shelter campaigns directly from here to the Mersin Shelter in Turkey. We post our charitable works like videos, photos, and reports shared within.  Please donate what you can even if it’s $10, believe me, it will make a difference in a person’s life. 
 
The oppressed people in Syria are still in dire need.
They still need our love!
They still need our prayers!
They still need our assistance!

The Mersin Shelter was established 6 years ago in Turkey. It houses over 100 refugees on a rotating basis. Many are families cramped in one room.
The building is 5 stories and each floor has two apartment units. The main floor for young unmarried men with about 18 young men per room.
Our appeal is to make life better for these desperate people. They are true refugees. They are the poor. They are destitute.
The average cost to run a shelter is quite high. Please do not let these desperate souls be ignored.

Donations to the shelter can be part of one's Zakat obligations Please give what you can.
With your donations, we can help give these people hope in their lives and a roof to live under in a safer environment than their war-torn cities.
Together we can end the struggle for one human life, one family, one at a time for the Syrian people.



"We are here at Al Hamza center and Alhamdulleh we really feel comfortable. The people here are taking good care of us. We arrived from Halab around 3:00 am with no money and nowhere to stay. We gave them a phone call. Even though it was a difficult situation and a rainy night, they came right away to pick us up and gave us a place to stay. They generously took good care of what we need Alhamdulleh. Thank you and Jazakum Allah Khairan."











"If you have newly arrived in Turkey having no friends or relatives and no money to rent a house or a hotel room. 
Is the refugee camp the only choice? Or are there other choices?
A group of Syrians came up with an idea of renting a building to be a suitable place to accommodate the Syrians who have newly arrived in Turkey in the three cities: Mersin, Gaziantep, and Urfa. 
Organization of Al Rahma and Hamza is a charity organization working on accommodating the Syrian refugees for free and providing them with their supplies. 
The organization is supported by people from the USA. 
It services people from different Syrian cities. 
They come and stay for a temporary time until they secure a job and a place to stay. 
Abo Ahmed is a man telling a summary of his story. 
“I arrived at Mersin and I stayed in a park under a tree with my difficult condition for seven months until the people here sent to me by Allah SWT to physically carry me and bring me to stay here.”
In Urfa city that is close to Al Ruqqa city at Syria we met with Samir. 
Our goal in the organization of Bayt Al khair in Urfa is to help the Syrians who escape from the war and provide them with a safe temporary place to stay at for 10 to 15 days with all the supplies they need in a way that keeps their dignity. We teach them some Turkish vocabulary that they can use to communicate. 
It is a simple idea but it came out with great results as it secured a safe shelter for Syrians who newly arrived in Turkey and kept some of them away from homelessness."



"The biggest two problems Syrians face when they arrive in Turkey are finding a place to stay and having a job. So the idea of renting a building for them to stay when they arrive as a temporary shelter was a good helpful solution. 
Ahmed is a Syrian young man who graduated from college and works in education. When he came to Turkey he found the shelter center at Gaziantep city as a good starting point where he could stay temporarily until he found a job. 
Al Rahma and Al Hamza organization have a building in Gaziantep city and another two at Mersin and Urfa that can accommodate a total of 600 refugees where they can stay temporarily for about 15 to 20 days until they secure a job and a house."



Project Fresh Start is working in conjunction with these fine Religious Organizations

Masjid Jafar Al Rahmah Community Center of Johns Creek GA
Hamzah Islamic Center of Alpharetta




Families still leave war-ravaged areas in hopes of a better life.

The Shelter




Families with little to nothing have to make hard decisions on a daily basis.

Your donation of any amount today will help us turn their hardship into ease!  
It is said in our tradition, "Do not return the hand of the needy...that hand is trying to give you Jannah (Heaven)."