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.
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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
