By Simon Albaugh – Yemeni American News
Dearborn, Mich. – Over 300 volunteers took to parks, playgrounds and neighborhood streets for Arab American Day of Service in Dearborn. The annual volunteer event drew crowds for cleaning up parks and neighborhood streets centered around the city.
“Arab American Service Day is an annual national event hosted by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) – a national institution of ACCESS,” reads a press release from ACCESS. “On this day, Arab Americans across the United States come together in their respective communities to demonstrate the power of giving back through volunteerism.”
NNAAC is ACCESS’s nationwide policy organization. They work to connect Arab American organizations across the country while collectively addressing the community’s issues at a federal level.
“National Arab American Service Day encourages Arab American communities to give back through service, fostering a culture of leadership, community engagement and volunteerism,” reads a statement from NNAAC. “Held in the spring of each year, organizations from various cities establish local partnerships and organize unique projects under the motto of ‘Serving Communities, Connecting People.’”
ACCESS decided to focus on Dearborn for this year’s Arab American Day of Service. With the community nonprofit’s 50th anniversary being later in 2022, this is a special one after half a century of service for Southeast Michigan.
“This will mark the first year, since the creation of ‘Arab American Service Day’ that ACCESS will focus its efforts solely on the city of Dearborn, honoring both a landmark anniversary and the city that has been the nonprofit’s home base since its founding.”
Cities across the country still held days of service, with 15 other Arab American community nonprofits holding days of service.
“This year’s 16th annual ‘Service day’ [included] 15 Arab American community nonprofits and thousands of volunteers across 10 different states who planned to participate in local community projects, including mural paintings, the creation of baseball fields and the clean-up of neighborhoods.”
