2022 Cincy & Dayton Annual Banquet
The aWARDEES
Gwendolyn Aqueelah Salaam
Social Justice Warrior & Author of Done All the Time
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G. Aqueelah Salaam (AKA Gwendolyn Spinks) is a believer in Allah (GOD) first, a wife to her husband Yusuf for almost 45 years, mother to five and grandmother to six, who loves her family and friends dearly. My calling in life has been as a support person through childbirth education and doula services for nearly 41 years, also assisting those who have developmental disability challenges.
Her book, Done All The Time, is a Mother’s Challenge of the Judicial Systems use of Quid Pro Quo “Getting Something for Something”
Done All The Time entails a captivating story of a series of events that is written with heartfelt love, compassion, conviction and truth. Mrs. Salaam creates the backdrop from her son’s birth, all the joys, the heartache and growing pains of raising a child, right down to the transformational processes of change. Seeing her son go from an angry teenager (SENTENCED TO 18 TO LIFE) to a responsible man from within the prison walls all within a span of 13 years, Mrs. Salaam endured visitations, prison phone calls, food and clothes boxes and even the deviating feeling of the disconnect of unfairly losing a child to the system. She tells her chilly story of crooked lawyers bending judicial system rules, and of a hope that never died.
Fighting like a Black Mother Bear, and hitting a dark wall in the Legal System, while holding on to Faith, Hope and love as her armor, it became clearer to Gwendolyn that she should not give up. She lived in two worlds. One world with those who didn’t understand or believe why she wouldn’t just accept his fate, and the other world where she tried to show her son that she was on top of everything he asked her to do.
With love and perseverance in January 2020, her son was released from prison.
Nema Hussein
Team Leader of Drives at ICGC
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Nema Hussein born in St. Thomas Virgin Islands to a family of six brothers. Earned her B.S. in Information Technology, MA in Electronic Business, and Doctorate of Management in Organization Leadership and Management. Worked with Chrysler Financial in the auto industry in Michigan, where she kept advancing up to an executive level. Nema was the project leader of the Electronic Retail and Lease contracts where she overseen all the phases of developing, creating, launching, and implementing of the electronic contracts for all the United States and Canadian provinces, based on the legalities of each state and province. Nema Hussein was laid-off during the Auto Industry Crisis in the United States. From there she and her family became entrepreneurs and started their own business in the prepaid cell phone industry with MetroPCS. Coming to Cincinnati in 2014 Nema Hussein opened the first MetroPCS prepaid location on Colerain Ave. Nema Hussein and her family started their Ramadan Food Drive, Eid Toy Drive and Back-to-School Drive for Masjid Abu Bakr Siddik in Cincinnati from their family home. In the year of 2016 the Hussein Family became a part of the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati Community.
Nema worked with Rahma and ICGC to expand her current community drives in efforts to assist more people. With the support of the ICGC community and volunteers, the drives now serve several masjids and communities throughout the Greater Cincinnati Area, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky. Nema continuously leads projects at ICGC, such as Meal Train/Visiting the Sick and Arzaq – where community members freely share new or gently used clothes and household items.
Rukiye Abdul-Mutakallim
CEO & Founder of The Musketeer Association
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Hajja Rukiye Z. Abdul-Mutakallim, lives in Cincinnati, OH. Counseled, Advised,
and Instructed on three (3) different Continents and countless number of villages,
towns, cities, and states. Presently instructing online in three different countries.
Award in 2018 by the YWCA (Certification of Appreciation) and IRUSA the Award
of Compassion; Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and Prokids Volunteer;
Chairperson and Spokesperson for TMA (The Musketeer Association);
Spokesperson and Instructor for Islamic Affairs for TCMA (The Crescent Moon
Association); Disaster Relief (2nd boots on the ground) Trained Volunteer of
IRUSA; Advocate Coordinator for CSSJ (Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice);
Advocate Volunteer for MDA (Moms Demand Action); Lectured at Arab Academy
for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Main Headquarters of Abukir
Main Campus; Director of ISU Islamic Seminary of Understanding; Guest
appearance on the Mustafa Hosny Show, Khalik Ala Tarik Allah in Cairo, Egypt;
Retired from the Banking Industry (Citibank).
Presently studying under the private tutelage of Shaikh Raafat Husain Mohamed of
Cairo, Egypt and Umm Marwa Mohamed of Cairo, Egypt Masters in the Classic
Arabic Language Fusha (Arabia of Quran), Student of Quran and Ahadith.
Elisha Osama
Director & Founder of the Little Hearts School House
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Elisha Osama is a wife, mother of 13, and the founder of The Little Hearts School House Brand. The Little Hearts School House Mentoring and community services is a nonprofit agency that was established to assist children who have aged out of the childcare system. Our vision is to utilize our childcare program to recruit at risk youth, primarily in the immigrant and minority northwest Dayton community.
Our organization currently operates two Step Up to Quality 5 star rated centers servicing over 120 youth. There are approximately 20-30 children who age out of our childcare program annually. Our major goal is to assist these youth and their families with mentorship opportunities that build character through; volunteerism, homework assistance, job opportunities (within our childcare programs and local partnerships), college/scholarships application assistance, technical assistance with career path selections, food, and clothing assistance. Our intentions are to assist families through the concept of “One Help One” approach. We believe our charitable acts through our nonprofit organization will have a significant impact on decreasing child hunger and future poverty; by improving graduation rates, college acceptance, and career prep within our community.
Our childcare program has been in business for over 25 years. We have had a great deal of success in providing support to parents requiring assistance throughout their children’s high school and college journeys. Coupled with the support of our community partners; we help young people who choose to obtain a trade, write resumes in preparation to enter the work force. Many young adults have started local business’s, graduated from college, and have successfully transitioned into the workforce becoming valuable members of society due to Little Hearts involvement and their diligence. Many of them have used the opportunities they were afforded through our volunteer program to help guide the next generation through these same challenging phases in their lives. My business was founded on this principle, “We do what we can; with what we have, right where we stand, to give back”.
Hero Award
Hilliard Schools Girls
Salma Khawam
Hilliard Davidson Student
Randa Khawam
Hilliard Weaver Student
Ayah Azrak
Columbus Metro Student
Ranim Farra
Worthington Kilbourne Student
Bushrah Alhyari
Dublin Coffman Student
Nour Hafez
Hilliard Davidson Student
Tesneem Shabsigh
Dublin Coffman Student
Saja Mu’Ammar
Hillard Bradley Student
Layan Abu-Romeh
Hilliard Davidson Student