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Volunteers Pitch in for Arab-American Service Day
Hawraa Hakim passed out t-shirts to volunteers gathered at Hemlock Park and quickly realized that there were more people than shirts.
“We ran out,” the 19-year-old Dearborn resident said. “We were surprised.”
About 320 volunteers joined Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) Saturday in celebrating the fifth annual National Arab-American Service Day, donating their time at two Gleaners’ Food Bank sites and at Focus: HOPE.
The day is a chance for Arab-Americans to show their compassion for their communities, said Taleb Salhab, director of the National Network for Arab-American Communities, which organized events Saturday across the country.
“It is phenomenal to see so many young people engaged in service to the broader community,” he said while about 40 youths packed food boxes at Gleaners’ Taylor site. “It is about building bridges between the Arab-American community and the broader community.”
Similar events were held in large cities across the country. About 3,000 people were expected to help out in various ways throughout Saturday, organizers said.
At the Taylor site, the young people buzzed about, dropping cans in appropriate boxes and packaging them for storage or later use. In Detroit, volunteers spruced up the Focus: HOPE campus and also assembled food packages. Congressman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, addressed the volunteers at the Taylor site.
Zainab Medlej said she needed no encouragement to want to help out.
“If I could do it everyday, I would not say no,” the 19-year-old Dearborn resident said.
James Martin, distribution manager at Gleaners’ Taylor site, said the volunteers were invaluable.
“It is beautiful,” he said after addressing the volunteers and explaining what they would be doing. “You couldn’t ask for nothing better. Volunteers are what make Gleaners run.”
Zainab al Braihn, a 16-year-old Dearborn Heights resident, said young people often are maligned by older people who think youths are not involved in their communities. She said the stereotype is not true.
“This is a good example of how we care,” she said while separating cans of fruit in a large cardboard box. “This is a good cause. It has been cool.”
Salhab’s organization helped to establish an AmeriCorps chapter that is the only one in the nation that offers Arab-Americans and non-Arabs the opportunity to serve at Arab-American community organizations.
Leon Vietinghoff, athletic director at the Riverside Academy West in Dearborn and a member of the chapter, said students at his school have worked with ACCESS on previous projects and are always game to help out their community. About 60 students were split between the Metro Detroit work sites on Saturday.
“Learning is just as important outside of the classroom, and maybe more important than learning inside the classroom,” he said. “Preparing young people for life is important.”
Santiago Esparza
The Detroit News