By Ghada Al Tarazi
Fundraising at dinners is common, but Br. Walid Latif set an
example of generosity toward the end of the fundraising part of the Sunrise
Academy’s First Dinner Party. He took
the stand to address the whole group, and the business men and women in
particular. He told the audience very
interesting stories from his own experience, how every time he had donated for
the sake of Allah, Allah had compensated him many folds over, sometimes
immediately and other times within days or weeks.
As a businessman, he had found that if he donated money to a
good cause, Allah would make his business flourish with new orders and
contracts from places he had never expected.
He concluded by a very exciting challenge. He announced that he would match the sum of
any more donations that would take place that night. The challenge stirred the guests into
donating far more than the organizers thought possible. May Allah reward Br.
Walid and all those who joined him in supporting the school. Before him a brother had donated a car and
several sisters donated jewelry to be sold for the school’s benefit. From the approximately 250 people in
attendance, around $453,000 was raised.
But the school dinner was not just about raising money. It was a delightful evening reviewing all of
the progress of the school. The
appetizers were so good in the lobby that some people thought that was the
diner! The display in the lobby was
informative and well designed. There
were a number of photos of students working on different activities at the
school and on field trips. Samples of
the students’ activities were very well produced. It was viewed both in the lobby and in the
hall during dinner. What made us happier
was knowing that the producer was a local Muslim teenager.
The evening events began with recitation of the Holy Quran
by Sama Musa, one of the third grade class at Sunrise. She was followed by Dr. M. Nabih Tarazi who
welcomed everyone and expressed gratitude to all who had given their time,
money and prayers to make the sunrise Academy dream come true. Students from the third and second grade
performed a skit for the audience, followed by two songs sung by the whole
school, one in Arabic and one in English.
Dr. Aziz Haque followed, setting the tone for the general fundraising
activates after dinner, reminding people of their need for Islamic education.
Br. Souhail Khan gave a brief overview of the timeline of
events leading to the creation of the school.
It brought home just how short the time has actually been for so much
work to have been accomplished. From
signing the contract on the building in February to opening in September, and
then to see the young children perform so well for their first all school
production was really impressive.
After the dinner, the guest speaker from ISNA, Br. Dawud
Zwink talked about the importance of Islamic schools. The fundraising started somewhat slowly;
however, within minutes cash and pledges started to pour in. Br. Zwink reminded the people of how the
early companions had sacrificed their wealth, and had never been impoverished
for it. One of the touching stories I
heard afterwards was narrated to me by a mother. She said that when she came back home after
the dinner she found $1000 set out on her husband’s desk. Her 17 year old son, who had left the party
earlier, had left that money out on arriving home to pay up his pledge that
night, immediately. Her son said that
when the speaker asked the people who had donated at the last fundraiser in
April to question themselves whether they were richer now, he had found that
yes, he was. At the April fund raiser he
had donated all that he had, $500. He
realized that he had had all his needs filled since then, even without that
donated money, and that he now had $1000 plus a pay check coming on the way, so
again he had donated all the money he had on hand. Doesn’t that remind us of the generation of
the companions? May Allah reward him.
Many thanks to the dinner organization team, headed by Br.
Hazem Gheith. The event was concluded by
a recitation from the Holy Quran by Sunrise student Layla Al-Rubaian.
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