12th Annual HDF Chicago Community Awareness and Fundraising Dinner
on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 (starts at 6:30 p.m)
The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
70 Yorktown Center
Lombard, Illinois 60148

Featuring a performance by HAROON!

The 12th Annual Chicago Community Awareness and Fundraising Dinner of the Human Development Foundation or HDF was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday May 16th, 2009. The evening began with guests enjoying great conversation and appetizers during the social hour in the elegantly adorned lobby of the Westin Hotel. Guests were welcomed by the HDF Chicago Network Board Members at the registration area.

Once the guests were seated in the beautifully decorated hall, the formal proceedings began with the Master of Ceremonies, Arshia Hasnain, chair-person of HDF Chicago, welcoming everyone to the event. She briefly outlined HDF's mission and its focus on building the basics of civil society, one village at a time, based on the principle of self help and self-improvement, in Pakistan, providing assistance not aid. 

After that, two very darling young children, Razan Hussain and Isam Ahmad were invited on stage to formally start the program with a recitation of the Holy Quran. The Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago, His Excellency, Dr. Aman Rashid, spoke of the fact that as the situation in Pakistan changes we who are Pakistani-Americans have huge responsibilities to the Pakistani people who need and deserve our help even more today. Mr. William Mueller, the Mayor of Lombard also shared his thoughts on the good work HDF is doing in Pakistan. He mentioned jokingly if the audience knew the name of the ballroom everyone was seated in...it was in-fact named after the Mayor himself.

This year the HDF Chicago Network established a new tradition that recognized the most senior members of the community who have given selflessly for many years, whether through HDF or otherwise, making a difference in our lives here and positively impacting countless lives in Pakistan and worldwide. "The Milestones of Community Leadership Awards" establish a channel to convey the gratitude of an entire community and meant to be a way for us to say thank you as a group. This year’s awardees, despite their great achievements, are humble and were all hesitant to receive such public praise. But they also understood that part of the purpose of the awards was to motivate others and to let the world know that those who do good deeds are recognized. Our three awardees for the "Milestones of Community Leadership Awards 2009" were: Mr. Rashid Chaudary, Dr. Azra Haque and Dr. Sakhawat Hussain. Both Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago specifically congratulated the awardees in their congratulatory letters to HDF written specially for this occasion.

Mr. Rashid Chaudary reminded everyone that it is critically important to organize our Pakistani American community to be politically active and to have a powerful voice in the US government. Dr. Azra Haque's life story touched everyone as she praised HDF for coming into her village in Shamsabad area and opening 83 schools. HDF was the only organization that went in and helped in providing assistance in raising the quality of education, primary health care, skills training to empower women, and grass roots economic development.  

The first of the two "anchor" speakers were a husband and wife team - Dr. Gul Afshan and Dr. Anders Schenstrom. Both are professors at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in the department of Physics and Chemistry. They shared with the audience their visit to the HDF projects and sites in Lahore, Pakistan.  They showed how HDF is making a difference in the lives of children and women and empowering them through education. The children in HDF schools were confident, social and willing to learn. Gul Afshan encouraged everyone to go and see first hand these HDF sites. She said," Only then will you see how your donations have made a huge impact."

Navaid Abidi was the second speaker for the evening. He talked about his current involvement with an HDF initiative that uses technology to help deal with a severe lack of quality teachers in Pakistan. At the end of his presentation, Navaid asked everyone to stand and recite Iqbals famous poetry, "Lab pay aa ti hai dua ban kay tamman na meri..." Young children holding candles in their hands walked onto the stage while the HDF video playing this poem was shown on the projection screen. It was a very emotional and moving moment. The entire audience on their feet and their faces reflected what was on their mind...."What can we do to help our Pakistan?"

The fund-raising portion of the evening was handled by Jafer Hasnain. He explained how everyone's donations, large and small, form a river that flows to the HDF programs in Pakistan. 8 year old Abdullah Abbasi was the first donor of the evening. He donated all the coins in his piggy bank to the children of Pakistan. Next, Dr. Khalid Riaz, Dr. Mehmood Khan and Qasim Riaz spoke briefly on the need to give. Three very generous donors of the evening were Mr. Akhter Ali ($15,000), Dr. Jawaid Ahsan ($10,000) and Ms. Shahida Khan ($10,000) who donated their money towards the opening of a new HDF school. For this they were each gifted an iconic silhouette painting of either Quaid-e-Azam or Allama Iqbal. These paintings were donated by a young Pakistani American artist, Najam Alavi, from New York. Even in such hard economic times many opened their hearts and check books and wrote some very large checks. We also received a $50,000 Grant from Takeda Pharmaceuticals towards the construction and operations of a Community Health Center in Zhob in Baluchistan. This year HDF Chicago was able to raise close to $250,000 for various projects in Pakistan and over 450 tickets were sold.

Last on the program was the magnificent and exhilarating live performance by renowned singer from Pakistan, HAROON. Haroon was very gracious during his performance to remind the audience of the HDF cause. This event was possible only through the collective efforts of all the HDF Chicago Regional Network, volunteers, HDF office staff and all our friends and supporters. Pakistan Zindabad!! 

Chicago event pictures

Event covered by ARY One World