Photo courtesy of Meltem Korkmazel & Meliha Kavukcuoglu / Left to right: Mete Celebi, Kaan Kavukcuoglu, Ela Ustun

A community bike ride organized by three Lexington High School students has helped bring clean drinking water to children attending schools in one of Türkiye’s most earthquake-affected regions.

Ela Ustun, Kaan Kavukcuoglu and Mete Celebi began the project in March 2025, more than two years after the devastating February 2023 earthquakes struck southeastern Türkiye. The disaster caused widespread destruction across the region, with historic Hatay among the areas most severely affected. As communities continue to rebuild, access to reliable basic infrastructure remains part of the long-term recovery effort.

The students decided to focus on clean drinking water in schools. Working with Bridge to Türkiye Fund (a U.S.-based charitable non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization) and TOKTUT (a nonprofit organization in Türkiye), they organized a community bike ride along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and reached out to families, friends, residents and local businesses for support.

The campaign raised more than $5,000, enough to fund four water filtration units for four schools in the earthquake-affected region. These units have now been installed and are providing hundreds of students with free access to clean drinking water during the school day. The systems also reduce schools’ dependence on single-use plastic water bottles, giving the project an environmental benefit in addition to its immediate impact on students.

Photo courtesy of Meltem Korkmazel & Meliha Kavukcuoglu

The Lexington students’ effort became part of a broader clean-water initiative in Hatay when they inspired many more youth volunteers in Seattle and other parts of the U.S. with youth-raised funds from all of these activities. Bridge to Türkiye Fund and TOKTUT installed 11 filtration systems as of June 2026, reaching thousands of students. The broader program is expected to produce 600 tons of clean drinking water while preventing approximately 20 tons of plastic waste. 

For Ela, Kaan and Mete, the project started with a local event and a manageable goal. A year later, the results can be seen in 11 schools thousands of miles from Lexington.

Their story is a reminder that student-led community projects do not always end when the fundraiser is over. Sometimes, the impact is only beginning.

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