Mosque in Hilliard raises more than $100,000 for Syria, Turkey earthquake victims

Congregants at the the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard held a bake sale and fundraiser after prayers Friday for victims of the recent devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey and raised more than $100,000.

The nonprofit Turkish American Society of Ohio is also holding a bake sale for earthquake victims at 11 a.m. Sunday at its offices, 2885 W. Dublin Granville Road, on Columbus’ Northwest Side.

Donations at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center were collected online, in person and through a bake sale and a special speaker Friday who talked about the humanitarian crisis some 6,000 miles away.

Proceeds will go to nonprofits Syrian American Medical Society , Syrian Forum USA and Zakat Foundation for medical equipment, food, tents and other temporary shelter.

Donation drive organizer Dr. Iyad Azrak, a Syrian American ophthalmologist who lives in Dublin, said the earthquake has affected his extended family members.

“No one I called and talked with (in Syria) over the last few days had a standing home anymore,” said Azrak, 45, who is a clinical assistant professor at Ohio State University. He said he has gone on frequent medical missions to Syria since the civil war began over a decade ago.

“For folks that are Syrian refugees or Syrian internally displaced people — this has compounded the trauma,” said Amina Barhumi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio, who attended Friday's event in a personal capacity.

The death toll from the devastating earthquake surpassed 22,600 as of Friday, with tens of thousands more injured and millions left homeless in both Turkey and Syria.

More than 1,100 residents of Franklin County were born in Syria or Turkey, according to estimates from the American Community Survey .

Dr. Hikmat Kabbani, a cardiologist and member of the Syrian American Medical Society, traveled from Michigan to address worshippers Friday at the Hilliard mosque and to appeal for charity — or "zakat," one of the pillars of Islam.

“When nothing makes sense and we cannot put things together … this belief that you and I have in our hearts is the most precious thing we could have,” he told hundreds inside the prayer hall at Noor Islamic Center.

In the mosque’s foyer, dozens of volunteers at the bake sale sold pizza, gyro sandwiches and Turkish sweets to worshippers as they exited.

A variety of other international organizations are collecting donations for ongoing humanitarian work in Turkey and Syria, including UNICEF, Global Giving, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, OXFAM, CARE, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations.

“Keep people in prayers,” Azrak said. “And at the same time, if (you) can donate — there is no amount that will not make a difference. … At this point, the need is huge.”