Milford Cards & Gifts owners Kayleigh and Sinan Hisim 'overwhelmed' by donations for Turkey earthquake victims

MILFORD shop owners who appealed for donations for victims of the Turkey earthquake have been so overwhelmed with offers they have had to stop accepting any more.

Kayleigh and Sinan Hisim, who run Milford Cards & Gifts, said they have been “shocked by the absolute outpouring of love” shown by the village.

Kayleigh told the A&T: “It has just been incredible, we never expected such a response. We have cried along with customers who have come in here about the tragic situation.

“So many people have given us really good quality items to send out to the victims, and some popped in just to give us their best wishes.

“It is only a small village but people have huge hearts. We cannot thank everyone enough.”

The couple launched their appeal following the devastating earthquakes which have been estimated to have killed nearly 40,000 people.

Sinan is a Turkish citizen as are the couple's children, Arif (10) and Yusuf (6). Luckily, none of the couple's family were injured in the disaster.

Each day’s donations were sent to collection points in Southampton and Bournemouth where they were sorted by volunteers and passed on to Luton Turkish Community Association which is transporting them.

A friend of the couple, Nergiz Kaya, helped them with storage and transport. Lymington and Pennington junior and infant schools and Milford Primary School all held collections for them too.

The couple have also been given £1,000 by villagers which will be going towards the Turkey earthquake victims.

Kayleigh said:“We have paused donations for now as the collection points have been overwhelmed and there is a queue of lorries trying to get into Turkey.

“But as soon as more items are needed, we will start collecting again.”

The British and Turkish governments are asking people to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee coalition of charities. Visit www.dec.org.uk