DEARBORN — On Saturday, Sept. 6, The  Yemen American Benevolent Association (YABA) celebrated the 45th anniversary at a dinner at the Bin Jbail Cultural Center. Community leaders, politicians, activists and elected officials attended the event. YABA distributed scholarships to 13 students at the end of the evening.

Siham Awada Jaafar, CEO of 3D Consulting and Communications, emceed the ceremony. She welcomed the crowd and introduced the speakers, who included Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad, State Rep. George Darany and Dr. Stanley Jensen, the president of Henry Ford College.  The Dean of Congress, John Dingell and his wife, Debbie Dingell, who is running for his seat in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, were at the dinner on Saturday and participated in handing the scholarships to students.

Lon Johnson, the Chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party delivered the keynote speech at the event. Johnson praised YABA’s cheritable efforts, congratulated the scholarships’ awardees and urged a greater political participation from the Arab American community. 

Ali Baleed Almaklani, the executive director of YABA, asked the crowd to stand in a moment of silence for Jani Mothana Hassan, the former president of the organization, who passed away last month. He also thanked all the participants, sponsors and organizers behind the success of the event.