By Simon Albaugh \u2013 Yemeni American News<\/p>\n
Dearborn, Mich. \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cArab American Service Day is an annual national event hosted by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) \u2013 a national institution of ACCESS,\u201d reads a press release from ACCESS. \u201cOn this day, Arab Americans across the United States come together in their respective communities to demonstrate the power of giving back through volunteerism.\u201d<\/p>\n
NNAAC is ACCESS\u2019s nationwide policy organization. They work to connect Arab American organizations across the country while collectively addressing the community\u2019s issues at a federal level.<\/p>\n
\u201cNational Arab American Service Day encourages Arab American communities to give back through service, fostering a culture of leadership, community engagement and volunteerism,\u201d reads a statement from NNAAC. \u201cHeld in the spring of each year, organizations from various cities establish local partnerships and organize unique projects under the motto of \u2018Serving Communities, Connecting People.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
ACCESS decided to focus on Dearborn for this year\u2019s Arab American Day of Service. With the community nonprofit\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary being later in 2022, this is a special one after half a century of service for Southeast Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will mark the first year, since the creation of \u2018Arab American Service Day\u2019 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\u2019s home base since its founding.\u201d<\/p>\n Cities across the country still held days of service, with 15 other Arab American community nonprofits holding days of service.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year\u2019s 16th<\/sup> annual \u2018Service day\u2019 [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.\u201d<\/p>\n