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Holy Night – Mary, Mother of Jesus

In the light of Christmas season, we held a Zoom meeting to remember Mary, the blessed mother of Jesus. Las Vegas Epiphany Episcopal Church and Silver Sage Foundation members came together to read poems about Mary and discuss the most honorable mother’s life.

Dr. Zeki Saritoprak visited the meeting as a special guest and shared his valuable knowledge on Jesus and Mary in the Quran and hadith. Meryem Mikesa, Marlyn Buckley and Rosalie Marinellu also granted everyone some new perspectives on Mary with their stories from both Muslim and Christian traditions. We got to know more about her importance as one of the strongest women figures in history. And it was once again proven that there are so many common things in both religions.

We would like to thank Mukaddes Kocabiyik and her team of Silver Sage volunteers on organizing this beautiful and meaningful event. And a special thanks to our Teen Project youth for their beautiful poem recitations and to all who participated.

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Christmas 2020 – Food Ally Program Meal Donation

We are welcoming a holiday season with a bittersweet anticipation as the pandemic harmed a significant amount of people both physically and economically all around the world.

As Silver Sage Foundation, we are trying to do our best in order to make things easier for the people in unfortunate conditions. By joining to the Food Ally Program, we distributed more than 100 meals to people in need.

We would like to thank our Women Dialogue Unit for their efforts and perfect organization. We also thank Share Village and Nevada Homeless Alliance for their guidance. And special thanks should be given to Istanbul Mediterranean Restaurant and US Halal Meat for their delicious meals. Last but not least, we thank our generous donors and selfless volunteers who worked hard for hours to organize a smooth meal distribution.

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Christmas 2020 – Meal Distribution to Elderly

We are welcoming a holiday season with a bittersweet anticipation as the pandemic harmed a significant amount of people both physically and economically all around the world.

As Silver Sage Foundation, we are trying to do our best in order to make things easier for the people in unfortunate conditions. We distributed more than 100 meals by partnering with Nevada Homeless Alliance.

We would like to thank Nevada Homeless Alliance for allowing us to do such an act of kindness. We also extend our special thanks to Istanbul Mediterranean Restaurant and US Halal Meat for their delicious meals. Last but not least, we thank our selfless donors and lively volunteers who worked hard for hours to organize a smooth meal distribution.

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Dialogue Talks – Discussion on Sufism

Imam Mujahid Ramadan, Dr. Daniel W Skubik and Dr. Zeki Saritoprak came together to discuss on the roots of Sufism and its significance on the contemporary world. The discussion is available on our Youtube channel.

Dr. Skubik started the discussion as he talked about the pre-Islamic background of Sufism in Jewish and Christian traditions. Dr. Saritoprak moved on with the Islamic background of this school of thought. Then both academics gave plenty of valuable insight as Imam Ramadan directed the discussion with his questions and remarks.

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Teen Project – Foster Care Donations

According to Fostering Hope, there are approximately 500,000 foster children who require special care and love all around the USA. The number is around 3,500 in Clark County. It is our obligation to help them in anyway we can.

Our shining star, Teen Project youth gathered clothes for the foster children in Las Vegas. They gathered boxes of teen clothes from the volunteering families and dropped them at Hannah’s Closet. We partnered with Fostering Hope to gather children clothes donations and contribute to the foster care efforts in Las Vegas.

We also prepared Christmas greeting cards for the foster care children. We are extremely glad and happy to be a part of this initiative. We pray for each foster child to find a warm home. We would like to thank to our volunteer youth, cloth donors and Fostering Hope/Hannah’s Closet.

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Teen Project – Thanksgiving 2020 Events

Silver Sage Foundation youth did not give up on kindling the Thanksgiving spirit in 2020 even though we are passing through a terrible pandemic. With the help of their volunteer mentors, our Teen Project unit organized several activities for the Thanksgiving 2020.

Giving Tuesday – Food and Clothes Drive

The Teen Project members collected non-perishable food to distribute to the people in need living in Las Vegas. They are also collecting gently used teen clothing until the 15th of December. The donations can be dropped at our location.

Visit to the Seniors

People might feel quite lonely during these pandemic times, but the seniors who reside at senior houses are in the extreme end of this loneliness. To make their Thanksgiving cheerful, our youth unit made a visit to Merrill Gardens with thank you cards and flowers.

Pie Decoration Contest

Thanksgiving and pies is a great match. Unfortunately, we cannot come together to enjoy these delicacies in this year’s Thanksgiving. But we organized a pie decoration contest online to showcase our children’s artistic talents and taste some virtual sweetness. The submission period is over, and the pies await your votes at this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXODIjGxBOAkVy-o_mNgCpkp6mk-b2RgEckezc6U1Vxzx5Jw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

Young Talk Series – 1

Teen Project started a series of Zoom lectures in which we invite successful people from different career paths who can become role models to our youth. The first part of this series was held on November 28th. Our guest was Sevde Ilhan who is a post-graduate student at UCLA. Our next meeting will be held on December 10th and we will have several engineering students from various fields such as chemistry and landscape to give our future-college students some insights.

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Radio Show – Interfaith Dialogue towards Love and Tolerance in the 21st Century

Imam Muhajid Ramadan (Chairman of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada) hosted a radio talk show at KCEP 88.1 on November 30 to discuss interfaith dialogue and the Hizmet movement. His guests were Dr. Daniel W. Skubik (Political Science Professor at California Baptist University) and Hakan Yesilova (Editor of Fountain Magazine).

In this fruitful discussion, the importance of dialogue between different groups in order to achieve peace and order in the society was emphasized. The crucial role of the Hizmet movement in this regard was another topic of discussion. Both Skubik and Yesilova pointed out how the Hizmet helps in building a future generation of love, tolerance, rationality and kindness through its education and dialogue initiatives.

We offer our thanks to KCEP Power 88 for this beautiful opportunity to discuss such important matter on air.

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Helping Hands of Vegas Valley – Thanksgiving Donation

Silver Sage Foundation laments the fact that we are not able to celebrate the Thanksgiving with our traditional community dinners due to the pandemic, but there are still some ways to spread the thankfulness.

After our donation efforts with Food Ally Friday last week, we came together with Helping Hands of Vegas Valley this week to donate bountiful bags of groceries for the senior citizens living in the Las Vegas Valley. Our donation weighed in at 200 pounds!

Helping Hands of Vegas Valley has been a vital part of our community since its founding in 2000. They aim to fulfill the needs of senior citizens, allowing them to maintain their daily lives and independence. The organization offers food and paper goods to over 1000 seniors. Helping Hands also provide free transportation services to medical appointments, shopping trips and errands.

We would like to thank Helping Hands of Vegas Valley for granting us this opportunity to help our community. Also big thanks to our volunteers who carried out the delivery of the donated goods and to our donors who supported this effort with their precious financial support.

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Food Ally Friday

Unfortunately, we are unable to live the Thanksgiving spirit to our fullest in this year due to the pandemic. For Silver Sage Foundation, Thanksgiving has always been about gathering with our friends from different communities of Las Vegas and solidifying friendship, co-operation and peace.

But there are still some ways to keep the Thanksgiving spirit alive. Food Ally Friday event which was organized by Nevada Homeless Alliance and Share Village was a perfect opportunity for us to spread love and make people happy in this year’s Thanksgiving. Helping others to be thankful is as important as being thankful.

We volunteered in the meal distribution efforts and shared love with our neighbors. We would like to thank our volunteers, donors and lovely people at Nevada Homeless Alliance team.

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Radio Show – The Hizmet Movement and the Importance of Social Dialog

On 21st of October, Imam Mujahid Ramadan, Officer Misael Parra and Y. Alp Aslandogan came together at Power 88 radio station to discuss the essence of the Hizmet movement and the importance of social dialog.

The talk show was presented by Silver Sage Foundation and hosted by Imam Muhajid Ramadan who is the co-chairman of Multi-Cultural Advisory Council of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). Even though it was a short 30-minutes discussion, the participants talked about the important issues related to the disparity between different social communities and how we can use dialog to bring an understanding between peoples from different or even opposing backgrounds.

LVMPD Public Information Officer Misael Parra talked about how the police department works hard to establish order by taking special care at reaching out to people, listening to their problems and try to solve them.

Y. Alp Aslandogan, PhD who is the executive director of the Alliance for Shared Values (AfSV) narrated his tale of getting into the Hizmet movement. He talked about how the movement turned into a global social organization from a small local community in Turkey. He stated that the movement’s ultimate aim is to bring people from different races, religions, backgrounds, ideologies together and establish harmony in the society.

We offer our thanks to KCEP Power 88 for this beautiful opportunity to discuss such important matter on air.

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