Phil Koosed’s mission is nothing short of life or death.

The co-founder of Top 40 promotional products distributorship BAMKO (asi/131431) has been working around the clock to get desperately needed medical and humanitarian aid into Syria to help save lives in the wake of a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck last week, so far killing at least 36,000 people in Syria and neighboring Turkey.  

Koosed, currently chief strategy officer at BAMKO parent firm Superior Group of Companies, is also the co-founder, along with his wife Tamar, of Save The Syrian Children. The nonprofit provides life-saving medical supplies for the children and other civilians that have been caught up in and directly targeted during the bloody Syrian Civil War.

Given the supply routes established through the nonprofit, Koosed and his team of volunteers are uniquely positioned to get medical equipment, supplies, medicine and aid like tents, blankets, food and more into Syria to help people suffering amid the ongoing fallout from the catastrophic quake.

That’s just what Koosed and the team have been doing since the quake occurred, but the effort requires money. And Koosed is making a plea to the promotional products market to support what he says is the moral imperative of helping people trying to navigate a massive tragedy.

“In the midst of a disaster of this scale and magnitude, the timing is urgent. Acting quickly quite literally is the difference between life and death.” Phil Koosed

“We have shipped $150 million in aid over the years,” said Koosed, the recipient of the 2017 Bess Cohn Memorial Humanitarian Award. “For the earthquake, millions of dollars of our aid have been used and we plan to ship millions more.”

Koosed stressed to ASI Media that the situation on the ground in Syria is even more horrific than what most westerners have likely seen in media reports.

Not tents, no aid, no hope, our latest from NW Syria, where Idlib is enduring the earthquake's aftermath alone. With _@rachaelthorn Robbie Wright and Feras Kawaf pic.twitter.com/0woHpeNqfy

— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) February 13, 2023

“There is only so much you can show on TV before it becomes too graphic for the general audience,” Koosed said. “In the seven years of operating in this area, we have seen a lot of bad things: Barrel bombs filled with nails and explosives being dropped on marketplaces; gas attacks using sarin gas; and the intentional targeting of hospitals and schools. Sadly, the earthquake is worse just because of the sheer scale of the death count and injuries. We have never seen anything like it.”

The war, related political situation, and now the earthquake makes it particularly difficult to get aid into Syria. The efficacy of overall earthquake relief efforts has reportedly paled compared to the situation in Turkey.

“Providing aid amidst a natural disaster to a developing country is always hard, but when that developing country is also at war, it really increases the difficulty,” said Koosed. “The infrastructure has been completely rocked. Roads, hospitals, housing – all have taken an incredible hit, which just makes everything slower and more difficult than it normally is.”

Still, Koosed and the all-volunteer team at Save The Syrian Children refuse to let the difficulty deter them from their mission. And they’re asking for donations now to keep that mission going.

“Coordinating relief efforts has been a 24/7, super-intense experience,” Koosed said. “We are a fully volunteer organization, so we’re thankful to our volunteers who have been pouring everything into this. In the midst of a disaster of this scale and magnitude, the timing is urgent. Acting quickly quite literally is the difference between life and death.”

Other promo firms have also been engaged in earthquake relief efforts.