Alexandria, VA : "The believers, in their love, mutual kindness, and close ties, are like one body; when any
part complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever." [Muslim]

One-fifth of Pakistan is underwater. More than 20 million Pakistanis are suffering. More than 4 million Pakistanis are homeless. These are just few of the many disheartening facts that motivated George Mason University’s Pakistani Student Association (PSA) to step up and help their brothers and sisters back home in Pakistan. Whatever action they had to take, it had to be urgent so aid could be provided immediately to the suffering victims. Even though they are thousands of miles away from their homeland, the students’ hearts are still set in Pakistan. PSA took up the responsibility to ameliorate the detrimental conditions of the Pakistan flood victims by planning, organizing, and executing a fundraiser with Human Development Foundation (HDF).

GMU PSA hosted and sponsored the HDF Flood Relief Fundraising Iftar/Dinner at Afghan Restaurant on Friday, August 27 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. The tickets were $15/person (pre-sale) and $20/person (at the door). Tickets could also be purchased online on the PSA website. PSA cabinet members worked the entire week before to sell tickets and receive donations from local mosques for the fundraiser. PSA by themselves sold more than 100 tickets and collected more than $4,500 in donations. With the event announced only a week before, PSA was thoroughly impressed by the turnout of 250 people. It was very satisfying to know that people in the community wanted to be active and do their part in helping out our country.

“I am glad that we planned this event because I want the community to know that GMU PSA is here to make a difference and help out the community. If we as students can get together and try to help out those that are less fortunate than the rest of the community should not have a problem doing such events,” said Israr Mirza, GMU PSA President.

The program commenced with Qur’an recitation of Surah Ar-Rahman and Surah Al-Maun, by Mohammad Abdussalam, MSA Rep of PSA. Followed by the recitation was the slideshow PSA had put together for the guests. The slideshow displayed pictures from various sources to show the damaging conditions of the flood victims in order to change people’s perspective of the gravity of the disaster.
The actual fundraiser started after iftar and dinner. This gave HDF’s chairperson, Dr. Atiya Khan, an opportunity to encourage people to donate on stage. A lot of funds were collected after pledge forms were distributed to the guests. The event ended as a success raising more than $15,000 for the flood victims.

Not only did the event fulfill GMU PSA’s purpose of raising money for the flood victims, but it also made people aware of the grand-scale disaster that Pakistan had to face. More than 20 million people suffered which is more than the combined total of the 2004 tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. GMU PSA encourages everyone to continue to donate.

GMU PSA invites all of you to attend our future events. To get the most up to date news on what GMU PSA is doing for our community check us out on our website at www.gmupsa.com or you can add us on Facebook under the username ‘GMU PSA.’