Students build furniture for Hatay’s needy families

HATAY

High school students in the southern province of Hatay are using leftover wood from their atelier to build furniture for families.

The project at Hatay Erol Bilecik Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School is part of an initiative called “Vocation high school students are meeting with families” and organized by the Turkish Education Ministry.

The students are building bedroom furniture, tables for children, bookcases, windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, coat wardrobes and shoe cupboards for families who can’t afford to buy them on their own.

Students are also fixing broken furniture for families.

Ahmet Zeytineli, head of the school’s furniture department, said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency that they were identifying families in need in the province by consulting with neighborhood heads (“muhtar” in Turkish), students and their parents.

The students use leftover materials from other products to build the furniture, Zeytineli said. So far, the students have helped about 30 families.

“We are experiencing the beauty of sharing,” Zeytineli said.

Elena Sert, one of the students, said she was happy to participate in the project.

Another student, Yusuf Çoşar, said they enjoy seeing the expressions on the faces of the families’ children when they receive the furniture.

The school also maintains and repairs desks used by many schools in the province.