Blankets, tents, clothing and portable beds were among the supplies desperately needed to be donated for relief in the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Northern Syria Feb. 6.

But when Arzu Alkan was reviewing that list, it struck her: what about the needs of the children?

In response, the Guggenheim Elementary School counselor developed Operation Plushies Without Borders, a program at Guggenheim Elementary school to collect stuffed animals for the children displaced and affected by the catastrophic earthquake.

A box was placed in Alkan’s office during the week of Feb. 13-17 to collect the stuffed animals, but due to the efforts of the students from all grade levels, one box turned into two which turned into three until multiple boxes had to be provided for all the donations being brought in by students.

“It kept overflowing, so we had to keep adding another box, adding another bag,” Alkan said. “It just grew. It was a great problem to have.”

Overall, the students donated hundreds of stuffed animals. Many students brought multiple to donate, some even bringing personal plushies they wanted to share with another child in need. Alkan said that students from families of all socio-economic statuses participated.

But before the students got to the point of providing an overwhelming donation of stuffed animals, Alkan said she had to figure out if it was appropriate and possible.

Alkan got in contact with a survivor from an earthquake in the 90s, who was a child at the time of the quake, and asked if sending stuffed animals was appropriate. The survivor told her “absolutely yes,” and it was at that moment that Alkan knew she had to pursue this.

Alkan presented the idea of stuffed animal donations to the school’s principal, and once she was on board she then began the work to decipher whether this was feasible.

There were two major components to the plan that Alkan had to figure out: if they could send stuffed animals since it wasn’t on the list of donation items needed for relief, and if they could, how they would ship them.

Alkan contacted the Turkish Consulate General in New York asking for help in sending the stuffed animals, making sure it was okay to send the items and asking for assistance in shipping them. The consulate responded positively to Alkan, telling her they would accept the donations and figure out the rest.

After a week of collecting hundreds of stuffed animals, Alkan then personally drove them to the consulate on Feb. 18.

The consulate packed the stuffed animal for them and shipped them through Turkish Airlines, the school not having to pay for anything. The stuffed animals were packaged and shipped separately from other relief and donations sent to Turkey, which Alkan said received “V.I.P.” treatment.

The stuffed animals are now on the way to the Turkish organization Saadet Teacher Association for Combating Child Abuse, an organization that works to prevent child abuse in Turkey, who will then distribute them.

The stuffed animals will have traveled from Port Washington, then to New York City, and then to Turkey where they will go from the city of Istanbul to Adana and finally arrive in Adıyaman where they will be distributed by UCİM to children living in tents and hospitals.

Alkan said the town of Adıyaman was heavily impacted by the earthquake, where everyone currently lives in tents.

Alkan emphasized that while the program may have been established by her and her colleagues, it was the kids who pooled their efforts to donate hundreds of stuffed animals to children in need that made it possible.

“We talk so much about our social-emotional learning and our skills in our world, but then we were looking for opportunities to practice them,” Alkan said. “This was a great opportunity for our students to learn how valuable it is to have that social responsibility and how important it is to come together for a good cause.”

Alkan said the impact that the students had was one of the biggest learning lessons for them.

When a student would bring a stuffed animal to her to donate, she would remind them of how far it would travel and have them give it a big hug before it departed on its 5,500-mile journey to be hugged by another child in need.

“[The students] would look at me and they would feel very powerful in that moment,” Alkan said. “And I would say to them that ‘you are making somebody feel so good today.’”

The program which went by the motto “A hug in every plushie,” delivered just that.

“It was a great experience for [students] to learn something, but also learn something while doing something so meaningful,” Alkan said.

The school is no longer collecting donations, but Alkan said she is open to future efforts the students can get involved in.

“The magnitude of loss and devastation is going to be for a very long time – the impact is going to be for a long time there,” Alkan said. “So if there’s any chance we can continue something like this, I’ll be happy to organize it or make those connections.”

On Tuesday, the plushies will be handed out to hundreds of children displaced and greatly affected by the earthquake, all possible due to the efforts of a single elementary school in Port Washington and the students who care for children like them thousands of miles away.

“I do hope that it brings a little bit of color to a very dark time for some kids,” Alkan said.