Letter from the Chairperson
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! January 26 marks the end of PARSA’s 4th year in operation. During this time, we have witnessed much volunteerism from our community as we have become more daring, more active and more connected. We are coming into our own. We are richer with the growing contributions of Iranian change makers: the nonprofits that carry out the work PARSA funds; the volunteers that keep PARSA and the organizations we support running; and the next generation of Iranian Americans whose shining lights guide our way. They determine the kind of civil society our generation will build and the kind of civic contributions that our diaspora will make to American democracy.
For this quarter’s philanthropist article, we are featuring our community's youngest fundraisers: 8 year-old Darrion Sani who is raising money for schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan one penny at a time through the organization "Pennies For Peace"; 10 year-old Roz Fazli who is raising money for her local animal shelter; and 14 year-old Roshan Malekmadani who is raising funds to build a school in Kenya through “Free The Children.”
The young volunteers that we are highlighting are all politically engaged: 11 year-old Aris Sahba Koumis was the #1 phone banker during the presidential primary elections in the State of California; and Rodd Farhadi and Zaul Moayedian are both 14 and serve on the Los Gatos town commission as Youth Commissioners.
“Women in philanthropy” is the topic of this newsletter's Philanthropy 101. We were proud to honor two role models at PARSA’s Third Annual Award Event. Forough Hosseini, the recipient of PARSA Philanthropist of the Year Award, while running a business and a home with children, gives a tremendous amount of her time and resources to the development of her local community institutions; and Atossa Soltani, the recipient of PARSA Volunteerism and Action Award is an activist who fights for the rights of indigenous people and challenges multi-national corporations to hold back global warming.
Our featured organization, Moms Against Poverty (MAP), is also a testament to the volunteerism of women in our community. This all volunteer-led organization raises funds and awareness to support the basic needs of children around the world, from the United States to Afghanistan.
I would like to express our gratitude to Showleh Tolbert, PARSA's former executive director, and Mariam Hosseini, PARSA's former grants manager, for their service to the Iranian American community. We wish each our very best.
Finally, I extend a warm welcome to three new members of PARSA's leadership. Nasser Manesh has just joined PARSA as Community Relations Officer. In this role Nasser will oversee the grant process, website/product development and community outreach. He is a serial entrepreneur with a deep commitment to Persian arts, culture and civil society. Nader Mousavi and Lily Sarafan join PARSA as the newest members of the Board of Directors. Nader Mousavi is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. Nader brings with him a long history of public service and has been PARSA's pro-bono attorney for the past year. We will count on Nader to further strengthen PARSA institutionally and operationally. Lily Sarafan is COO of Home Care Assistance and co-author of Happy to 102. Lily is an active member of the Iranian American non-profit community, including serving on PARSA's sponsorship committee for the past two years and co-hosting our third annual event. We look to Lily to help fortify our community relations and alliances, especially with young professionals.