What Yassin's Falafel House owner learned from Turkey earthquake trip

When Yassin's Falafel House owner Yassin Terou arrived in Turkey and saw hundreds of earthquake survivors sleeping in the cold, needing shelter, food, blankets, clothes and medical support, he knew he was where he needed to be.

“It doesn't matter the border, it doesn't matter where they are, we are one world,” Terou told Knox News March 28, just over a month after he returned to Knoxville.

“Our idea was to provide hot soup and medical supplies,” he said of the relief mission supported by more than $200,000 he quickly raised in an online fundraiser. “But on the ground, we found out there is more need for other things.”

Terou and fellow Knoxvillians Andrew Randazzo and Noor Ibrahim jumped into action after a series of powerful earthquakes shook the Turkish-Syrian border in February. The quakes, including two that registered above 7.5 in magnitude, resulted in more than 50,000 deaths and displaced more than a million people, according to the United Nations.

“These people (fled for safety) without money and was out of everything. They just left in the middle of the night. They don’t even have socks, they don’t have underwear, they don’t have a jacket. This is (what) working on the ground will show you,” Terou recalled.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2023/04/04/yassins-falafel-house-owner-reflects-on-turkey-earthquake-relief-trip/70050618007/

Knoxville has its very own José Andrés