May 15, 2010; Source: Belleville News Democrat | Saturday was National Arab-American Service Day, the sixth annual event mobilizing Arab-Americans in 20 cities around the nation in volunteer activities. An aside—we found a press release on the Corporation for National and Community Service website from 2009 referring to last year’s 17-city service day, but no mention on the Corporation’s website for this year’s event, despite some newsclips that said events are being coordinated with local AmeriCorps programs.

Many of the events are in the metro Detroit area, which houses probably the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the nation, but Service Day events are scheduled in the Detroit area (demolition of an abandoned house, planting a garden, and other activities, sponsored by the Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, and the National Network for Arab American Communities, the District of Columbia (beautifying tree boxes on N Street between 8th and 10th Streets, under the aegis of the Arab American Institute), and Brooklyn (a park clean-up and book giveaway, sponsored by the Arab American Association of NY. Mabruk to all of these Arab-American service organizations!—Rick Cohen