Concerned with the rise in terrorism, gun violence and crimes against religious institutions, nearly 75 people attended an "Emergency Preparedness Training Program for Religious Organizations and Places of Worship” hosted by the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ZAC) at its Darbe Mehr on November 9, 2019. Besides members of the Zoroastrian community there were two mayors (current and past) from the suburb of Burr Ridge and representatives from neighboring religious organizations like Buddha Dhamma, Anjuman-i-Saifee, Mecca Center, Macedonian Orthodox Church, Coptic Church and Chinmaya Mission.
"The program, tailored specially for houses of worship, began with a morning session on ‘Protecting Places of Worship (PPOW),’ presented by the US Department of Justice, in collaboration with the US Attorney’s office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Burr Ridge Police and an afternoon session on ‘Fire/Weather and Medical Emergencies’ presented by the Tri-State Fire Department,” noted a report in the ZAC newsletter of December 2019.
At the Chicago workshop (clockwise from above l): Porus Dadabhoy, Ven Thapakon,
Yousuf Hussain, Imam Hassan Aly, Fr Herman Kincaid, Jim Engineer, Harpreet Mokan,
Rohinton Rivetna; learning the use of fire extinguisher; Lawrence Link
In his welcome address, honorary mayor of Burr Ridge, Gary Grasso stressed on the importance of the program and thanked ZAC for hosting the event. During the course of the morning session, FBI supervisory special agent Joseph Holzman gave an "Overview of Federal Hate Crimes and Investigations;” Burr Ridge police officer Kris Garcia elaborated on "Responding to Active Shooter Events;” Lisa Mallory-Nance, emergency response coordinator from the Department of Public Health explained "Building Emergency Management” and Georgia Alexakis, assistant US Attorney offered an "Overview of Federal Hate Crime Laws.” An engaging question and answer session was led by the head of the Chicago FBI field office, Emerson Buie with PPOW organizer Kenith Bergeron from the US Department of Justice.
In the afternoon session, Lawrence Link, director of fire prevention at the Tri-State Fire Department gave a presentation on fire safety and weather related emergencies, demonstrated the use of a fire extinguisher and distributed literature on how to handle medical emergencies.
The newsletter gave credit to Rohinton Rivetna for coordinating with the officials of different state departments that was facilitated by ZAC being a member of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. A subsequent session at a later date will impart hands-on training in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, choking, Heimlich maneuver, stroke, heart attack, etc.
A hearty lunch of sandwiches, samosas, puff pattice, patrel, batasas, banana bread, brownies and more was hosted by ZAC.
Eight days later the ZAC hall was filled to capacity when "students of our religion classes, their teachers, parents and the community as a whole came together to celebrate the power of religious education, creativity and visualization at the first ever Youth Project Fair,” as noted the newsletter.
Do you know what the Zoroastrian creation story is? Do you know why the number 4 is so very important in the formation of a Persian garden? Do you know that one of the first ever textual references to medical surgical procedures was in the Shahnameh? Do you know why Zoroastrians are ecological scientists? These questions and many more were explored by the 40 children (age six to 13) from the ZAC religion class.
At the Youth Project Fair in Chicago Photo: https://zamc.org
The youngsters designed and created educational projects of their own choice related to Zoroastrianism. These included creative displays, interactive exhibits, dioramas (models representing a scene with three-dimensional figures), knowledge building activities, and informational talks grounded in research and understanding of our religion. Four youth chose to give presentations to the crowd on: Cyrus the Great, Healing and Wellness and its Roots in Zoroastrianism, and Zoroastrian Places of Worship. The multi-generational ZAC community actively engaged with the youth, listening and asking thoughtful questions. The event was launched with a welcome address and benediction by two next generation priests, Ervads Rayomand Ravji and Sheroy Gonda.
The success of this event was thanks to Zenobia Damania, Persis Driver, Persis Guard and Khursheed Ichaporia whose "selfless devotion, creative curriculum and boundless energy encouraged our youth to think outside the box,” acknowledged the ZAC directors.
In the meanwhile ZAC is pursuing its goal of raising $ 350,000 (Rs 2,47,73,280) by 2023 for its "Ava Project,” for which they have collected donations of $ 153,323 (Rs 1,08,52,325), and received further pledges of $ 187,923 (Rs1,33,01,340). As reminded the newsletter, "We were the first (Zoroastrian) community in North America to build our Darbe Mehr from ground up, as opposed to buying an existing building and modifying it for our use. Our Darbe Mehr has served us well over the years. It is the hub of all our religious/spiritual, educational, as well as social activities. After 30 plus years of use, our septic and well water systems needed to be replaced at a significant expense. After much deliberation within the community, it was determined that it will be cost effective in the long run to permanently solve the ongoing maintenance issues (through replacement that) was approved by the community.”
To cover the cost of this project, a bank loan of $ 350,000 was obtained by ZAC in 2018. To meet their goal of paying off the loan by 2023 they appealed to families to contribute a suggested amount of $ 2,100 (Rs1,48,640), payable either as a lump sum or in installments, by 2023.