WORCESTER, Mass. - A group of students and staff from Turkey at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are working together to raise money to help their loved ones impacted by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

There are 15 students and 12 faculty members from Turkey at WPI. They're working with Turkish student organizations throughout North America and have set up a table in the campus center to raise money for the Turkish Philanthropy Fund. So far, the WPI community has raised more than $11,000.

"A similar fundraiser was organized by the Chinese community here in 2008 and they encouraged us to do something similar," said WPI student Caner Tol.

"We are going to send this money to different organizations in Turkey and they are going to use this money to help the victims of this event," said assistant teaching professor Koksal Mus.

"When the earthquake happened in Turkey it was like 4 a.m. and here it was very late too," said Yasar Idikut, another student. "I got the news that morning and I had emails coming from my professors, academic advisors, faculty, so it's been an incredibly supportive environment."

Turkish student organizations around the United States and Canada have raised almost $510,000 in less than two weeks. The money is going to the people who are directly affected by the earthquakes.