The Capitol Hill Community Council raised some cash and connected communities Thursday night at a fundraiser for a Bellevue mosque damaged by fire.
“That mosque has been a nucleus,” Imam Arshad Anwar of the Islamic Center of the Eastside told the crowd gathered at the council’s social even Thursday night at The Summit space on E Pike.
#Grateful to our community for raising $750 for the #IslamicCenteroftheEastside tonight, thanks to Br Arshad Ahmad & 1st Covenant Church
— CH Community Council (@CHCCouncilSea) February 24, 2017
With food on hand from Melrose’s Syrian-flavored Mamnoon, the council added donations raised by the community to what has been an outpouring of support to the mosque after man suffering from mental illness set fire to the building in January.
“What has been priceless is the support of community and show of support that people have come forward and shown us,” Anwar said. “It’s not only neighbors of the mosque who have come forward with flowers, kind words, cards and support, it’s been throughout Seattle, throughout Washington. Some of the donations we have received have been from across America.”
“I would say it would be a silver lining to the cloud but the lining has overtaken the cloud, here.”
You can learn more about the center and how to help at eastsidemosque.com. More information on the Capitol Hill Community Council can be found at capitolhillcommunitycouncil.org.
