Tag Archives: Omar Salim

Big (and Bald) Man on Thaakat…Omar Salim!

By: Hira T. Khan | Keeper of the Blog | Thaakat Foundation

Taking his cue from St. Baldrick’s Foundation, our Director of Community Development shaved his head on Friday to raise money for our school in Kachra Kundi and #lethedreambe’. In the crazy-short time span of ten days, Omar Salim raised about $1200! What a guy!

To raise awareness for the fundraiser, Omar and other members of Thaakat took up Facebook and Twitter by storm. On Twitter, they were able to catch the attention of several Chicago Bears players, the BBC Asian Network, Ali Zafar, Raghav, and many others who all took a moment to tweet about Omar’s balding campaign. Thank you everyone for your support!

After the event, Omar shared a few words of wisdom on Facebook: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you your idea won’t work! Believe in yourself and the rest works out on its own.”

Omar, congratulations on a job well done!

Also, congratulations on having such a nicely-shaped head! Not everyone is so blessed. I’m afraid if I ever undertook a fundraising campaign to go bald, people would be too horrified by my lumpy, alien-shaped head to donate at all.

The Butchery of Saad Bawany

In my initial posts, I mentioned St. Baldrick’s Foundation and how the organization raised money to help kids with cancer. How? Well, the fundraisers shaved their heads for the cause.

Now, Thaakat’s very own Director of Community Development Omar Salim is on a mission to raise $1000 for the school in Kachra Kundi in much the same way. Yes, yes, he is shaving his head! Not only that, but I don’t think that Saad Bawany – that would be the guy shaving Omar’s head – has much experience in the arena of shaving heads. Omar, you are a true monument to bravery! Donate today, and Thaakat will livestream the event for all to see.

Let’s hope that Omar survives the event without any life-threatening cuts!

Help A Child’s Wish Come True This 11.11.11

11-11-11 is TODAY.
THAAKAT board members have taken to their notepads, ipads and papers to express their feelings on our fight against hunger in East Africa. Hear their rage, hear their heartbreak and help us make our 11.11.11 a successful day for those in need.
Will You Take a Break To Feed?
By: Omar Salim / Community Outreach Director/ Thaakat Foundation
Earlier today a friend of mine reminded me to take a break from my day and eat. How silly is that? I’ve become so caught up in balancing a full courseload, making strides at my internship, and having time for family that I’ve lost sight of something so simple. This is by no means a testimonial on how busy life has become but rather just an expose how privileged I am. Hunger to me amounts to coming home from night class hearing my stomach growl, realizing I haven’t taken the time out to eat all day. It was a scary realization that there are millions of people around the world DREAMING of the opportunity that I have- not the attainment of education, work experience, or even family life, but being so privileged that skipping a meal is normal by luxury rather than necessity.
One of my many night classes happens to be downtown in Chicago right off of Michigan Avenue. After leaving my class for the evening, I watched a homeless man attempt to have a conversation with a passerby. The passerby completely ignored the man and went about her business as if nothing had happened. As I headed that direction up Chicago Avenue the homeless man turned to me and said, “Would you believe I’m a college graduate?” After a quick conversation with him that lasted no more than a minute I could immediately tell that he appreciated simply being acknowledged as a person. So often we get caught up in our own assumptions about the individuals around us that we forget that at the end of day we’re all just human.
We’re all in need of support every now and then- whether that is monetary, a friendly conversation, or even something as simple as a smile. Now please don’t misunderstand, I’m not advocating by any means for you to go out and speak to strangers. All I am asking is for you to take a step back and imagine what someone else is going through. We truly never know what sort of hardship or situation someone might be in and our assumptions can be drastically wrong.
I made it home that night to my apartment and a warm meal but left with one huge regret- I wish I had bought that man a meal. He opened my eyes in ways media coverage on the devastation of the East Africa Famine hadn’t on global hunger. Hunger exists all over the world, regardless of whether we choose to accept it. It exists in our own neighborhoods, own cities, own homelands.
Thaakat Foundation has established several hunger relief programs- currently our 11/11/11 campaign. The project is simple- donate $11, and get 11 other individuals to do the same. The funds will be used directly in areas most impacted by the famine through the distribution of Plumpy’Nut- a radical invention to cure malnourishment.
Donate Here

Introducing… The Newest Members of Thaakat National

Nudrat Zoha | Social Media Guru -Yes, this is the woman behind it all! Making sure our facebook personality is in check, ensuring we are engaging our audience via twitter and youtube, she is surely the friendly face behind Thaakat and well much more. Nudrat is a young member on the board but mature beyond her years.  “I have always wanted to be part of an organization that allows me to do something for the less fortunate and Thaakat does that and much more. Not only does it help me help others, it also brings people of our age together in organizing creative events and allowing many others to be involved no matter where they live or where they are from. I hope to further boost Thaakat’s recognition so many others can experience what I have after being a part of Thaakat!”
Mohammed Ali | Investment Management -Mohammed approached the board with grand ideas and a million dollar future. Currently, he works in investments and stock portfolios and felt he could lend us some knowledge by helping to grow any idle funds. The more you have, the more you can give is his ideology. Not only does he help in this respect, but he has a wonderful strategic eye for progress. He realizes where our strengths and weaknesses are and he is prepared to help us find solutions. Mohammed has also helped us to work with students at NIU to launch a chapter there in Fall of 2011.
Omar Salim | Community Service Ambassador -When Omar first contacted Thaakat it was with so much enthuse. He shared the passion he had for community service and charitable work, at such a young age, he was so morally accomplished and comfortable with where he was going in life. At the end of our conversation I asked Omar to take time to make his consideration for being a part of the team, it required a lot of time and responsibility outside of the routine school and work schedule I shared. Before I could even finish he said, “If I’m going to be a part of something, I really want to be a part of it. I don’t want to do anything half way, tell me when I can start.” Being so content with the fact that this opportunity would not buy him money or extravagance, he expressed his delight in receiving the gift of good feeling, from doing goodwill. Omar is heading our local volunteering efforts. As a launching pad for his initiatives he led various student led and non student organizations for a week of “Bone Marrow Drives” across the country. Together they were able to register 200 people to the National Bone Marrow Registry. Applauds to Omar and his aligned student leaders!
Puja Patel  | Diversity Council -I would first like to thank Puja for her every day service to the community. Puja is a highschool history teacher and always puts the promotion of her student’s professional and developmental careers at the top of her priorities. After our first initial conversations Puja asked when we could meet, she was eager to learn more. Kind and gentle but motivated and driven, Puja has continued to bring opportunity after opportunity to the table for Thaakat. When I shared I would like to work on a project in India, Puja put us in touch with her friends at Project GreenLight which proposed a wonderful partnership. She has brought light to us not only through our global projects but has been an instrumental part of everything from volunteer events to helping the students at her highschool to host their very own event in support of Thaakat. Her dedication is true and her heart is pure.
Sarah Khan|  Growth & Expansion -Sarah has been an absolute delight. In our first meeting she was so engaging and so excited to be a part of Thaakat. She looked forward to have the opportunity to take her own initiative with the team. With stride, she has jumped on board to assist the group in launching chapters across the country. From her honest dedication to what we stand for to her caring personality, she has served as such a positive asset to our team on the East coast. With her help, we are hopeful for a 2011 at Stonybrook University and University of Houston!