 My name is Asif Kitwai, I am one of the election committee and with me are brother Waseem Sufi and brother Samir Akeem, we are also part of the election committee. So welcome to those who are here in person and to those who are watching online or perhaps watching this recording. Today we are gathered here to introduce to the community the candidates who have thrown in their hats to serve the community inshallah for the next two years and to of course give you the opportunity to ask any questions of them if you have any. So let me just briefly describe the program and then we'll get started. So generally I'll go over some of the voting expectations of when the ballot will go out and so on and so forth. This will be and then we will also have a brief welcome by our outgoing president of the board, Catherine Hamza. Following that each of the candidates who are present here will get a statement. They will have two minutes each to read their statements. We have requested from them a written statement but they have an opportunity here to read a statement describing their ambitions, their goals, their plans for a couple of minutes. Then the election committee has come up with a number of questions that we will ask of each of the candidates so that each of them have the opportunity to answer them and you can all assess how they approach things. This will be followed by further Q&A by the community members who want to ask questions and then it will be a wrap. So that's the general idea but let me first introduce the folks who are the candidates for this election and I think I'll start just from the gentleman seated next to me, Danial Abassi. So Danial was nominated to be a candidate for the director at large position and following him the MTC is for Ahsan Ahmad who is traveling and could not be here. He sent an email to the election committee that he could not make it and he is the other director at large. So there were two open director at large positions and there were only two candidates. So in effect Danial and Ahsan Ahmad are both elected to the board for the following two years and they're really not going to be an election for these candidates. So when you receive the ballot you will see that their names have been sort of, there is no check box. So you don't need to check their boxes they're already deemed elected to the board. Following that one of the nominees for the position of secretary is Nawaz Ali. He is intending to join the forum but apparently he is stuck in traffic so hopefully he'll be able to join and so he's competing or nominated for the position of secretary. Next to Nawaz's seat is Mujahid Ali Muhammad also nominated for the position of secretary. So when you get the ballot you will see that there are these two names for secretary and you can make one of, you can choose one of them. Please choose one of them to keep the ballot correct. Following Mujahid are seated Zarina Kiziloglu and I believe Zarina is also on the board currently and then at the end we have Umul Sabin and Sabin I'm not sure whether you are also part of the board right now or okay your termines. So again there are two candidates for president Umul Sabin and Zarina Kiziloglu and you should check one of the names when you when you send your ballot. So the ballots have been printed they have been stuffed in envelopes reportedly and stamped but they have not been mailed. They should be in with the US Postal Service tomorrow inshallah. So you should be receiving the ballots this week and then the last date to turn in these ballots is January 5th Friday January 5th by 5 p.m. So you can either send them back by mail and inshallah you see them here or you are welcome to drop them off here in person at MCC and there is going to be a box that says ballots and you can turn those ballots in here but again the deadline to do that is 5 p.m on Friday January 5th 2018 inshallah. And one clarification that I'd like to make is that each family will receive two pre-printed ballots. So the assumption is there is a husband and a spouse or a you know that who are eligible to vote but if but the bylaws also provide for other dependent members of the household who are 18 years old or older to be able to vote. So if you have a child who is 18 or older or a parent or you know someone who is dependent like that you can make copies of the ballot you can say if your ballot number is 110 you can say 110 C and D and you can you should then also send an email to elections at MCC East Bay or ORG explaining that you will be sending additional ballots and who these people are. So I think that's a you know that's something that you need to keep an eye on and I think those are the general sort of guidelines. I don't have anything specific but whether it was him or somebody do you have anything to add? So let me then request Catherine to come and say a few words. Thank you Catherine. I should have a walk to say but I'm going to restrain myself. What I want to say is that we're especially for the live stream audience because I have a captive audience here that what we want is a robust election process. So what we would hope is that everybody will actually vote in this election. This isn't a time to chastise the community or anything but we've had very very low participation in the nomination process so we're hoping that we have the exact polar opposite of that in the election process. It needs to be vibrant. You need to be upon this process of who we elect. The other thing I want you to point out is when you decide when you place the checkmark next to who you want to vote for be sure that you pick a person that you know, a person who you know has energy and time for MCC. Not only do they have the time and the energy but they put MCC in front of personal goals that they might have and that in doing that they follow those goals with moderation. The moderation that makes MCC the key focus on what you're doing. Other than that I want to highlight a point, Brother Ossoff could why I made was that people over 18 in your home who can vote be sure to have everyone over 18 in your home vote and January 5th we must have all of the ballots by January 5th. Please pay attention to the election process. Thank you. So just to just to recap so every candidate is welcome is going to make a statement that statement can be two minutes or shorter and we'll begin with Daniel. So I've had the opportunity to serve the board now for two years for those of you that don't know me. My name is Daniel. I live in Livermore. I'm married but I chose as I got married about a year into my marriage I chose that I want to to be involved at the mosque and to give back to my community and the reason for that is because I grew up in this community after my parents migrated from Pakistan here it was pleasant and that we landed at and ever since then I've been I've been involved and grew up here went to college year high school here middle school right all that so I thought it'd be a great opportunity for me to give back because of the certain mindset that I've developed and the challenges that I faced being a youth and growing up here I thought it'd be a really good unique thought process to be able to give back to MCC from a completely different perspective than maybe some of the other board members come from so I think it's been very successful this past two years we've done a lot at MCC played a pretty big role I think most of you have seen me in Ramadan a very active very active practical presence I think it's it's very important to as a as a someone running for the board that is not a position that we just sit in a room and make decisions of what color the carpet should be or what goes on the wall right that's not what the board is about it's a a very I like sister Catherine said it's very strategic opportunity to really bring together your your your knowledge of of how to be a good leader in your community but put MCC in the front line that hey I'm representing maybe I'll call it a brand that you're not you're not here representing yourself I'm not here for my own goals as Daniela Basi what I see the youth should you know have or what I see this it's more of MCC as a whole what what MCC will make MCC successful and how my time will best fit to make that dream to life so inshallah I guess I don't need your your vote that I've already chosen so just out of here and I hope to serve these next few years with the best of my ability and inshallah one more time every week than maybe previously has been put in so just out of here and you can always find me asking any questions that you might have thank you so thank you Daniela so the gentleman has a number could not make it so we have also requested personal statements that could be posted online and I think to the extent that we have one available from him that we will make that available online on the third seat is Nawaz Ali again he is one of the nominees for secretary also he has also turned in I know that personally he has turned in a personal statement so that personal statement will be available online for those who are then you know able to go and read it so next is my name is Mujahid I've been in the community for a long time but we used to live in Fremont until 2016 that's when we moved to President and Dublin but MCC is very near and dear to my heart and we have been involved as a family with MCC since the first days when we were doing fundraising for MCC this new campus new building um and since then I've been here pretty much every Friday prayers and every Ramadan my therapies you know are here most of the members of the MCC already know me by face probably not by my name and also the board members they know me very well and some of the board members actually know my wife and they know me as Edwin's husband which is good I appreciate that that basically shows that we care about MCC and we love MCC and we want to be involved with MCC here the reason for my choice to serve on the board here is first of all I've been requested by multiple board members to serve we have been always volunteering at MCC I'm currently also a teacher at Sun Sun School I teach fifth grade for on a class um and I wish to serve MCC because we love and we are here and our families are here our kids are here and that's my main reason that I'm running for this position thank you Jaila Tchaikov so uh next up is Zarina Kiziloglu she's one of the nominees for president so welcome Zarina it's okay but the corner okay um I'm privileged and humbled to be part of the board member at MCC this past year I'm serving I want to be a president of the board because I think I'm really interested in doing programs for the youth so knowing what the community wants in terms of program is a big deal for me and you have to be in tune and um very much involved with the community's need so I feel like I have the community's pulse and I know what they want for example I started the boys and girls basketball program at 9-5 in September because no such program existed for the youth at MCC for high schoolers so that gives the kids that brings the kids together the boys and girls a different time obviously keeps them healthy and basically forms brother and sisterhood bonds with each other my experience has been that MCC kids some of them do not want to be coming to the MCC and participate in activities at MCC because they feel like this is too boring for them so doing something outside MCC actually it helps a lot so I'm here with brother Bilal who comes and talks to the kids about what's important and the religious aspect and then I told brother Bilal last week that we have we had a tragedy last two weeks ago and we wanted to address that so the brother addressed that and then he came back and he said that was 15-20 minutes during the basketball was not enough we have to do some more to bring the healing for these kids so I talked to the sister Shyamal the principal of Sunday school and told her I said hey can we do something and she said yeah let's do a healing process and we included Cheharami basically we had over 150 kids parents and they came over and Alhamdulillah it was a successful event and that's the reason that I wanted one for the president because there's a lot that needs to be done and we're not even close so thank you this and again next up is sister Umun Sabeen. Assalamu Alaikum everybody my name is Umun Sabeen I'm excited to be standing before you as a candidate for the president of board of directors I have been a member of MCC for the past seven years I have been a board member for the last two years and this is my 14th year as a tribal community member for me MCC is not just a community center this is like a child to me I have seen the days of ICPD growing to coming into MCC and I I have so many dreams and plans and I look forward to what I could offer to MCC as a president inshallah. I live in Dublin with my husband and our four children and I received a bachelor's degree in computer applications and I have served as a PTO president one time PTO president and twice a treasurer at non-star school. The last two years have seen MCC grow rapidly this is a result of not only a dynamic board of directors but in partnership with the board of trustees as well as that works closely with the directors in the efforts on behalf of the community. The last two years have seen not only the highest of MCC's first staff members but of robust unveiling programings from interfaith yoga classes, Quran classes, poetry nights and public speaking classes starting of the HIPPS program and youth programs designs especially to meet the needs of all the community members the youths especially. Additionally MCC has worked to identify needs in the community and respond to those needs such as working with Khalil Center to have mental health counseling clinic on site. It takes a lot to have MCC function professionally and to ensure it has a community center to which people from across the Bay Area are attracted to. It is dedication to the work that is done where no one is around and to coming to meetings and meeting with the community members and stepping to the plate to take work on not because it is expected but more out of dedication and commitment to MCC as an institution. I'm dedicated and committed to MCC. I'm willing and able to have time to dedicate to MCC and I respectfully request your vote to participate in the election process. I would be honored to be the president of the next board of directors. Insha'Allah Khair and may we make the best of time, the place and the future insha'Allah. Thank you so much. Thank you. So I think again I'd like to thank all of the candidates because we know that this is not an effort to garner fame or you know fortune. This is an effort to serve the community. So I think on behalf of the election committee and I think all of the community would like to thank you for throwing your hat in the ring and you know again that's all I can say. So we have some questions. These are generic questions and so we will pose these questions to all of those who are present perhaps including Danyal because although you are elected but perhaps you want to take a shot at that right. So gave us you know tell us I mean despite I mean three of you are already on the board have been on the board brother Mujahid has been active in the community so we understand that but I think we'd like to for you to speak to how many hours per week typically would you be able to commit to the MCC board. What would be any limitations and how can you be confident that you can allocate this time. So starting with if that's working maybe you need to mic. And the responses have the responses should be about a minute. So basically in response to time being a member already board member for two years this is this is this is very important it's a hard it's a hard it's a hard task because you have your personal life you have your work stuff but then at the same time you have this love and desire you want to give to MCC because something inside of you is biting to to to to give and dedicate that time I think it's very important as a board member to pick up projects work with the board. So what I would basically be doing is working with the board of all my board members looking at all the projects seeing where I can best fit in how many hours I can dedicate and then trying to come up with at least four to five hours a week to be able to dedicate on a certain project that will help MCC move forward. I think it's irrelevant to say that oh you should be doing something because you're on the board there has to be a plan there has to be way to navigate and there has to be a result at the end of the time that you're given it as long as that's there you know I will personally have time to to give just to make sure that since we are streaming okay so we'll come back. So the question is how much time can I give to MCC and this was one of my concerns before I throw in my hat so I didn't quite how much time is reasonable and I was told it was like about three to four hours a week at least and which seems like reasonable most of the time I'm here at MCC at least for the ASHA prayers and then I can you know make personally to the board meetings and you know as a volunteer I do spend whenever a project is going on I do spend a lot of time with the project with the team members working on it so I think that's more of a reasonable time for me like three to four hours is not a problem. So again since brother Nawaz Ali who is one of the candidates for secretary has been able to join us he will also take this question so brother Nawaz we're just going to a bunch of questions that we're posing to all of the candidates and the question is tell us how many hours per week you are able to commit to the board what limitations do you see in spending time and how can we be confident that you can allocate this time. I can definitely give about anywhere from about five to six hours a week above as well coming forward during the show early in the evenings so with the kids the schedule can be undergone and my kids are usually enjoying the weekend. Let's move the microphone to sister Serena and then resistors of the evening. Speaking not everything is the same so Ramadan under's expectation is more that we'll have to spend a bit more time and volunteering and doing the work that needs to be done to go through Ramadan. There has been times weeks that I have been spent more than five minutes at MCC or have done anything. There are times that I've spent five six hours on the program for example on the two weeks ago that we had a tragedy I could put the program talk about it and being here so it really depends on the week and what's going on and what's happening at MCC. That's realistically what the situation is like. You can't say it's going to be five six hours because there weeks that you don't do anything and that I'd be lying to you there weeks that you probably are spending 20 hours and with the younger kids it's I mean I hate to say but it's just going to be impossible because we had some board members who came with the kids at the beginning it was like really but this is their limitation you know and you have to see realistically can you really do this is this possible especially if your mother with a younger baby that's still too I'm sorry this is not going to work for you but then everybody makes their own call. Typically saying if you if I say that I just can get three to four hours to MCC it would be fair because more than anything else like I said MCC is a child to me and no mother can stay away from the child I cannot when I come to MCC I am bound to spend about two hours per day so Tuesdays I'm here for a class and when we come for Juma we spend about like the entire afternoon the entire evening here so I can say positively that I can get about six to eight hours a week inshallah to MCC and make it fruitful here thank you. Okay well thank you again you know for the candidates also that's reminding that being on the board means spending time spending time that's not being part of a function or a prayer right it's it's going beyond that it's working with other board members planning executing so just to to remind the voters and the candidates for that so our next question again let's begin with Danielle is okay let's start okay let's start from there if your best friends and family were asked to describe you using three adjectives what would those three words be? To really think about what they would describe me as I would say problem-solver, hardworking and dedicated. I'm actually in the room so I don't know if I should answer this but yeah I would say it's collaborative, energetic, stay talked a lot, motivated, results driven, big picture focused. Again thank you I hopefully these are glimpses that you can have in the candidates personality so as you are looking to board take this into account I mean what's important what resonates with you but all of our good qualities so thank you candidates. Next question let's begin with Danielle what in your opinion are the three most important issues that are facing MCC East Bay and its community? I think the three most important issues is that MCC is facing with the community is number one being able to build a solid relationship as a center with the youth to move forward into the future. Another issue would be to identify to have more of a member outreach and more members joining MCC and becoming active members and having ideas and whatnot and then that I would say would probably be to have a team that can strategically think of certain action plans and ideas to work with our internal kind of board over the community to take MCC to the next level with certain plans and strategies that have been put in place 10 years ago and it was the first time they did I think it would be the three most important things that we want to focus on. So Nawaz Ali goes next and again this is again a question that sort of gets you a glimpse on how the candidates are thinking so that's all that's it so please Nawaz. Yeah can you repeat the question on the candidates? What in your opinion are the three most important issues facing MCC East Bay and its community? Issues for me would be really listening to the youth and the issues of community understanding this is a home away from home it's normally a community center but a place of worship a place where they can go to work their peers understand some of the issues that they have facing today. Number two I think one of the other issues what I would say is that the services being offered we have youth night on Friday the second gym which is right after school but you know just taking around being active with the youth getting involved and then the third issue. That's okay I mean there don't have to be the one that many issues right so maybe there aren't that many issues right. So first of all I would say that MCC is masha'Allah a very good community when you look around other communities we are doing a lot of good stuff here so I think you know there's the credit goes to the board and the the trustee and with that said I think there is definitely a room to improve in every community and one of the things that I think is the participation of our community in the events for example such as this you know we can see like how many people are up here. So you know not just this one but also for the regular prayers I think like the strength of the community lies when we are attaching ourselves to Allah and His messengers also. So one of the things I would say is how do we bring the community back to the masjid for the daily prayers like a piece for the fajr and risha prayers including myself to make myself more more regular and the second thing I think is in today's today's world we have a lot of issue with the identity you know it's it's not easy to go out and be muslim and be yourself so I think that is definitely something our children will probably face a lot more than ourselves that we have been raised in an environment where our parents have made sure that we got a strong identity and I think our children passionate about and then I think we should have more focus on that and making sure our kids are strong muslims and third one is like such as you know spontaneous questions I am not really prepared so I am sure there are other areas of improvement so but these are the two that come to my mind thank you. For me actually youth is probably the future leaders the future of the community mental physical psychological educational whatever we can for their youth to get them to the next level get them involved in masjid get them involved with volunteer get them to go out and be there and present muslim community at large that's very very important developing the leadership role for the youth is a critical and the second thing that I think is really important is to get MCC involved be the leader within the muslim community in the Bay Area so we have to be involved not just within ourselves and be recognized for example the NCIC Northern California Islamic Center being involved with different massages different communities and basically showing that we are part of that community and just to fight Islamophobia just to be involved and just to be recognized as a leader we have to be participant with other activities and be involved we just we don't have to just be with Zaytuna we can be with everybody else out there being an epsilon one masjid and basically align ourselves with that with that community um because we have the same goal our goal is to prevent Islamophobia our goal is to be known that we are good people with good human beings that we are doing good for the community at large and the third thing that I really think that the community needs is alhamdulillah looking at the jama prayer we have a diverse group of people in this community how are we going to utilize this community this diverse community to come in and take the committee leadership and get them involved so that they can come in and take ownership of the projects because we as a board member cannot do every single thing so I know that I'm limited with myself and the few volunteers that I'm working with but if we have other community members from Indonesia from the Indians from uh let's say um Bosnians they come in India they come with different ideas they come with a different background so they are able to contribute so how do we make them the next committee leaders so they report to us at the board member and basically do the work that needs to be done and in the community at large that's where I think it's needs to be done. At the community center I would like to see us grow more in terms in the areas of our youth provide as we are a community center and a masjid I would like to offer our youth not just religious education religious education support but as well as academic education support system as well giving them our mental health classes and academic subsidizing them in a way with the academic skills as well bringing in more programs like STEM and bringing in organizations like NSF and collaborating in that way and bringing in more health clinics and building a system that our future generations can follow and take it further to the next level. Again thank you for all for your thoughtful responses to that question so the next question and we'll begin with Sister Sabine and then come down this way give us an example of your decision-making approach I mean do you take more of a consultative approach consensus-driven approach a thought-added approach but try to give us an example if you will and this applies to all of you please so would you start with the situation sometimes as you have to take a consulting approach or sometimes you just have to go with the decision-making you will make the decision by yourself and I have served as a president for the CTO at North Stark school and there have been so many times where you have to make certain decisions on the go and not nothing really comes up to me right now at the moment but there have been times when I had to go with the consultative consensus it all depends on it's always situational. Okay again thank you Sister Sabine I mean you're welcome to add if you have anything but certainly any response that you offer is my film man that's what we're looking for so next is Sister Zarina. Dictatorship style leadership I'm actually completely opposed to that I believe in participative leadership where it's similar to Shiro you ask people what they basically that's why we are the board we're not there to be a dictator but we are there to work as a community as the leaders together and come up with the solution work things out and and find what's the best way to work and come up with the solution so I that that's that's just my style I want to make sure that everybody's including everybody's heard what they're saying and I just absolutely hate the dictatorship. I don't think anybody would say that dictatorship dictatorship is the right way to go so obviously it's you know going back to the Sunnah and the Quran and Allah SWT has always commanded to have a Shura council right so and if my philosophy is you know you have to follow the way of the prophet and that's the way of the Shura so you always need to have a consultation and also at the same time you have one leader one Amir of the group right so after the consultation then whatever Amir decides the leader of the group decides the need the group should support that so it's both ways like you know you might call it like a you know authoritative and at the same time it's a consultation so you have to take that approach both and you have to make sure that your group your party agrees and everybody's clear on what the objectives are and then once you have made a decision of the group everybody should just support it and even if it is it goes against your own opinion. I would totally say it's a good answer to the situation but I agree besides in taking it back. So as everybody pretty much said my approach as well is definitely more consultative I want to get other people's inputs although I think situational based it just really depends on you know the position which I was to speak on my behalf just as a board member right at MCC I probably I have like a set of people that I go to you know for example if I had a new idea and I know that for example sister Catherine she just served as president I probably go to her consult a little bit what do you think about this and then I probably go I have a couple other people I go to that on the board of trustees or just in general just have a mindset that the way I kind of think but I view them as mentors so I usually go over these things and then I'll maybe make take a decision or go to a meeting with some material or a proposition of a certain idea or whatnot but definitely respect at the end of the day what decision has been made by a leader because at the end of the day I think I'll put them there for that reason so thank you so this may be the last question that the election committee has come up with you know as a group and this is a very specific problem that I think the center faces and very tactical one but like so we always hear about these parking issues whether they are at Juma or you know at Tarabi or you know at these major events right so and there are people who are you know the offenders I mean I'm just going to use that word so how what specific approach would each one of you take to address the issue I mean and not let it linger on how would you take that one yeah I think this is actually a very relevant question because as a board member dealing with the Muslim community gets very difficult you know people want to part on top of anything and people want to just do whatever they want they want to bring coffee and throw you know I guess it's a it's a unique situation and as a as a leader I would I would probably handle situation as follows I would give it with something like parking if we mentioned it once or twice in the third time I'm not just gonna you know as as many of you know I give Tarabi and I'm you know let's just take that as an example and take Ramadan parking after two or three Tarabi's we made announcements I think after that you know it needs to be a much stricter approach like I like the whole tagging the car and then putting tape on and really causing an issue because honestly as a community member you're causing an issue to us you're causing issues to the entire community and that goes with anything right so if you're if you're one individual two individuals 10 individuals out of hundreds that are continuously causing an issue you need to be marked for that and people need to see their issue closer like this is not okay so I'm glad I would be I would take a strict approach and um I just feel like that's necessary so yeah this is a really uh a concerning issue I think the parking issues I see on a day-to-day basis especially for events where you know this is definitely should be given visibility outside clearing like lights their lights so they can try to the MCC has addressed this issue pretty well when we provided alternate ways where to park like we um in the evenings with the Tarabi we got permission from HP and we got permission for the Juma prayers we arranged the parking at the school so I think that's very creative ways and I think I would encourage doing that and continue on that and um my philosophy and approach would be a little bit different than uh Daniel and brother Noa's um to me a leader is the one who serves the people it's not about authority it's not about dictating I was recently reading um one of the some of the power zero book and it is I came upon a hadid where a bedouin man came to the to Medina and asked the prophet saw some of the group of people who were sitting like who's the leader among you and that shows you that he could not see who the leader was when the prophet was among them he was not on sitting on a pedestal and everybody just like saying and then he the prophet salam gave the man water and said the leader is the one who serves the community and then immediately he knew who the leader was so I think I would probably say do the team of volunteers and if there are like you know continuous or um a serial offender if you will right then I would say you know work with them and see like you have a volunteer to take the card and provide a valet parking or something something happens you're getting a statement because of that so as a community member if you don't you know if you want a special treatment in MCC but the rest of the the world and you know if you park on whatever you you're okay with the treatment of the law is giving you then that's a little unfair right so I think based on that as just a board member that's been here I don't want to make it seem like you know see the place that we just think wrong or mean or or it's bad but at the same time right if we have a whole bunch of volunteers or people just ready and committed to take valet parking and do all these things of course I think it's gonna work but in a mindset that you don't have that thank you everyone for you know commenting on this sensitive issue it seems clearly so I think this is the end of our questions but there are a few community members here in person and is anyone interested in asking a question of the board of the candidates pardon you can take that mic that last question hit a nerve it also showed that there's some large gaps so I just I have a yes or no question that I'm going to ask brother Nawaz and brother Majahed and then I have a second question for brother Majahed no brother Nawaz in all the times you've come to MCC have you ever seen anybody park illegally or double park yes have you ever asked them not to park like that yes Majahed have you ever said question I have not seen because usually when I come for the prayers I come early and I leave late so I don't see those situations okay brother Majahed MCC is bound by the laws of the city of pesington state and various other laws how do you propose a solution that is in violation of the law for instance double parking I'll take that back these are the these are the positive out there for the rest of the community is that when we are asking board members to give a lot of thought and a lot of reverence to ideas before they're posted out there for the entire community we must give thought everything we do must be moderated thank you thank you so any other questions it looks like parking is a source of my question is to all of the board members and candidates to become I guess new board members what is next to parking it appears what's the next big biggest facilities issue that needs to be addressed and what are your plans to address it can you go this way the facilities issue as a as a board member I can only tell you what I perceive but I'm sure like such a captain and some lovely members will know a lot more detail but just from what I see I would say after parking if you look at parking as more of an issue with the community then I would say the facilities issue with the community would just be the the presence and awareness in the mindset of this is not your living room this is the loss right this is not this is God's house first and foremost it is not your house first and foremost I think I think the logic there just needs to start becoming a more of an understanding that you can't just use Islam and use all of these things from books and apply it to people that haven't even go into that aspect as much as one someone else would have right so you have to suppose you as more just a normal black and white feeling what's right it's not right to have coffee on the carpet right it's not right I'm just from an open container all that way it's not right to have children running around and beating up walls right that's not the regardless of any other issue that's just not the right thing to do besides that I think there's a lot of facilities things going on like right now the bathroom and construction so that the board of trustees has a really awesome plan moving forward if you look at 10 years from now what MCC should be and how it looked like and I I want to stay in touch with as a board member as much as I can with that plan and help and facilitate however I can like I think there's a plan for the bank would haul it to be a little more glamorous and to have some sort of coffee ability and wi-fi for the for the youth to have a kick in place for them so I would want to be involved in that and I think those are some of the things that I see as facility issues or projects you know there's people can probably differ from me but there's not I don't see that many issues I just you know outside of parking I think the most second important thing for me and for my family it's just a good use utilizing a good use of the space that we have my show this is a very big musket we should definitely just utilize the space that we have effectively and then the second thing is the restrooms and I know that there is construction going on and Daniel just informed me that there's a you know there's a plan in place I haven't seen the plan inshallah if I do become a board member I'd like to see the plans and maybe help to contribute I don't think there's like big issues in our community there may be small or big even maybe some small concerns some things that could be further improved and I think we could probably treat those things as those minor concerns and then seek to resolve the solution in a positive way without you know dividing the or upsetting the community upsetting anybody and I think there's probably easier ways to resolve bathrooms you know it's yeah of course we need more bathroom we are a growing community mashallah and we are working on it with the kids and stuff yes there's you know sometimes they become nuisance but I think there's a positive or more gentler approach we can take rather than you know scare them or yell at them or you know be harsh with them I think we definitely want to be more loving and inclusive and inviting community here my feet are cold they're freezing the place I mean you might not see it online but this place is cold so we don't have heating and we just got there conditioning that working alhamdulillah in the conference room in the area so the bathrooms on the construction I was here on Thursday and I was actually helping someone close the code application and the general was late so I went to check out the bathroom construction so I walked in there and I smell the smell of this nasty bathroom sewer pipes that were open so I talked I told the guy I said the guy who was working there I said you know these are the vents for sewer line they need to be clogged this is a masjid we come and pray here tomorrow's gym we cannot have the sewer smell inside the bathroom so you need to cap these things he looked at me like okay he was looking around I said he's plastic he'd take a piece of cloth just clog these holes not just one multiple of them so basically being involved in the construction I know a lot of construction myself alhamdulillah to my family and that causes toxic fume that hurts the community and hurts the people who are coming in here praying plus the smell being so bad so the construction was maybe an issue here inshallah we can all work around it and see what we can do in a health and positive way I hope it wasn't so it wasn't a difficult it was an easy fix but it has to be addressed right so being in the construction committee or being involved that we have to do something and we have to know enough to fix this stuff I told the brothers at the order of trustees I said brother the bank doesn't have not the bank at all the conference room does not have any air conditioning and it's free in summer time it's hot in winter time it's cold he said who's nobody complained I said well I'm complaining I'm cold same thing a gym I come here in winter time it's cold the doors open and so we have to work a little bit more to make people comfortable when they come here as you all are seeing that we're in the process of renovation and renovation and changes take patience and time so I'm hoping changes close and inshallah I'm looking forward to the years to come when this place would be more inviting clean and respectful of our diversity and we are able to implode everybody's needs inshallah and we have changes close that's okay no I wasn't trying to question my apologies so any questions from this younger member of the audience no okay if oh you have one more question one comment actually so hello and first of all I want to commend you for being here and for being a member of the MCC and on board and God bless all of you together and and for the president who's running for president who ever win the best of luck inshallah you know and I know from your heart you're working to make MCC better for everybody especially for our family and for the young people too you know and all I ask of you is just you know as a member myself and my you know my wife Catherine as you all know let me tell you three four hours a week it's not gonna be enough for you because I know Kathy was here coming to MCC a week she'll put in more than 20 30 hours a week you know so I know if you all have family and you all have things to take care of and we all have different things going on in our life but my friend is the intention make sure your intention inshallah is for the best cause of of for MCC and that's all I have to say and God bless all of you so as a board member I have some questions for you right absolutely absolutely just I think so for those that are running for president and I guess as it's also for secretary just because I've already made your two years and I'd have a couple questions so for the ones that are running for secretary how do you well what is your idea of your job and and just want to get that's where I want to get idea what you think you're up against here and then on top of that just in one sentence really quick as your position as your position what do you how do you see yourself contributing like as as your particular position how do you guys look at me so that's for more of the secretary and then for the uh president people in the president my main question is is that how do you what is your vision for just the next year as president and how do you expect to use the other board members to to uh uh breach that that vision that you might have for the secretary was just it was just like what is the role of secretary so the reason I'm repeating this is so that it can be caught online perhaps it is perhaps it's not but Daniel is asking a question of the candidates for secretary asking them what they view their role so I think now as we go first followed by Johnny as a secretary I remember I think my role would be being first being actively involved in the masjid I know that there's weekly meetings as board members so I definitely be attending that as a secretary I think you know being a collaborative member taking inputs from everybody clearly communicating the concerns taking across the points I'm being a good listener um taking consider taking and consideration of everybody's points I think that's what I was trying to say and just being actively involved as a secretary and the secretary position I would I would be more involved um in every meeting like personally attending and making sure I'm capturing the notes and uh you know communications um and making sure that the communication is being articulated very clearly and one of the things that I personally do is um kind of like a mediator sometimes when you when you are in a discussion and you know the discussion is not really just discussions becomes like a bit of an argument or people lose track on and they kind of like block out what other persons are talking about they just more focus on the replies and stuff so my um my strength here is to you know detach from that argument and be a mediator and and explain the parties like what the the messages are so that's I have done that many times with my friends and you know even at work so that I think would be my contribution also to the to being the secretary thank you and again just to recap the question I think the question is what do you see uh what is your vision for doing in the next year just one year and how you will engage other board members in achieving your goals I'll have the board of trustees they have done they get great intentions and their hearts are in the right place and that's where we are as the board of directors there's a lot of work that needs to be done being there and part of the board Alhamdulillah we have great board members I'm not the undermining them they have done a lot of hard work and now that Mrs. Catherine is going to be not on the board the board is going to have a big void and that's not going to be um that's going to be a big thing that has to be felt so how do we do this so the first thing that the first year we need to do is to go back and hit the books so there are classes that are offered through the city through the California State College Cal State East Bay that are showing how to run a non-profit organization properly in managing it correctly I highly encourage and this is the first thing the first week that if I'm the president I would encourage that because what you're missing is what we're going to do next okay so we've taken MCC to this level Alhamdulillah Board of Trustees and Board of Directors and what's the next step what are we going to do how are we going to do with this by knowing what we are supposed to be doing so they have a day or two classes so weeks that continues basically knowing how to operate a non-profit organization properly managing it what every single board member has to do this is my opinion you have to take the time and dedication to learn that stuff and come back and everybody's on board then I have 20,000 ideas the people I mean other boards you've been on the board in the past year you've seen I come up with ideas like why don't that's like there's there's no no stuff but what prevented us from doing the stuff that I came up with this lack of knowing what to do and how to operate the board of directors and the next thing is you have to be in the meeting I've known that some board members half the time they were not on there you know so you have to be if you're here at the board you need to show we have a meeting every other week show up on the meeting I missed one meeting the whole year you have to be there you have to be involved when you take a project you're going to do it you have to if you don't know how to do it pass it on to somebody else but Daniel you know the project that's been going on for months and that has not been resolved but we need to tackle those problems we cannot put it from the next board to do it so since this is arena again I think thank you unless you have more to add but the question is really how do you engage these people the board precisely what do you need but I said you need to take classes that how to operate a non-profit organization that's number one most people here they come from high tech people come here work the doctors engineers they do not know how to operate a non-profit organization it's very simple it's a class that you take and you learn how to do the finance you know learn how to operate how to manage this is very simple but it has to be done if you don't have people who know how to do it how are you going to be able to function as a board okay I'll do this I mean like to thank Zarina for her recommendation and I'm positive that that could really help us all going forward and I would really like to see more engaging programs for our youth women and children and not really excluding the men but I see the men having a quite a busy schedule for everything we have to see more more of youth children and women in here and for that I look forward to the support of the rest of the board right so Diana you have anything to add on this topic or the question that was posed to you so yeah assistant Zarina for now you know coming out as a secretary to what I've already said I think and to you're right I said earlier it's about five to six hours a week I I did that back I think this is something that as a board member we need to be around for pleasure along the line try to be here but I'm here about 20 to 30 percent more time but for a show I'm going to be here all the time I'm very happy to be involved you're very shocked I'm here and when I come here for a show I don't see any board member being here except everyone it says when there's a board member or when there's a famous in mom that shows up and everybody shows up all of a sudden if I become elected as a board member I'm going to definitely follow the racing model which is responsible accountable and I have pulled up here yeah but you know coming you know you know Monday to Friday I'm you know I'm at work but when I made it work you know I usually stop up at the measure and then go on home so I'm quite involved but I think the most important thing I'm trying to say as a secretary I think you have to be involved listen to the reading and then we'll be able to close that thank you so would you like to add something because you got an opportunity do you have that you know okay well I think I think that's probably a good amount of discovery I think people should get a good idea from all this conversation where you know what each one one of you have has in a perspective but I think brother was seeing had a question right you had a question or yeah let's just quick look board members from my opinion my perspective we see a lot of time management issues 10 or 10 meetings you got our 10 meetings but then you got to be on time and finish up on time so this goes I guess throughout our work ethics mainly perhaps majority of people may not be on meetings they may not be on time right masjid namaz may not start on time may not end on time we keep talking right or we may not show up how do you guys handle that just briefly please yeah and again please let's keep it brief and just one one attempt not come back yeah this question kind of it's a little bit difficult to keep it brief I'll try my best to educate you okay it's a very valid question right because to be honest I mean I just don't think it's fair that you just you know we're all giving us all voluntary hours right we're trying to get close to God and we're trying to now get back to the community and in a different way not just come here and maybe meet Salah but do a little bit more than that so first of all I just want to say that reading Salah should have nothing to do with being a board member and if that that's not personal opinion that you're this is a different job and you coming to on a daily basis to meet your own Salah that's you that's your religion that does not necessarily mean that you're a good or bad board member if you're not able to make it for uh uh uh Salah so I just want to want to just clarify that the other thing though is I think me as a board we have to develop I don't think it's fair to just expect everybody to be at all meetings in person be there all the time that's I just and I and I applaud and I'm very impressed by some of the board members um like sister Rita sister Sabine having a new board the baby doesn't even talk during board meetings I think it actually gets into it like during the board meetings but but what I'm saying but I'm trying to you know showing up and having kids and and and doing all that it's you know for sister Catherine and put in the immense hours a week that she does put in with having a ton of kids you know and having Zaytuna and having all this it's a part it's a part to strictly to manage time but we have to and sorry for my interview long we have to figure out a way like in the corporate environment there's remote meeting setups there's you know that way people are informed in in in our board meetings we try to take it away from that and only and I just don't think that's fair because everybody's gonna have life everybody's gonna have that doesn't necessarily mean that they're not willing to be a part of the board and and and be able to put in time into certain projects that might not be necessarily Wednesdays from you know X amount of X amount of time but might be on a Saturday or Sunday so it's important to develop a program that can meet everybody's needs and it's not hard we just sit and have one meeting that and to entertain on into it else that would be hard to approach that to answer the question I'll keep it very short I think I think we're all adults here we're running as board members because we want to have this role in responsibility and I think time management is very important in this step that we're taking I think I agree that some questions are very relevant and the biggest challenge we have is how we manage our time we are all very busy with our professional lives our families and the kids and everything and I also agree with Daniel that like coming to the prayers doesn't mean that you know you're a good owner you're not good you're not it's just that you know it's a matter of convenience because you live close to the musty so yeah you're here and then if anybody in the community has any concern or any question they can ask you that's much I'll agree with you regarding the challenge how to solve this time management I think what we can do is leverage what we have learned in our careers where we can say make it more flexible you know we are in the work we see it all the time people they have challenges coming to physically to the meeting so make it online meeting or you know come up with some other way is where we can solve it we have learned it in our career we can definitely use it to apply here to solve those kind of challenges and I think this is nothing new that question what's I'm not getting yeah basically how would you solve time how would you solve time management issues so people don't come so people don't start events on time they don't come participate how do you deal with that how do you how do you resolve that right I think the Turkish people have a problem saying that the fish thinks in its head that means the leader which is the people we have to do as a leader the community you have to start on time you have to be there there has been times that we have actually cast a board meeting because there were not enough people to do it for them so you have to be there and you have to be committed if you're not gonna when I first went on the board and I told the board members and two of them are here the first week or two that I was there said look brothers I'm here in this world I'm accountable to these people who are in this community I'm serving this community and I have to give my house to them and hereafter I have to come to God my intentions so what you're doing in here just being having your name on the board doesn't do you any good it doesn't do anybody any good you have to do the work you have to do the walk you have to do what you need to do things a lot of times it takes a lot of work it takes a lot of dedication to do the work not meeting missing half of the meetings or being not being there because you have kids I'm sorry you're just not ready for the job that's just that's what it tells me if you can't manage that then just move on to something else the way you can do the work right so if you're a board member for six seven years maybe you need a break because you have done so much maybe if you're a PTA person and you need to move back because you know what you've done so much it's time for you to take breaks but at MCC you have to take things seriously otherwise the program don't get that we're not going to have a quorum we're not going to have a functioning board and that's how it's going to be approach would be time and ornament to various issues and task distribution and making sure that we follow up after we distribute the task and making sure that the task is being done and utilizing as much as virtual resources as possible to make these meetings fruitful and making them successful thank you so I think we will end this forum now again if there is a does the do the candidates want to make a ending statement any one of you uh everyone each one of you has the opportunity to make a one-minute statement if you choose otherwise we'll just try to help after that I just want to say I really hope most of you know that this because there's no one really here so hopefully online people are listening and um that you know that the board is not something that you can just you know have a spontaneous idea and send an email off to moneer and say go get it done that's not fair right you you there there's a lot of ways and it also on the board if you have an idea right by automatically I can't just go do it there's systems and procedures the big this big loss they didn't just formulate one day on its own God has given us minds to have systems and procedures put in place so I urge the community if there are things that you want to get done and you want and you have ideas and you want us to you know be more active in the community come with a plan on paper and your team have a team have a team that who's going to do the marketing who's going to do because you have to have marketing you want more people to show up you know I would challenge the board and myself that what is our marketing plan how do you reach out to the community and get rsvp's and get people showing up to important events like this because I know from after today in this next year we're going to have random emails why don't this the board do this why doesn't do that why did this have why is that and the same thing wouldn't come and voice their opinions on an important meeting like this so for all those that are watching at home find any one of us especially the ones that are on the board and if you have ideas if you have plans if you have visions if you want something done at the mosque we have a team ready to do it but it's more of on your end to have your team to have a set of volunteers if you want to actually see something done I think the foundation is all laid out there's funding and everything available for mcc to go to next house I just wanted to leave with that that this mosque is going places and I'm excited to see who the new president will be that has that vision that that will be able to work with the board use all the strengths forget the weaknesses focus on the strengths and and really see some great success in the next two years so I'm sure I'll look forward to that so I would really like to thank the mcc for giving me the opportunity to serve on the board and reflected I will do my best to be more productive and make a positive change to mcc and I'm not here for winning or anything I just want to get an opportunity to serve and you know it's all by the intention and inshallah my intention is correct and it may like that from all of us inshallah looks like that's it so I think Dania had some very good observation he has been on the board for a couple of years has that been others but he may you know he took the opportunity because he's already elected to the board so I think he could be a little more you know assertive about things so the community is really you know needs to you know sort of participate to volunteer and and I above others and to support the board so I think that's the only way of getting things done so thank you everyone jizakallah for jizakallah brother may rise for arranging this so we'll end this session now thank you thank you all the candidates