Civil engineer and consultant, community volunteer and member of several philanthropic organizations are not titles held by most retired grandfathers. But Abe Munfakh is different, having  spent a lifetime working hard and overcoming challenges, and he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

Determined when it comes to giving back to the community, Abe Munfakh says he approaches his chairmanship of the ACC board of directors as a “businessman,” which he has been all his life.

Munfakh, who serves as the chairman of the Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC) Board, a volunteer position to which he was elected, describes himself as a retiree who is not the type to play golf or go fishing everyday, but has to be challenged in a different way.

The ACC is a non-profit organization that provides social services to the Middle Eastern and mainstream communities in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. Their programs “deliver various, educational, employment and training, behavioral health, youth recreation and self-enrichment services, cultural activities, as well as immigration and health services.” It has been rated as one top providers of social services in the tri-county area.

For Munfakh, volunteering with the ACC was not something he did to pass the time, for a title, or for glory, but because he “deeply believes in the cause of the ACC” and wanted to give back.

“I knew how difficult it was for me when I first immigrated to this country. There were language barriers, custom barriers, and culture barriers, and my family and I had to overcome that by ourselves.”

Determined when it comes to giving back to the community, Munfakh says he approaches his role in the organization as a “businessman” as that is what he has been all his life.

Prior to becoming chairman of the ACC Board, Munfakh was president of Ayres, Lewis, Norris & May, Inc. (ALNM) in Ann Arbor. He became president after being employed with the engineering company for 13 years. During his time as president, Munfakh expanded the company from 31 employees to 152 employees, creating 121 jobs in the state. He left that position in 2004 but remains as a consultant while bringing his business knowledge to the ACC on a daily basis.

“I used to make decisions that affected 150 families and whether they had bread on the table. Sometimes I used to agonize and wonder if I did the right thing. Putting those ideas that I used in the private sector into this non-profit has helped us quite a bit, especially in today’s economy where resources are limited.”

He was already a volunteer with the ACC since 1997 and was elected chairman in 2007.

Having recently been put into the position of chairman, Munfakh has been working on finding solutions to problems, mostly financial, within the organization.

“Michigan was once of the top 10 states in the union, particularly during my time in business. In the last seven or eight years we have been going downhill. Now we have the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the country, for a while we had the highest.”

The ACC has not been left unaffected by the economic downturn that has swept the nation. Federal and state budget cuts and the recent deficits in Lansing have had a huge impact on the organization.

“The funding and resources are so limited these days that its really affecting our services. That’s our biggest challenge, how to keep providing our services.” Working with Dr. Haifa Fakhouri, the president and CEO of ACC, Munfakh has been talking to elected officials to help them recognize the special services the ACC offers and convincing state and county officials that their funding should not be reduced. He is also looking for grants to help maintain their services.

“Those grants are scarce and competitive. For each grant that would have only had five applicants four years ago, now there are 50 applicants. I usually talk to whomever the grantor is. I meet with them and talk to them.”

Such talks have netted good results, such as ACC’s Community and Neighborhood Development Initiative, which includes ACC’s Youth Recreation and Leadership Facility on E. 7 Mile in Detroit — A facility that Munfakh is very proud of.

“It creates a good environment for everyone in the community. It provides a place for kids to shoot hoops who would otherwise be getting in trouble. After school rather than hanging out in the streets and creating problems for themselves and others, they can come in and play basketball or get on the computer.”

Munfakh was born in Aleppo, Syria, and his family moved to New York in the United States in 1966. Having little financially, Munfakh worked his way through school. He attended Louisiana State University and obtained a degree in Civil Engineering before receiving his master’s in Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

“It was a challenge, but I’ve taken the challenge. The biggest thing my parents put into our head was to go to college. So I did, along with my brothers. I consider our family successful with the challenges we faced.” He eventually moved to Plymouth Township in 1978 where he and his wife, Darlene, raised two daughters

He has used this same perseverance in all his work and community service, doing all he can to help others. In the time since he has retired, Munfakh has worked more in his own community. He was elected  to the Plymouth Twp. Board of Trustees for three four-year terms and just finished a campaign to run for state senate in Michigan’s 7th district.

“To get things done for your community you have to be there. You have to be involved in your community you have to be involved with the political action.” Although he came in third, he had the highest percentage in the areas in which he’s lived and worked,  Plymouth and Northville.

Munfakh also served on the Plymouth Community United Way Board of Directors and is currently the president of the Schoolcraft College Foundation Board of Governors.

“Being out (of the political race) does not mean I am forgotten. I am still planning to light a fire under the Arab American feet to accomplish for our community what we need to do.”