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ING News & Information, 10/16/09
* Thank You for Making ING’s Annual Supporters Dinner a Success
* “A Common Word” Conference at Georgetown University
* Upcoming ING Events
* Join ING as a Volunteer Speaker
THANK YOU FOR MAKING ING’S ANNUAL SUPPORTERS DINNER A SUCCESS
The event was both inspiring and entertaining.
The event began with an interfaith invocation by religious leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths.
After dinner the audience was shown a video clip of testimonials about the impact and need for ING’s work in the community, a theme that was reiterated throughout the evening. ING staff and speakers then presented a series of awards to a diverse array of ING supporters, each of whom has exhibited that support in different ways through the years.
These included the following:
ING’s Building Bridges Award to Rev. and Dr. Andrew Kille, interfaith scholar and leader.
ING’s Excellence in Cultural Diversity Education Award to Presentation High School in San Jose represented by Amy Fields and Siobhan O’Byrne, current and former chairpersons of the Social Studies Department.
ING’s Outstanding ING Affiliate Award to the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona, represented by the bureau’s founder and director, Azra Hussain.
ING’s Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Awards to Faisal Haq and Mona Haq; Raghib Husain and Sadia Kanwal; and Kamal Ahmed and Nahid Aliniazee.
ING’s Keystone Award to Amer Haider and Munira Shamim.
A common theme mentioned by the awardees in their acceptance comments was that one of the main motivations for supporting ING was their desire to create a more just and tolerant world for their children.
The keynote speech which was delivered by Marcia Beauchamp in place of Dr. Charles Haynes who was too ill with the flue to travel to the event, also touched on the importance of ING’s work in a country that was founded on the principle of religious tolerance and freedom.
The evening ended on a lighter side with non-stop laughs invoked by comedian Aron Kader, who left no subject untouched by his often biting humor.
ING is pleased to announce that it met its fundraising goal for the evening, and is looking forward to a busy and productive year with the support of its friends, volunteers, and supporters.
A COMMON WORD CONFERENCE AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
ING President Maha Elgenaidi joined world political and interfaith leaders — including former British prime minister Tony Blair — calling for people of faith to seize upon interfaith commonalities to address global issues of peace and security at a two-day conference on Muslim-Christian relations. Held last week on October 6-8, the conference, “A Common Word Between Us and You: A Global Agenda for Change,” was held at Georgetown University. The invitation only event was the fourth in a series of conferences that stems from an October 2007 letter from Muslim leaders to Christian churches and communities. The letter called for the two faiths to reach a better understanding based on two common principles: love of God and love of one’s neighbor.
This year’s conference, the fourth such gathering of the Common Word initiative, seeks to move the conversation forward from words to action, said John Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding which hosted the conference.