Dear M.,

 

Our Associations have been active during the month June and have plans for picnics, fund raising, and National Outreach to the west coast during the summer of 2008.
 
Reaching out to people is a key to our success and continuity; this is achieved by reaching out to professional associations and participating in their events, by involvement in community events, by spreading the word in our offices, and by promoting the association via media.       
 
As our ultimate goal is to provide service to our membership and support our community, AAAEA-Illinois raised funds and was one of the sponsors for the ARABESQUE (ARAB Festival) in Chicago for the second year.  The AAAEA had a booth in the festival to promote the association and attract new members. As a result, 47 members have joined the association in 2007 and we expecting more this year.
 
The Wisconsin Arab American Engineers and Architects association is arranging a fund raising event in Milwaukee, WI on July 26, 2008.  The money will be raised to support the Arab engineering students in Wisconsin universities with scholarships.  This is a great event and we hope to see such an event happening in every city and state.
 
As part of our National outreach efforts, The AAAEA-Illinois national outreach committee is arranging meetings with our colleagues in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego in the last week of August. I encourage all Arab Engineers, Architects, and IT professionals in these areas to attend, and learn about the association. The exact dates and locations will be advertised in the August 1st issue of Al-Muhandes.
 
The National Steering Committee conducted a "Name and Logo Contest" for the national association in December, 2007 issue; unfortunately we didn't get any participants.  We are advertising for it again in this issue hoping to get new ideas to help select a name and a logo for the national association.  
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Mustafa Mahamid, PhD, PE
National Steering Committee Chairman