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THE REP WITH THE GOLDEN HEART

 

Kathryn Kanat has worked in Fethiye as a Representative for Thomas Cook for the last eight years; she has married and settled here.  Kathryn cares, and because she does, she has, in a very special way linked care for her customers, with care for the environment and care for the poor.

Kathryn developed her plan three years ago and this season has surpassed her previous efforts by raising a staggering £1,000 for a local charity FIG which dedicates its work to local children and their education.

During the course of her work with tourists at five large hotels situated in the Olu Deniz area of Fethiye, Kathryn noticed that over a two week vacation the holidaymaker’s beach towels needed laundering, so she provided this service from her own home, lending clean towels in the meantime, in return for donations to FIG.  She also noticed that upon leaving the resort many holiday makers were throwing away unfinished bottles of shampoos, sun creams and sundry lotions.  Kathryn, unhappy about the waste and its adverse effect on the environment devised a scheme whereby these items were left with her and provided to incoming holiday makers for a donation.  Kathryn also accepted donations of clothes, shoes and other items which she passed on to FIG for their ‘Friday Sales’.  She did all this because she was aware that whilst affluence in the area of Fethiye has increased in large part due to tourism, there are still many families on subsistence living and many in real need.  She saw her personal opportunity to play her part and assist areas of need that would not otherwise have benefited and she acted upon it.

All this represented a lot of extra work for Kathryn in addition to her duties as a Thomas Cook Rep, which we all know is hard enough work by itself!  She chose FIG because it is a local charity, run under the auspices of a Turkish charitable organisation, whereby foreigners who have settled in the area can ‘Give something back’ and enter into the life of the local community.  The Fethiye International Group targets children and their education because children are the future of us all.  More can be learned about their activities from the website www.figfethiye.org.  Kathryn has made a considerable addition to FIG funds and she can be assured that it will be used for the benefit of as many children as possible.  She is a superb example of what one person can do, by caring for others and the community where she lives.  Would that there were many many more like her..

 

fethiye international group