http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662 Ok, so I have now officially joined the ranks of rambling bloggers.  Shoot me... I wanted to post a notice though, about an event being planned for Victoria and get a feel for how it may be received. In association with a couple of charity groups we are involved in planning an event to raise funds for Golden Crescent CASA, the Boys and Girls Clubs and possibly the American Heart Association. At the same time, we hope to raise awareness, understanding and tolerance between a couple of groups that are very much in the news today and, at best, at an uneasy peace; the American people and the Muslim community. Hakeem Olajuwon has begun a program called "Building Bridges" in the Houston area and wants to expand the program. Through a mutual friend, we met with Mr. Olajuwon and a couple of representatives of the Iman Academy of Houston to discuss the possibility of his coming to Victoria for a fund raising event. We're in the process of finalizing a dinner and forum at Victoria Country Club for approximately three hundred people to meet this former Houston Rockets center and discuss the Muslim/American relationship with him and Dr. Hamed Ghazali of the Iman Academy. A second event is also in the planning stages for a preceeding event to be held on the same day (as yet to be determined but hopefully sometime in May). Mr. Olajuwon may be able to convince a few of his teammates to participate in an exhibition game. There will be memorabilia autographed by Hakeem and other Rockets available for a donation to the charities. We're also considering auctioning off opportunities to go for a little one-on-one with the Rockets or to have your team play a little roundball with them. I'm sure too that Hakeem will want to do a short talk about the Muslim community. For all you regular readers out there, let me know how you feel about such an event. We hope the forum will offer an opportunity for attendees to pose questions to and about the non-reactionary Muslim community that will serve to further understanding between.... the people we share the planet with. All proceeds from these events will be donated to the charities mentioned above. Thanks, Ernie Ok, so I have now officially joined the ranks of rambling bloggers.  Shoot me... I wanted to post a notice though, about an event being planned for Victoria and get a feel for how it may be received. In association with a couple of charity groups we are involved in planning an event to raise funds for Golden Crescent CASA, the Boys and Girls Clubs and possibly the American Heart Association. At the same time, we hope to raise awareness, understanding and tolerance between a couple of groups that are very much in the news today and, at best, at an uneasy peace; the American people and the Muslim community. Hakeem Olajuwon has begun a program called "Building Bridges" in the Houston area and wants to expand the program. Through a mutual friend, we met with Mr. Olajuwon and a couple of representatives of the Iman Academy of Houston to discuss the possibility of his coming to Victoria for a fund raising event. We're in the process of finalizing a dinner and forum at Victoria Country Club for approximately three hundred people to meet this former Houston Rockets center and discuss the Muslim/American relationship with him and Dr. Hamed Ghazali of the Iman Academy. A second event is also in the planning stages for a preceeding event to be held on the same day (as yet to be determined but hopefully sometime in May). Mr. Olajuwon may be able to convince a few of his teammates to participate in an exhibition game. There will be memorabilia autographed by Hakeem and other Rockets available for a donation to the charities. We're also considering auctioning off opportunities to go for a little one-on-one with the Rockets or to have your team play a little roundball with them. I'm sure too that Hakeem will want to do a short talk about the Muslim community. For all you regular readers out there, let me know how you feel about such an event. We hope the forum will offer an opportunity for attendees to pose questions to and about the non-reactionary Muslim community that will serve to further understanding between.... the people we share the planet with. All proceeds from these events will be donated to the charities mentioned above. Thanks, Ernie en-us Ernie, We'd certainly be interested in reporting on this significant event. Thank you for your efforts to organize it. Chris Cobler http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38283 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38283 Ernie, We'd certainly be interested in reporting on this significant event. Thank you for your efforts to organize it. Chris Cobler Good job Ernie.  Sounds good.  http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38440 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38440 Good job Ernie.  Sounds good.  Chris - obviously we'd be thrilled to have the Advocate do an article on the events. Julie's already contacted KAVU about coverage and they also plan to feature the event. Ragman - thanks for the reply. Can we count on your attendance? :) As an update, we should have an answer from Hakeem and the Rockets sometime this week regarding the exhibition game. If we can get their participation agreed we plan to approach UHV for use of their gymnasium. I'm not sure yet how many spectators the gym will accommodate but we hope to have at least a thousand attendees. The VCC dinner and forum will be limited to about three hundred due to the size of the available facilities. We hope to have corporate tables sponsored by local companies for the dinner/forum and will have tickets available to the general public for the remaining seats. Obviously we hope to see two exciting events with this project conducted with respect on both sides but we've also told Mr. Olajuwon and Dr. Ghazali that we expect to be able to ask some difficult questions during the forum. They've assured us they are more than willing to honestly answer any and all honest inquiries to the best of their knowledge and abilities. Ernie http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38495 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/ErnieCash/6662/#c_38495 Chris - obviously we'd be thrilled to have the Advocate do an article on the events. Julie's already contacted KAVU about coverage and they also plan to feature the event. Ragman - thanks for the reply. Can we count on your attendance? :) As an update, we should have an answer from Hakeem and the Rockets sometime this week regarding the exhibition game. If we can get their participation agreed we plan to approach UHV for use of their gymnasium. I'm not sure yet how many spectators the gym will accommodate but we hope to have at least a thousand attendees. The VCC dinner and forum will be limited to about three hundred due to the size of the available facilities. We hope to have corporate tables sponsored by local companies for the dinner/forum and will have tickets available to the general public for the remaining seats. Obviously we hope to see two exciting events with this project conducted with respect on both sides but we've also told Mr. Olajuwon and Dr. Ghazali that we expect to be able to ask some difficult questions during the forum. They've assured us they are more than willing to honestly answer any and all honest inquiries to the best of their knowledge and abilities. Ernie