By Ray Hanania

Chicago, IL — Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, honored a dozen Arab-Americans for their leadership and positive contributions to the community as part of an overall commitment by her shares in recognizing and serving all ethnic groups in the county.

As part of an unprecedented and unique government commitment to community needs, Pappas translated the Office of the Treasurer’s services and website into 108 languages ​​to ensure every citizen can access their office and obtain the information they need. it needs to maximize its benefits.

Elected treasurer in 1998 after serving as a county commissioner since 1990, Pappas is one of the highest vote-getters in Cook County and, proportionately, the state of Illinois. She is also one of the most recognized and celebrated Greek-American figures in the country.

Welcoming 150 guests to a celebration in the lobby of his Cook County treasurer’s office at 118 N. Clark Street, Pappas acknowledged the “troubled times” facing all communities, noting the need to work together for the benefit of all taxpayers.

“Today is about our ancestors. Think about your great-great-grandparents who worked the land, who worked with their hands, who did everything they could to educate the next generation, who went on and created great businesses, became CEOs, became CIOs, became doctors, became lawyers. I mean, think about that. Who are we honoring today? Pappas told the gathering.

“We honor the dead. We honor those who fell asleep before us. And I know, having traveled through the community, that there is a wonderful attempt to pass on this culture and this philosophy and this religion to the next generation, to your children, to your great-grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. grandchildren. This is America. America is not about fighting and division and hatred,” Pappas said.

“What we are looking for is kindness and building a community that has done so, so much for this country. It is to this end that we are unveiling today an Arab-American brochure. We are also unveiling an Arab-American video. This is important to us because, by the way, we have a refund worth $158 million, which we know. We know from visiting mosques and working in outreach that we try to return millions of dollars to the community out of respect.
The event was co-hosted by Nada Draz, Consul General of Egypt in Chicago.

Arab community leaders recognized at the event are:

• Mohammed Jaber, an Orland Park-based Consolidated High School District 230 school board member and candidate for Orland Park Village Trustee in the 2025 election;
• Saffiya Shillo, DEI expert at Diversity Training & Consulting, Inc.
• The late Nemer Ziyad of Ziyad Brothers Importing, who passed away on September 13, as a special memorial recognition;
• Mustafa Abdul-Maboud, responsible for construction operations and in-kind contributions of the Reva and David Logan Foundation;
• Renowned hydropower expert, Dr. Refaat A. Abdel-Malek, Chairman Emeritus of MWH Global, Inc.;
• Samir Khalil, founder of the Arab American Coalition for Democracy in www.ArabDemocraticClub.com;
• Abir Othman, principal of Andrew High School in Orland Park;
• Dr. Muhammad S. Eissa, noted author, lecturer and scholar of Arabic language and literature;
• Taha Elghawaby, chartered accountant;
• Dr. Samir Hanna, owner, CEO and director of physical therapy for Marina Rehabilitation in Rochester, Michigan;
• Nabil Refai, co-founder and vice president of Diversified Services Network, Inc., based in Naperville;
• Ahmed Mohammad Saleh, president of A&S Construction;
• Mary Alexander-Basta, Mayor of Bolingbrook

“The great thing about what we do is that we can have an event like this today that honors the heritage of the entire Arab community. This is a community that has contributed greatly to this city, this state, this county, this country. And if you look at the program that we put together today, you will see that these are major leaders in the community,” Pappas said.

“They identify as immigrants who came here and built a nation in which we all hope to live in a state of peace and sanity. You know, I was reading this program this morning and I was amazed. I was surprised because, you know, in the work that I do, I don’t always have the opportunity to meet everyone. But what a pleasure to be surrounded by this greatness today. And part of the greatness comes from their ancestors and what they endured to come here and what they did to help build this.

Jaber, who is building a coalition to change politics in Orland Park, a southwest Chicago suburb, praised Pappas and the diversity of his staff as well as his commitment to helping every community, regardless of race, religion or their ethnic origin.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by a government official who has done so much not only for Arab Americans but for all ethnic groups in Cook County and Illinois,” said Jaber, candidate for the position for trustee in Orland Park on February 25, 2025 primary election.

“She symbolizes what every elected official should strive to accomplish and be as a public servant. The recognition of Maria Pappas is a great honor.

For the past four years, Pappas has hosted tax refund workshops to help property tax owners recover overpayments and missed deductions. In addition to helping county taxpayers recover lost property tax overpayments, she has worked with individual ethnic communities, including African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Arab Americans.

She has one of the most diverse staffs of any other elected official.

When Pappas became Cook County treasurer, the office was a quiet operation, indifferent to progress, perhaps even hostile, according to Pappas’ website. Nobody paid much attention to it. Its 250 employees used letter openers to open envelopes to record checks sent by taxpayers by hand.

Pappas immediately realized that the office was extremely inefficient, largely because it had not adopted modern technology. She immediately embraced the technology and automation that would bring the office into the 21st century.

Today, the company has 59 employees working in what is perhaps the most technologically sophisticated office in any Illinois government, and a treasurer recognized in many corners of the world for efficiency and economy with which she manages her store.

The granddaughter of Cretan immigrants, Pappas was born June 7, 1949. She grew up in Warwood, West Virginia, a town of 2,000 near the mining town of Wheeling. As a child, she studied the Greek language and music of all kinds. She played the electronic organ, directed the choir, and traveled across the country with the all-state band as bass clarinetist. As a drum majorette, she won nine gold medals in baton twirling competitions.

Education is his lifelong passion. Pappas received a degree in sociology from West Liberty State College (now University), West Liberty, West Virginia, in 1970; degree in guidance and counseling from West Virginia University in Morgantown in 1972; a doctorate in counseling and psychology from Loyola University Chicago in 1976; and a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1982.

The event included the unveiling of an Arabic-language brochure, almost unheard of in Cook County and Illinois government, brochures in dozens of other languages ​​detailing its office services.

Guests enjoyed entertainment and Middle Eastern food provided by Bridgeview’s ZmZmSweets, Reef Kabob and Melt-n-Dip, as well as Al Hamawi Restaurant or Orland Park, along with donations from A&S Construction and from Pharmacy One.
For more information, visit www.cookcountytreasurer.com

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author and former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served in the Vietnam War and recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on current American and Chicago topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News , the Regional News, The Reporter. Chicagoland Newspapers and Suburbs.

Hanania also writes on Middle East issues for the Arab NewsAnd The Arab daily criticizing government policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named “Best American Ethnic Columnist” by New America Media in November 2007 and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

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