Don’t Throw It Away! Get It Repaired, Let It Be A Hope for Children

The 10th Changemaker of the 10th season of the Sabancı Foundation Turkey’s Changemakers program is the “Don’t Throw It Away! Get It Repaired, Let It Be A Hope for Children” project which works to collect unused, broken, faulty, malfunctioning toys, repair them and get them to children in need and make the children happy.

Muammer Kavazoglu is a former real estate agent who lives in Bursa Orhangazi. One day, after he gifts a child in need with toys he repaired after finding them thrown away by a garbage container, he sets the foundation for the “Don’t Throw It Away! Get It Repaired, Let It Be A Hope for Children” project.
With the help of volunteers and supporters, Muammer Kavazoğlu repairs broken, faulty, malfunctioning toys and delivers them to those in need. Within the scope of the project, toys that evoke violence such as guns are not sent to children even if they work. The pieces of these types of toys are used to complete other toys.
To this day, 3,200 toys have been repaired and delivered to children in need within the “Don’t Throw It Away! Get It Repaired, Let It Be A Hope for Children” project, which is supported by mother Şükriye Kavazoğlu in addition to many volunteers who help repair the plush toys.
Muammer Kavazoğlu, by repairing the toys to be thrown away and then getting them to the children in need, helped to protect nature by recycling while preventing the waste of toys by upcycling. While raising awareness of these issues in society, he kept children away from violent toys, thereby both setting an example in civil society and making a huge difference for the imagination of children that will not easily be forgotten.
Date: 01.03.2019 (Season 10 - Episode 10)