Thank You for a Record-Breaking Banquet! [SEE PHOTOS]

Dear CAIR-Chicago Supporters,

Feature 261On behalf of our chairman, Dr. Mazen Kudaimi, the board, staff, and volunteers, we wish to thank you for making our 6th Annual Banquet a record-breaking banquet on many levels, and a memorable experience at that.

Please take a look at the slideshow. What you will see is a beautiful, powerful community.

Feature 261Beauty: diversity, unity, and a passion for American and Muslim values.

Power: Not the capability to control others, but the ability to make our dreams and goals become a reality.

Two years ago, 1000 people showed up to our dinner, a milestone in its own right. Our banquet this year brought in a record 1500 guests, underscoring the rapid growth and reception CAIR-Chicago continues to enjoy via the grace of the Almighty.

Feature 261What’s even more telling than the record number of guests was the diversity of the audience that came from all across Chicago whether in terms of ethnicity, age, gender, or profession. We were grateful to see every Mosque and every Chicago Muslim organization with significant representation.

We are grateful to Sh. Kifah Mustafa of the Mosque Foundation for fundraising, he has been our fundraiser every year one of our 6 years. We are grateful to you for responding with your generosity. We were able to raise a little over half of our budget, coming close to matching our fundraising goal. (Help us meet this year’s goal by donating online today).

Feature 261This was a special year as well in terms of the keynote speaker. World renowned professor Tariq Ramadan chose CAIR-Chicago as his first address to the American Muslim community since the lifting of his 6 year Bush-administration ban. donating online today).

He delivered powerful and moving words, ideas and attitudes that we at CAIR-Chicago continuously strive to live up to in our daily work.

We wish to thank the electrifying Congressman from Minnesota, the Honorable Keith Ellison , for his trademark passion for this country and its people, which as always underscored his addresses.

Feature 261We wish to thank all the public officials who sent us 22 letters of support this year, and those who attended our banquet.

We wish to thank the other courage awards recipients, Prof. Louise Cainkar, and journalist Neil Steinberg .

We wish to thank the countless volunteers who worked very hard to present the community with an evening befitting of its stature.

Feature 261Lastly, we wish to thank you all once again. Our work could not succeed without your support. You came in large numbers and showed why Chicago’s Muslims are a proud, strong, united community.

Thanks to you, we are now ready to begin another phase of our work. Our promise to you is that you will continue to see concrete results that further raise the bar, as well as a few surprises we are sure you will like. Please stay tuned to our website: www.cairchicago.org.

The CAIR-Chicago Team

SEE PHOTOS

Photography by Sumaira Akhtar and Fahad Sami

Copyright © 2010 CAIR-Chicago