A Regina business raised over $700 in one week to donate to Islamic Relief Canada for Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims.
Quakes struck nine hours apart on Feb. 6 in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria.
Rescuers are still continuing to pull survivors from the aftermath.
Islamic Relief Canada does what it can to provide food, shelter and aid to those in Turkey and Syria.
Last week, Saltine Baking Company donated five per cent of its sales to support victims overseas through the relief fund.
Ashley Schmalenberg, CEO of Saltine Baking, said that the support from the city wasn’t surprising.
“The community has always shown up for us in any fundraising that we have made, but we were able to reach a lot of the people that we hadn’t maybe reached before.”
The bakery donated $711 in total to the relief fund.
“We have two employees in our business, one that is an immigrant from Turkey and one that is an immigrant from Syria. We saw the impact that it was having directly on people in our community, so we wanted to help in any way that we could.”
Customers were able to provide cash donations, as well as the sale percentage from the bakery at the end of the day.
“The goal wasn’t to benefit our business at all. I hope it just brought awareness that we care about the community and help people who are in need,” Schmalenberg said.
Although the fundraising is over, the bakery will still have a poster in the shop with a QR code for anyone who wants to donate to Islamic Relief Canada.
It was reported by the Associated Press that the death count between the two countries is over 35,000 as of Feb. 13.