If you know me well, you'll know that most of my family lives in Turkey. My mom emigrated to America at 25 with nothing but a few hundred dollars in her pocket and no plan on what she was going to do. If she hadn't done that I could easily have been one of the people experiencing the devastating loss and destruction that the people of Turkey are facing now.

My family is sleeping in cars with all their children in parking lots because they are scared of another earthquake happening (there was a 7.8-magnitude followed by a second 7.5-magnitude one). There is no food to eat because all the supermarkets, fast food, and restaurants are closed. They have lost people close to them and every moment is consumed by uncertainty right now.

Anything at all that you can contribute to them during this time would make me the happiest person in the world. I so badly want to help and this feels like the only thing I can do from thousands of miles away.

Any money raised will be sent to my family who lives in Adana - my cousin Arif Öz, his wife Naciye Öz, their son Cinar Öz, my cousin Utku Öz, his wife Nurcin Öz and their two small children Mert and Poyraz, my aunt Meral Öz, and other members of our large family there.

Because the economy isn't the best there, even just $20 US dollars converts to almost 400 Turkish Lira. Please donate anything you can spare, and thank you so so much in advance. <3

Nicole Rollsen