Manchester Interfaith Council Seeks Volunteers to Help Build State's First Mosque

June 18, 2006

Source: Union Leader

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Volunteers+being+sought+to+help+construct+the+state's+first+mosque&articleId=b6c2d695-dc8e-4d86-b41a-977252468e18

On June 18, 2006 Union Leader reported, "Members of the Greater Manchester Interfaith Council are hoping that area churchgoers will pitch in to help build New Hampshire's first mosque. The idea came up during a recent meeting, while council president Ahmed Tahoun was updating the group about the mosque the Islamic Society of Greater Manchester has been trying to build for several years. With city approval finally in place, volunteers began clearing trees from the 3-acre Karatzas Avenue property in late May, he told the group. The ISGM is relying entirely on volunteer labor and donations of money and materials to build the hilltop mosque, which also will serve as a community center for the state's estimated 5,000 Muslims. The Interfaith Council had been looking for its next service project, according to George Reed, who is the group's treasurer and a member of the First Church of Christ Scientist in Manchester. As he listened to Tahoun recount how the entire construction project so far has been done by volunteers, Reed was struck by the analogy of an old-fashioned New England barn-raising."