ABOUT US

Our Story

Everything started at February 6, 2023. A devastating earthquake magnitude 7.8 hit Türkiye and Syria. These earthquakes most severely hit, Arda Buluç’s hometown, Hatay/Antakya. More than 25 thousand deaths at Hatay and 60 thousand overall, this earthquake was a scene from hell. Hatay was “erased from the map,” and that’s why Arda and his family went to a nearby city, Mersin on the following day. In Mersin, Arda joined volunteer humanitarian aids for earthquake-victims. Inspired from many different organizations and how they helped him, after several months from the first quake, on August 10, 2023, Arda Buluç founded HUFT to take actions to support his community with his two close friends. Starting as an Instagram account, the project raised awareness on the natural disasters. The organization grew rapidly, and became a youth-led project that demonstrates the power of young people in solving problems in our communities. As Hands Up For Tomorrow we have accomplished many projects. We gave English and math classes to earthquake affected children, we distributed 10 wheelchairs with the help of one of our donators, we distributed 30 kilograms of food to stray animals in the earthquake region, we picked up more than 1500 litters from our earth with doing environmental cleanliness projects on the beaches, forests, and streets.

How we implement projects?

As a youth-led project, we have high goals and so much energy. When we want to achieve to our goal, we start today. We start with finding the problem, which most of time the hardest part. After finding a problem in our community that we want to help to find solutions, we start to come up with new ideas to tackle. With dialogues, we find the best design. We plan what we are going to do (mostly in cáfes). Then we do what we desired to do. Along the way, we have one and only requirement for all our volunteers: to have fun! We are an organization of fellowships. When you are joining us, invite your best friend and enjoy to have a cup of coffee and talk about what you can do for your community. Most importantly, be ready to be a friend of all other our members. After we have done our project, we share on our social media accounts with the most informal way possible. Don’t forget, we are a youth-led organization!