Ghassan and Manal Saab (c ) with ACCESS officials.

DETROIT — ACCESS recognized notable Arab Americans from the Flint area at its 45th annual dinner on Saturday, April 23.

The social services organization gave its first “Champion of Justice” award to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who discovered elevated lead levels in the blood of Flint’s children. Philanthropists Manal and Ghassan Saab received the “Arab American of the Year” award.

The dinner was themed “From the Neighborhood to the Nation.”

ACCESS Executive Director Hassan Jaber lauded Hanna-Attisha, who was named the 20th most influential person in 2015 by Time Magazine, as a hero.

Jaber told the pediatrician that she set the bar high for the award as the inaugural awardee.

Hanna-Attisha said she was in the right place at the right time to advocate for the Flint community, which was suffering from injustice.

“I was just doing my job,” she said.

Hanna-Attisha, the daughter of Iraqi immigrants, said many Arab Americans come from countries that were experiencing oppression, adding that she was raised to reject and fight injustice.

“What I have done, what the community has done together is the Arab way,” she said. “We take care of each other; we take care of our villages. This is what I expect of all Arab Americans.”

Ghassan Saab is the founder of Uptown Development Group, a firm that works to rejuvenate and rebuild downtown Flint. He has been celebrated for his personal and professional accomplishments, including receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

His wife, Manal Saab, serves on the Board of Trustees with the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, which is coordinating the Flint Water Crisis Response. She is also a longstanding patron and emeritus member of the board of governors of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the chairperson of the Michigan Commission on Middle-Eastern American Affairs.

“We are tremendously honored to accept the 2016 ACCESS Arab American of the Year award,” Ghassan Saab said. ACCESS is a remarkable organization that my wife and I have been proud to support for many years.”

Manal Saab said what constitutes an American is not color, religion, profession or social status.

“An American is one who loves justice; an American is one who will fight for his freedom and that of his neighbor; an American is one in whose heart is engraved the immortal second sentence of the Declaration of Independence,” she said.