Kieth Cockrell with Selma and Jimmy
Jonna
Joseph Kassab and Jon Frank
Mixing and mingling
Gail Katz and Brenda and
Jack Abbo and Harry Barash
Honorary Co-Chair
Howard Rosenberg
Bruce Colasanti and Jeffry Bowie
Dr. Conrad Giles
Above: Arthur Horwitz addresses
the crowd
Left:
Bank of America staffers
Honorary Co-Chair Mike George
Banking On The Future
Jewish, Chaldean communities continue to intermingle, interact.
By Joyce Wiswell
Managing Editor I Chaldean News
S
pirits soared nearly as high as
the striking atrium in the Bank
of America building in Troy at
the latest Building Community event on
Sept. 14.
The casual networking reception
was the third get-together for Building
Community, the historic collaboration
launched in April between the Detroit
Jewish News and the Chaldean News.
Bank of America sponsored and hosted
the event, which included cocktails and
gourmet appetizers in the company's
impressive atrium lobby.
"Learn together, live together, build
together;' said Honorary Co-Chair Dr.
Conrad Giles, a pediatric ophthalmolo-
gist, as he summed up the goals behind
the Building Community initiative.
"If you don't communicate and you
don't associate, you just assume added
Michael George, the other co-chair, on
the need for diverse groups to interact.
Kieth Cockrell, Bank of America's
Michigan market president, told the
crowd that he moved to Metro Detroit
three years ago. He and his family are
especially enjoying the area's many eth-
nic groups, evident in the new friend-
ships his children have made. "It is a joy
that my daughters bring to our home
exposure to other cultures:' Cockrell said.
"We did not get that in Charlotte, North
Carolina:'
Giles lamented recent divisive events
in the U.S., including the controversy
surrounding the proposed Islamic center
near Ground Zero in New York and a
Florida pastor's threat to burn Korans.
"This has not been a good time; we
have not stood as tall as we should as
Americans:' Giles said. "We need one
another to be sensitive to our needs and
the needs of our neighbors:'
Martin Manna, co-publisher of the
Chaldean News, and Arthur Horwitz,
publisher of the Detroit Jewish News,
each noted that ideas are being explored
to extend Building Community, which
was slated to formally end in January.
One effort is the establishment of four
grassroots committees — Economic
Development, Arts & Culture, Social
Action and Education — that are co-
chaired by Chaldeans and Jews.
Horwitz said the groups are off to a
roaring start.
"We put the wind under people's
wings:' he said, "and they took it from
there:' ❑
JN
October 7 • 2010
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