Gratitude from the Arabic Outreach Center (the Mission Arm of First Arabic PC)

A big THANK YOU goes out to all who attended our Awesome Outreach Celebration fundraiser on October 11! We were delighted so many came out to support the work of the Arabic Outreach Center, and to honor Sandy Wagener, our volunteer of the year. We were pleased to have our Synod Executive, Elona Street-Stewart, from Minnesota, join us, along with the Mayor of Des Moines, Connie Boesen, and the Mayor of Clive, John Edwards. Those three, along with the Rev. Alex Thornburg of Heartland PC, formed our “Celebrity Panel” for a fun game of Sudanese trivia. In the process, we all learned a bit about Sudanese culture.

Our gratitude is extended to Bill O’Connell, pastor of St. Paul PC in Johnston. Bill revealed an undiscovered talent at our event: he is an amazing and entertaining auctioneer! We also want to thank the First Arabic Youth Choir for their excellent entertainment, and the women of the AOC’s sewing group for modeling the lovely dresses they created. We are grateful for all our volunteers, including our two marvelous MCs, Kani Mukhtar and Adowek Ajoung. We appreciate Dwight Tomes from Windsor PC for agreeing to be our official photographer. (All the photos displayed here were taken by Dwight.) We also offer our thanks to Heartland Presbyterian Church for so generously sharing their building and their helpful staff to make our event a success. And last but certainly not least, we thank those who were unable to attend, but responded with generous financial gifts and silent auction donations.

The result of all our efforts is that we were able to meet our goal of raising $10,000 for the Outreach Center! As the needs of Arabic-speaking immigrants and refugees continue, this money is a God-send to the ministry of the AOC. Thank you all, and may God bless you.

Here are a few photos from our event: