TALL President's Corner

February 4, 2007

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  As we start our fifth year as a chapter, we are looking forward to much continued success.  First, on behalf of the Southern California Turkish American community, We would like to extend our congratulations and thanks to the TALL board members of 2006, Arzu Simsek, Dilek Yucel, Hafize Turgut, Yasemin Doker and Zinnur Guvenc.

TALL has raised in excess of $17,000 in donations and fees. We have continued helping our school charities including Birecik, Project Hope School, and the Santa Ana Blind Children's Learning Center. In addition, we took on new cultural projects helping our community, such as supporting the reception and entertainment at the opening at the exhibition for Women's Art of Anatolia at CSU Northridge as well as the Dondurmam Kaymak movie screening.  None of this could have been possible without everyone’s contributions.
 
We depend on your continued support for 2007 to continue raising funds for these projects and some others {the above mentioned projects and some others} that we are currently researching. Our focus will be to address women’s and children’s needs, as well as highlighting the Turkish presence in Southern California.

TALL Board of Directors at your service:

Arzu Simsek is an incumbent member, and is this year’s Treasurer She enjoys volunteering for non-profit organizations and brings broad experience. She had been actively involved in the non-profit organization “Berliner Turkish-German Women Organization: BETAK” and served as President from 1996 to 1998.
 
Azade Balkaner is living in Southern California since 2002. She graduated from CSULA with a degree in Management and minor in Economy.  She has been an active member of the Turkish-American community. She enjoys volunteering and is looking forward to serving TALL, as this year’s Membership Chair.

Hafize Turgut is an incumbent member, and this year’s Public Relations chair. She is a Financial Consultant at Healthnet. She has been a Vice President and columnist for Alaturkaonline, the first Turkish e-newspaper in United States. She worked actively for Turkish Student Association at USC in 2002-2004. She also volunteers and sings at different events and organizations in Los Angeles. She enjoys working actively in the Turkish-American community.

Melisa Doker is a young Turkish-American student who has been working for the past several years.  She has been actively involved in various organizations since her early high school years, and has been on the board of directors for several groups. With her board experience in volunteering, she brings valuable experience to the board. She is this year’s Secretary.

Leyla Cohen is a realtor at Sotheby's International Realty of Westlake Village she has been in the industry for over two decades. She has lived in Westlake Village for over 21 years with her husband and daughter Aysha who is a student at UCI. She is a member of several clubs in her area , and brings a great contribution to the BOD.

TALL’s ability to fulfill its mission statement of service to the Turkish-American community depends on you and your membership. Please visit our membership page at www.atasc.org/TALL.php, or please contact any of the board members with questions or suggestions.

Regards,

Asuman Yilmaz and Naime Berkoz
TALL Co-Presidents

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