Sema Volunteer Program

Sema Foundation Volunteer Outreach Program

Sema Foundation www.semafoundation.org SEMA PHOENIX OFFICE | 325 N AUSTIN DR #4 CHANDLER, AZ 85226

Sema Foundation Welcome to Volunteer Outreach Program Donate Your Most Precious Gift - TIME!

Dear Volunteer, You can play a significant role in helping us to engage with individuals and organization for mutual understanding and exchanging ideas. We invite you to help serve your community in a way that truly makes a difference. With a focus on respect, support and empowerment, your donated time helps to provide courage and openness for all walks of life.

Contributions of time, talent and resources are an integral part of Sema’s ability to meet the basic needs of community; mutual respect, better understanding and cooperation among different cultures and faiths.

Volunteers are essential to the work we do at Sema, and we really wouldn’t exist without them. Every week our dedicated team of volunteers donates significant amount of their time as they assist in the operation of our programs. They come from various backgrounds and cover all ages, but the common thing they share is a desire to assist our neighbors in need and enjoy working together. Sema volunteers bring their expertise, care and time to make a brighter future for our community. New volunteers are always welcome and quickly become part of the Sema volunteer team.

In this booklet, you will find a brief introduction of our organization, benefits of volunteer program, and most frequently asked questions about SEMA. For more information about volunteering, please contact info@semafoundation.org Thank you again for your volunteerism and your support of the Sema Foundation Kindly, Mehmet AZMAZ Executive Director

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SEMA’s MISSION & GOALS Our Mission: We are people of Sema; where a smile is a priceless donation, a cup of tea is very serious business and to love your neighbor is our bread & butter.

Our vision is to bridge hearts and intellects in Arizona for the betterment of our community.

Sema Foundation Sema Foundation welcomes you with its new mission and enhanced commitment to serve our community which is built on its experience in the Valley spanning over 10 years. We are a non-profit organization who offers its services under four areas; charity, education, outreach, and culture. Our newly- formed Board of Directors decided to merge our various organizations into a single body to become a stronger voice and to grow programs in the most needed areas of our community. It is our promise as Sema Foundation to strive to provide innovative and effective programs that will have a significant and lasting impact in our richly diverse society.

As members of Sema, we believe that diversity of values and beliefs is not a threat to social fabric; rather it may be a basis to moving all different groups toward reaching common goals that are vital to our society. The first step for this framework is to initiate a productive dialogue among the members of our community.

Our services are free to eligible in for All Arizona residents, and are provided in a welcoming and non-judgmental manner. We utilize in each of our programs, specifically designed to demonstrate our focus on respect, support and empowerment. At Sema, we believe that our success and growth is integral to our partners, other local nonprofits, community foundations, faith communities, and a strong network of committed volunteers.

We organize various events mostly in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler and Tucson. The headquarter offices are located in Chandler and a branch office is in Tucson.

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OUR PAST FID – SEMA – ANATOLIA HIGHLIGHTS

FID Timeline 2004 – Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue was founded as an independent 501(c) by Turkish Arizonans.

2005 – First statewide event was hold at ASU Gammage antic theater with a sold out event; The Whirling Dervishes.

2008 – FID was honored with Tempe MLK Diversity Award by City of Tempe for their dialogue activities 2008 – First Statewide Children Festival was successfully organized.

2009 – First group of distinguish professionals participated in Turkey Trip.

2009 – First Legislative Luncheon was held at Senate Building which 67 of 90 selected representatives attended the event 2011 – Gabrielle Giffords was recognized by FID at Peace Awards for her services to community 2012 – First Tucson Meet Yourself Attendance was organized successfully; which led to becoming one of the pioneers of the organization as years to come.

2013 – Abdullah Gul Recognition Primer Minister of Turkey was recognized for his services to world peace 2013 – Hoster Dialogue Dinner partnership with AZTA for legislatures and elected officials 2014 – First statewide premiere of Movie “Love is A Verb” was held in ASU and UofA. 2015 – Partnered with FFC (ASU Youth Club) to organize first Anatolian Cultures and Arts Day As a glance before it’s rebranded; FID has organized 67 major various events just the 2015 alone.

13 Lectures, 11 Community Events, 10 Social Events, 8 Dinners, 25 Host A dost Dinners and many gatherings have been organized successfully by our volunteers. Approximately, more than 4,000 people have been reached and many more to come.

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This year, we are very excited with our new group. Within our renovated offices and structure, we are looking forward to continue to reach out to many individuals.

Some Numbers for 10th Year! *For detailed list of events, contact info@semafoundation.org

46

Social Responsibility Projects

16

10

Annual Dialogue & Interfaith Dinners

9

Panels

Recognition for Contribution to World

Peace

38

Lectures & Luncheons

10x2

Friendship & Neigborhood Dinners

20,000+ 200+

individuals reached out

Host A Dost Dinners

SEMA Timeline 2005 – Sema Foundation (SF) was founded as an independent 501(c) by Turkish Arizonans.

2006 –Annually Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha were celebrated as well as Holy Nights recognized by Islamic Calendar 2006 – First Iftar Dinners for local community and Qurban Picnics were organized annually 2007 – First Nawruz Picnic with Mesquitan Turks and Memorial Days 2008 – First Weekend School offering Turkish Language, Quran and Arts, PE and Ethics for Turkic Students were established.

2009 – First Turkish Cultural Events Week Celebration as well as Kermes 2010 – First Turkish Classes were offered by Sema Foundation

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2011 – First Sira Nights and Other Cultural Gatherings were organized.

2012 – Spiritual & Religious Conversation Groups celebrated their 200th Gatherings 2013 – Sema Hosted Memorial Day for Mesqutian Turks November 15th 1944 for the first time 2014 – Sema attended Suns Game with 181 community members 2015 – Sema Hosted NBA Player Enes Kanter at community center 2016 – Sema rebranded itself and became the umbrella brand for FID –Anatolia and Sema Organizations 2017 – Sema relocated to Chandler with its flagship events and projects

Some Numbers for 12 Year! *For detailed list of events, contact info@semafoundation.org

500+ 20

Conversation Groups Meetings

Local Muslim Community Iftar Dinners

2

Suns Game Attendance

10+

Year Non Stop Weekend School for

Kids

20+

Personal Development Seminars

7

Nawruz Picnics

10x2

Celebration of Ramadan And

Qurban Festivals

5,000+

10

Year Turkish Classes

12

Year Friday Prayers & Quran Classes

5

Year Cooking Classes

individuals reached out

Anatolia Timeline 2015 – Established the Phoenix & Tucson Branch to serve Turkish Community Locally 2015 – First Monthly Breakfasts started

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2016 – Sponsored International Singing and Song Concert in Tucson 2017 – Merged to Sema Foundation alongside FID

Some Numbers for 2 Year! *For detailed list of events, contact info@semafoundation.org

10+ 2

Traditional Neighborhood Breakfast

Non-Stop Turkish Classes

5

Community Picnics

2x2

Celebration of Ramadan And Qurban

Festivals

8+

Personal Development Seminars

8

Cultural Gatherings (Coffee Nights, Ladies

Night etc.)

(NEW) SEMA Highlights 2016 Oct - Restructured the committees and its functionalities 2017 Jan - Neighborhood Breakfast 2017 Feb - Mentorship and Guidance Program for Next Generation 2017 Mar - 3 Tea & Talks / Cooking Class / Women’s Day / 2017 Apr - Beginning of Peace Islands / Kermes 2017 May – 2 Tea & Talks / Dinner 2017 June – Ramadan Iftar Dinners 2017 July – Offseason

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2017 Aug – Eid Al-Adha Celebration 2017 Sept – Relocation to Chandler 2017 Oct – Tea & Talk / Kermes / Tucson Meet Yourself / After School Program 2017 Nov – Tea & Talk / Ladies Night / Kermes / Sunday Morning Conversations 2017 Dec – New Season Cooking Club / Turkish Classes / Tea & Talk / Sema Market

Benefits of SEMA Volunteer Program With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, the benefits of volunteering are enormous to you, your family, and your community. The right match can     

Help you find friends, Reach out to the community, Learn new skills, Advance your career Protect your mental and physical health.

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Volunteering connects you to others o Make new friends and contacts o Increases your social and relationship skills Volunteering is good for your mind and bod o Increases self-confidence o Combats depression o Stay physically healthy Volunteering can advance your career o Try out career experience o Learn valuable job skills Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life o Improve your language skills o Better family life o Be A Role model for the community o Engage with social life

Expectations from SEMA Volunteers    

Meet all the benefits of volunteering by the end of first term Learn about the organization and its volunteer policies Ask for and have regular reviews or evaluations of your performance; Get guidance and support in your volunteer role;

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Be punctual for your volunteer duty or shift; Be reliable and responsible; Communicate any issues or concerns which are likely to affect your volunteer duties; Do your duties as assigned and directed; Accept guidance from the Volunteer Coordinator or supervisor; Be willing to learn and participate in orientation, training programs, and meetings; Keep sensitive organizational information confidential; Comply with the policies and procedures of the organization.

Q & A Frequently Asked Questions Q: What does dialogue mean?

A: The definitions may vary. In fact, "Dialogue" comes from the Greek word dialogos. Logos means 'the word', or in our case we would think of 'the meaning of the word'. And dia means through'—it doesn't mean 'two'.... The picture or image that this derivation suggests is of a stream of meaning flowing among and through and between us. (David Bohm on Dialogue)

Q: Why do we need dialogue?

A:   

We need dialogue simply because we desperately need it today. “….In our world that has become smaller and in which relations have become closer, people expect answers from religion” (regarding mysterious enigmas in human nature that turn their hearts upside down.)…- MFG- The Necessity of Dialogue-Fountain Magazine The more we know about each other, the more we like each other. People are horrified with not knowing. “Ignorance is bliss” is no longer a valid argument.

Q: Who is Fethullah Gulen? Why is he an important figure in Dialogue activities?

What is his role in SEMA? A:   

Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish Muslim scholar, thinker, and poet, as well as an educational and humanitarian activist.

He is regarded as the initiator and inspiration of the worldwide social movement known as Hizmet, which translates to service and is also known simply as the Gülen Movement.

He is noted for his pro-democracy, pro-science, pro-dialogue and anti-violence positions. In May 2008, Fethullah Gulen was listed as the most influential public intellectual in the world by

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Foreign Policy magazine. In 2013 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

Gulen’s life and teachings exemplify values such as selfless service to one’s community and to humanity in general, sincerity, as well as deep faith. As a testament to his humility Fethullah Gülen considers himself to be just one among the millions of volunteers in the social movement that he helped originate and which bears his name.

He denounces any attribution of leadership and instead spends most of his time reading, writing, and in worship. He is known for his deep respect for all creation, for his empathetic attitude, and his call to alleviate the suffering of humans in every corner of the world.

The millions of volunteer participants in the Hizmet movement include students, academics, business owners, professionals, public officials, and farmers. The movement draws men and women, young and old, to contribute in multiple ways. Projects include tutoring centers, schools, colleges, hospitals, publishing houses and media outlets.

Fethullah Gülen currently resides in Pennsylvania and continues to write and give talks on various important subjects related to spirituality and humanitarian service and causes.

He has no role in SEMA activities however his encouragement and motivational speeches has been inspiring many volunteers to continue to serve community and build bridges among different cultures and faiths.

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