Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas recognizes Arab American Heritage Month by honoring business and community leaders

WHO:               Maria Pappas, Cook County Treasurer

WHAT:            Treasurer Pappas will celebrate Arab American Heritage Month by recognizing more than 30 business, civic, political and religious leaders from the Chicagoland community with Certificates of Excellence.                

WHEN:             2 p.m. Monday, April 28, 2025

WHERE:           Cook County Treasurer’s Office

                        118 N. Clark St., Room 112 Chicago, Illinois 60602

WHY:               “The more than 180,000 Arab Americans in Cook County have enriched        Chicagoland immeasurably with contributions in business, science, technology, medicine, arts, politics and of course cuisine” said Pappas.  They’ve also been in the vanguard of the fight for social justice and civil rights, so it’s important to recognize all that good work!”      

AWARDEES:    Honorees at the celebration are: Mufid Isa, AlAqsa Supermarket, Reem Hamad, Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Counselor, Rush Darwish, Arab American Business and Professional Assoc., Suheir Barakat-Williams, S2 Grill Owner, Maha Hamdi, AAA Insurance Office Owner

Abder Ghouleh, U.S. Palestinian Council, Alla Taher, Sr. Assoc. Kelley, Drye & Warren, Dr. Atiyeh Ahmad Salem, M.D. & Entrepreneur, George Tony Wahbeh, Wahbeh Law Group.

Marvet Sweis Drnovsek, IL Commission on Discrimination & Hate, Tammy Amjad Rabadi-Haddad, R.N. Silver Cross Hospital, Jonathan Rajael Haddad Attorney at Law, Dr. Ali Tarokh, New American Advisory Council, Dr. Abdullatif Assaf, Jordanian House of Al-Nashama, Dr. Iliass Najimi, Chiropractor, Adnan Nassan, Businessman, Reem Odeh, Attorney at Law Offices of Reem Odeh, Imam Hassan Mostafa Aly, Humanitarian Faith Initiative, Falah Tabahi, Pita Inn CEO, Maha Abuagel, Divine Design & Events CEO.

Yousif Marei, Islamic & Arab Community Services, Jawad Shalabi, VP Arab American Bar Assoc., Mohammad Shawahin, Airline Pilot, Dr. Jawad Rabi, Pharmacy One Plus, Aber Abueid, Sanad Food Pantry Dir., Naser Alshoweat, Car Dealership Owner, Tesneem Amine, Activist & Law Student, Ekram Hanna, MIRA Chicago Dir., Michael Amjad Rabadi, Airline Pilot, Dr. Nidal Elbaridi, Pain Specialist, Father Fouad Saba, Pastor St. George Antiochian Church, Khalil Ismail, Restaurateur & Philanthropist, Khalid Basti, Entrepreneur & Accountant, Maher Khattab, Bridgeview Zoning & Planning Committee

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Ray Hanania

Syndicated columnist, radio host, writer at Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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