“OBAT Helpers is the reason I am proud to be a Hoosier,” these were the words Professor John Clark, a visiting professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs used to introduce OBAT at the Humanitarian Speed Dating event held by the SPEA program of Indiana University on Jan 25th, at the Athenaeum. Professor Clark, who has been hailed as “the foremost public intellectual in Indiana,” by the Indianapolis Star, brought 15 nonprofits together under the roof of the German-American landmark, the historical Athenaeum.
The quirkily named event was indeed a race against time for the participants as a representative from each organization took the podium for four mins to describe their organization, the importance of its work as well as how the audience could help them to thrive. At the end of the four mins, former students of Professor Clark sounded the gong persistently, forcing the presenter to yield the stage to the next speaker.
Rania Hattab, Director Operations of OBAT captured the audiences interest by describing the emotive story of how Anwar Khan, OBAT’s president, visited the camps in Bangladesh with just the intention to adopt a family and after witnessing the magnitutude of suffering, formed OBAT to address the large scale of hardship he saw there.
A networking session followed the speeches. Some of the groups had set up tables displaying their organization’s literature. The groups mingled with each other and exchanged valuable info.
Thank you, Professor Clark and SPEA for letting us be a part of a wonderful event.
Pictures can be seen at this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/rhattab/PhilanthropyNight?authkey=Gv1sRgCIXvt4TIodLBRA&feat=email#
The quirkily named event was indeed a race against time for the participants as a representative from each organization took the podium for four mins to describe their organization, the importance of its work as well as how the audience could help them to thrive. At the end of the four mins, former students of Professor Clark sounded the gong persistently, forcing the presenter to yield the stage to the next speaker.
Rania Hattab, Director Operations of OBAT captured the audiences interest by describing the emotive story of how Anwar Khan, OBAT’s president, visited the camps in Bangladesh with just the intention to adopt a family and after witnessing the magnitutude of suffering, formed OBAT to address the large scale of hardship he saw there.
A networking session followed the speeches. Some of the groups had set up tables displaying their organization’s literature. The groups mingled with each other and exchanged valuable info.
Thank you, Professor Clark and SPEA for letting us be a part of a wonderful event.
Pictures can be seen at this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/rhattab/PhilanthropyNight?authkey=Gv1sRgCIXvt4TIodLBRA&feat=email#