Show of Love for Pakistan at Fundraising Dinner
By Meraj Rizvi
Glimpses of the fundraising dinner
A fundraising dinner for the Pakistan flood victims held on Oct 23, 2010. If you were there you know that it was a great evening with all the presentations, live auction, raffles, delicious dinner and patriotic songs. Over 200 guests attended this event from 8pm to midnight.
The guest of honor was the Consul General Mrs. Riffat Masood. DIL was represented by Mrs. Perveen Ali, President of Los Angeles Chapter. Perveen gave a short presentation on DIL’s activities related to flood relief efforts and showed a video of the villages where DIL’s schools have been affected by the floods.
Syed Ashraf Ali, President of Pakistani American Arts Council, did a great job as MC of the event and by spiritedly singing “Main Bi Pakistan Hoon”.
The program began with Tilawat of Soora-e-Hamad and its English translation by Asad Rizvi followed by Allama Iqbal’s poem “Hamdardi” recited by Sana Hasnain and a short speech by Ezaz Hasnain. Seemi Termazi, who is a prosecutor and Deputy District Attorney with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, made a convincing speech and encouraged everyone to donate generously for the flood relief cause.
Mrs.Atiya Niyazi presented “Main Pakistan ki Beti Hoon,” a beautiful song written by her as well. The highlight of the evening was a live auction by Seemi Tremazi. Local singers Azra Malik and Tahir Iftekhar along with Ashraf Ali complemented the evening’s proceedings with their beautiful musical performances. I want to emphasize that all performers ‘donated’ their talent and were not compensated.
And now, I am excited to share with you that we raised a total of $10,619.00 for this noble cause!! A heartfelt thanks to all of you who donated funds, time, effort and talent to make this a successful event and a memorable evening. Words cannot describe the appreciation and gratitude the organizers of this event feel for your overwhelming support.
