Medford’s Freerange Market Manages Turkish Earthquake Relief
When Cenk Emri opened Freerange Market four years ago, the international grocery shop quickly attracted a diverse array of customers from across New England who were hungry for the hard-to-find ingredients and staples and favorites from their homelands.
Freerange specializes in foods from Turkey and other Mideastern, Balkan and other former Soviet countries.
A well-stocked meat counter presided over by a master butcher boasts halal and fresh cuts of Turkish meats, including lamb chops skillfully cut and prepared for pirzola, a beloved Turkish delicacy; lamb’s head for stew; kavurna, a breakfast patty-like cut often sauteed with a fried egg; and several varieties of sausages.
“These are probably unusual to most Americans, but this is our specialty,” Cenk explained.
There’s a tantalizing array of goat and sheep milk cheeses, spreads and yogurts, and frozen pastries including stuffed borek, and simit, a Turkish-style bagel with sesame seeds. Best selling Turkish ice cream ranges from cucumber to pink rose and pomegranate.
Grocery aisles are filled with enticing spices; rose and quince jams; imported and local tahini; Turkish candies and halvah and a popular Israeli chocolate hazelnut spread.
Over the years, as the market gained new customers, Emri offered his spacious shop and its cafe for social activities, forming a kind of United Nations community.
“This is a gathering spot. We have hobby groups, knitting groups. And educational programs,” and occasional parties, the entrepreneurial and civic-minded Emri said on a recent morning.
But in an instant, on February 6, immediately following the devastating earthquake and aftershocks that rocked southern and central Turkey and northern Syria, Freerange Market put its thriving retail business to a higher calling to help alleviate Turkey’s sudden immense need for life’s necessities.
Within four hours of the news, Emri put out a call for donations to send to Turkey.
The community he helped galvanize responded.
That same day, he and his staff and a cadre of early volunteers, filled two truckloads of goods and launched the beginning of a campaign that has transformed Freerange into the main collection and distribution site for donations for the Turkish earthquake relief for Greater Boston and all of New England.
“We wanted to do something good,” after hearing about the massive collapse of buildings and the unimaginable numbers of casualties and people of all ages including children, hanging on to survive in those early hours and first few days, caught beneath the crushing rubble.
Emri reached out to the Turkish Consulate General, which also set up a collection site at its downtown Boston office and is partnering with Emri. Turkish Airlines is providing free cargo space on its flights to move the medical equipment and supplies, blankets, diapers, clothing and all manner of dry goods.
Freerange’s location makes it an ideal site for the large-scale operation that Emri set in motion. Tucked away in the burgeoning River’s Edge neighborhood that borders the Mystic River, it’s an easily accessible area with ample room for trucks, as well as parking for individuals and organizations that are dropping off donations.
On any given day, dozens of volunteers unload vans and sort and label donations in symphony orchestra-like precision and then load up the large trucks for shipment.
To date, Emri estimates more than 500 people have volunteered their time.
The cafe is temporarily closed, instead feeding volunteers with trays of sweet and savory pastries and coffee and tea.
Emri does not have any immediate family in the earthquake region, but other community member volunteers were affected and some lost family members.
He’s lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and some 15 years in Boston and estimates there are tens of thousands of Turkish citizens and others of Turkish origin across New England.
On a recent visit, on day 12 following the earthquake, stacks of boxes were piled high on the sidewalk alongside the market. That morning, a moving van and SUV arrived from more than 60 miles away, filled with donations that were collected by the North Providence police department from its staff and the broader community.
“The outpouring was extensive,” Caption John Brady said. The van was “bursting at the seams with clothing, baby formula, diapers and other much-needed items.
Earlier that morning, Emri said he heard from Partners for World Health letting him know of a sizable donation.
The unflappable Emri admitted he’s getting by with very little sleep and is running on adrenaline and endorphins.
“Adrenaline is the stress. Endorphin is the pleasure of doing something to help,” he said.
Seeing the volunteers in the shop and all the people donating items is very moving for Nesey Yahya, a Turkish-born market staff member.
“We can’t go there so we are helping here. It’s not enough but it counts. When the trucks leave, we feel like we are helping a little bit. It’s helping us, too,” she said.
As the death toll climbs, Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn is grateful to Emre for organizing the donation drive for people in need halfway around the world and for coordinating his efforts with the Turkish Consulate.
“Seeing our community come together to help the victims and families affected is inspiring and provides a bit of hope in an otherwise grim situation,” she wrote in an email.
Emri’s spirits are lifted seeing the volunteers at the store. He said they are all taking pride not just because they are able to help but struck by the unity among people of all different cultures.
“It’s a remarkable sight. It truly became a multicultural mosaic. For the first time in my lifetime, this was a unifying factor for people.”
How can you help with disaster relief? The Turkish Consulate General in Boston is accepting “in-kind donations” between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. at its office, which is located at 31 Saint James Ave, Suite #840, in Boston, it said on Twitter. Larger bulk donations can be delivered to Freerange Market in Medford at 325 Rivers Edge Drive. Anyone looking to provide help can also call the emergency phone line at (857) 207-9284 or email consulate.boston@mfa.gov.tr.
