DEARBORN — The Yemeni American Benevolent Association (YABA) presented awards to community leaders and scholarships to Arab American students at a ceremony celebrating its 47th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center.

Emcee Adel Mozip welcomed the audience to the dinner and introduced the president and vice president, Mohsin Hubaishi and Dr. Bassam Ali. Both thanked the attendees for their support and announced that the organization will be building a community center on their newly purchased land, which they said aimed to provide better and more diverse services to the region.

Mayor Jack O’Reilly also spoke, outlining YABA’S plan for a community center.

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D- MI) and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D- Dearborn) applauded YABA for its continued services to the community. Kevin Hirt, congressional liaison for Senator Gary Peters (D- MI), also made some remarks.

Other speakers included Fouad Ashkar of DTE Energy, Fouad Turfe from Dearborn Fresh Supermarket and Farooq Mitha from the Clinton Campaign.

The dinner concluded with award presentations and student Maha Aljowabei. YABA distributed scholarships to 15 Arab American college students and recognized some distinguished individuals from the community for their continued support of the organization. Among the awardees were Sen. Peters; Lebanese American activist Allie Berry; Yemeni American activist Hanan Yahya; Musa Saeed, Raoof Qasem and Nawal Hamadeh, executive director of Hamadeh Educational Services.