The David M. Kennedy Center held an event titled “Perfect Love Casts Out Fear” to present Hani Almadhoun — a Palestinian humanitarian — with the Kennedy Distinguished Service award on Oct. 30.
Almadhoun is well-known for co-founding the Gaza Soup Kitchen and working in the nonprofit industry to aid those in need in the Middle East.
Dr. Quinn Mecham, the Associate Director of Academics and Research at the Kennedy Center, introduced Almadhoun to the attendees.
“We want to bring people (to campus) with great ideas to learn from,” Mecham said. “So today, we really want to honor somebody who has made a significant portion of his personal life devoted to humanitarian causes and to really try to make the world a richer, better place.”
Dr. Joshua Gubler, the Middle East Studies and Arabic Coordinator at the Kennedy Center, met Almadhoun when he was in college. He holds Almadhoun's humanitarian efforts in high regard.
“One of the key tasks of a good educational institution is to help us break open doors, prisons, by introducing us to … people with different lived experience … helping us see things we might not see otherwise,” Gubler said.
He encouraged the attendees to “listen to understand.”
During his remarks, Almadhoun explained his history in the nonprofit industry, what it has been like to co-run a nonprofit based in Gaza and what lessons he has learned from his work. One of the things that he emphasized was the importance of transparency through storytelling.
“When we think about NGOs (nonprofits), we think it’s a black box. I gave my 10 dollars, and I don’t know what happens,” Almadhoun said. “We give GoFundMe updates every week: I share with people what we did, what we cooked, what challenges we had. We show receipts … we share as much as we can.”
He also touched on the bigger purpose of the organization.
“We did not want to be the place that also added to the heartache. So, we wanted to show pictures of positive, uplifting stories.” Almadhoun said. “There is moments of joy in a sea of grief.”
The Gaza Soup Kitchen is mainly run by Almadhoun and his family members. The small size, Almadhoun said, has been effective.
Almadhoun’s organization gets support from a large variety of people.
“Some of our biggest donors are from the Jewish faith, the Muslim faith, the Christian faith. In fact, the LDS philanthropy is very interested in this work,” Almadhoun said.
Almadhoun emphasized that his humanitarian work is apolitical.
“Feeding a hungry child should not be a political statement,” Almadhoun said. “Your love for the Palestinians should not mean that you hate another actor. Your love for Israel does not mean that you hate Palestinians.”
This event meant a lot to the Arab students on campus. Noureen Salah, the co-vice president of the Arab Student Association (ASA), said that this event had been in the works for a long time.
“We’ve been wanting to bring Hani to campus for so long,” Salah said. “I think Hani coming to BYU is significant — not just so other people can learn … but for Arab students in general.”
For Tala Alnasser, the other co-vice president of the ASA, this event was an opportunity to see someone that looked like her represented on campus.
“To me, this event meant being seen. I felt seen for once,” Alnasser said. "This is what institutional support looks like.”
Gubler, one of the faculty that nominated Almadhoun for the Kennedy Center award, said that Almadhoun “is a humanitarian, which means he loves all people.”