Mayors' Ramadan Unity Dinner 2022: Digital Flipbook

Andy Schor, Mayor

Ron Bacon, Mayor

2022 Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner • 1

EVENING PROGRAM Master of Ceremonies.................................................................................................. Farhan Bhatti, M.D.

CEO, Care Free Medical

Welcome ......................................................................................................................................... Andy Schor Mayor, City of Lansing

Welcome ........................................................................................................................................... Ron Bacon

Mayor, City of East Lansing

Ecumenical Prayer .................................................................................................. Bishop David Maxwell Eliezer Temple Church

Ecumenical Prayer ................................................................................................. Imam Sohail Chaudhry

Islamic Society of Greater Lansing

Recognition of Sponsors ............................................................................................ Farhan Bhatti, M.D. Buffet Dinner Served *Prayer Room available for Asr prayer* Introduction to Ramadan .................................................................................... Imam Sohail Chaudhry

Islamic Society of Greater Lansing

Ramadan Video ....................................................................................................................................................

Video Remarks ........................................................................................... Representative Elissa Slotkin Introduction of Keynote Speaker ....................................................................................... Thasin Sardar Islamic Society of Greater Lansing

Keynote Speaker ............................................................................................... Abdalmajid Katranji, M.D.

Surgeon, Katranji Hand Center

Closing Remarks ............................................................................................................ Farhan Bhatti, M.D. Michelle Lantz

CEO, Greater Lansing Food Bank Program participants, sponsors and committee members are asked to remain after the program for photos.

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MAYORS’ WELCOME

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor

East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon

Thank you for joining us at the 14th Annual Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner. This dinner is about demonstrating the importance of diversity, unity and helping feed those that experience hunger or food insecurity. The theme, “Hunger is Hard, Helping is Easy,” shows how truly giving and supportive our community is year after year. Tonight’s event supports the Greater Lansing Food Bank (GLFB) and helps individuals, families and communities in need find food and food resources right here in greater Lansing.

Supporting the GLFB increases their capacity to reach out and do more throughout the entire capital region. Please enjoy tonight’s event and thank you again for your support.

We extend a warm welcome to everyone joining us tonight for the 14th Annual Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner. Tonight’s dinner brings awareness to the plight of hunger in our community and serves to raise funds for the Greater Lansing Food Bank (GLFB). No one should ever go hungry in our community and the GLFB strives to prevent that from happening by providing community members with access to nutritious food. We extend our thanks to you for your support of the GLFB’s important work in our region. Tonight’s dinner also celebrates diversity and embraces all community members, regardless of faith. By joining together, we can make great strides in moving our community forward in a positive way.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Farhan Bhatti

Nicole Mosteller

Brady Broderick

Thasin Sardar

Dawn Carowitz

Natalie Singer

Akua Ekye-Addai

Lucianna Solis

Renee Morgan Freeman

Michael Steibel

Mikell Frey 2022 Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner • 3

2022 KEYNOTE SPEAKER DR. ABDALMAJID KATRANJI Abdalmajid Katranji, M.D. has been a proud member of the Greater Lansing community since 2005.

He is an active community leader working on building bridges between the various communities that make up the mid-Michigan region and beyond.

Katranji’s past and current board services include the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing, Fenner Nature Center, Impression 5 Science Center, Care Free Medical and the Ingham County Refugee Council. He also serves on the board of EmgageUSA, a national organization committed to increasing Muslim American participation in the political process and supporting candidates for office who believe in civil rights for all people.

His volunteer work has included missions to help the injured and sick across the globe with the Syrian American Medical Society, Atlantic Humanitarian Relief and other organizations.

He has had the honor to speak before the United Nations and European Union as well as at The White House in Washington, D.C. Since the inception of the Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner, Katranji has also been a committed partner, working to combat hunger in our region.

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MAYORS’ RAMADAN UNITY DINNER HISTORY The mission of the Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner is to bring awareness to the plight of hunger and promote a better understanding of how communities can impart hope and help feed those that experience hunger. The dinner embraces all community members, regardless of faith, so they can unite and work together towards a common goal – to alleviate hunger and raise funds for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. It also gives those in the community an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of diversity and embrace the Muslim culture.

The first Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner was proposed and organized by Sadia G. Covert, Esq. in 2007. It started with approximately 100 attendees at the Cooley Temple Conference Center of Cooley Law School, raising over $1,000 its first year.

Since then, the Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner has grown to reach an audience of more than 500 attendees and has provided thousands of meals to children and families through the proceeds that have been raised for the Greater Lansing Area Food Bank.

Covert is the founder of the nonprofit, Uniting Through Cultural Awareness and Regional Education (UCARE), whose mission is to counter hate and bigotry through diversity education and community empowerment. Covert is also an attorney, owner and partner of Covert & Covert, LLP, who wrote a hate crimes law that gives victims more ways to seek restitution and damages and requires education of offenders about the specific community or group they targeted. As a state-certified instructor for law enforcement, she also was the first female Muslim to develop a four-hour state-certified curriculum on Islamic Cultural Awareness in the state of Illinois and has trained hundreds of police officers and other law enforcement officials on the subject. Given her extensive background, experience and dedication in uniting communities together to positively impact the narrative of underrepresented groups of people, Ms. Covert was awarded former U.S. President Barack Obama’s Volunteer Service Award in 2016. Former Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero represented Sadia with a special recognition award in 2013 for establishing Lansing’s annual Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner in 2007 while she volunteered as a mayoral intern. Her mission for the dinner remains the same, to alleviate hunger while embracing religious diversity and interfaith understanding.

Ms. Covert resides in Aurora, Ill. with her husband and their three children.

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THANK YOU FOR SPONSORING GOLD LEVEL SPONSORS

MAJID M. TAJ, MD & AYESHA M. TAJ, DO

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SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS

Sumbal Mgmt. LLC

BRONZE LEVEL SPONSORS

IN-KIND SPONSORS SULTAN’S 2022 Mayors’ Ramadan Unity Dinner • 7

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING GREATER LANSING FOOD BANK’S VISION OF A HUNGER-FREE COMMUNITY!

Together, we’re making an impact!

Learn more.

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