Eastern Food Market matching donations for Turkey, Syria relief

Efforts are underway around the world to help those suffering after two devastating earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria.

READ MORE: Turkey, Syria quakes death toll continues to rise

Eastern Food Market in Hamilton says it will be matching customer donations.

Dawood Nadeem-Younis, innovation officer for Eastern Food Market says, “a lot of our customers, a lot of our family, friends, and a lot of our staff either have relatives or have lived in Turkey or Syria.”

The death toll after last week’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake has surpassed 39,000.

READ MORE: Canada to give $10M in aid after deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake

“We’ve decided that for the rest of February, all donations will be matched and given to Islamic Relief Canada,” Nadeem-Younis said.

Islamic Relief Canada is a charity that responds to global emergencies, “they’ve reached, I believe, about 16,000 people on the ground. We wanted to make sure we were partnering with a group who has boots on the ground and is doing work.”

Eastern Food Market has made donating to the cause an easy process for its customers, “whether they want to donate 50 cents or $50, it doesn’t really matter. We collect the donations, and at the end of the month we will match the donation.”

READ MORE: Turkey, Syria earthquake deadliest seismic event in 10 years

This is not the first time Eastern Food Market has helped others. They’ve been accepting donations for Nisa Homes, which is a shelter for Muslim women.

Last Ramadan, 1 per cent of all sales went to the Muslim Association of Hamilton.

Eastern Food Market will also be accepting donations at its Niagara Falls location until the end of the month.