By the grace of Allah (ﷻ), on January 1st, 2025, I have completed ten years of serving our beloved community at the Prayer Center of Orland Park.
In this article, I am not going to spend time talking about the establishments that we have been able to complete in the past ten years, as you have witnessed and been a vital part in making it happen, but rather I will talk about our plans for years to come. But let me start by saying we owe a word of gratitude to the two individuals who started all this effort back in 2004, Dr. Monzer Krad and Mr. Malik Ali, and to the current executive committee members who help oversee our work, Badie Ali, Mohammed Nofal and Mustafa Mustafa.
Facility Growth
We have two major projects going on now, the recreational center on 167th Street and 104th Ave, and the parking lot expansion around the wellness center.
The recreational center will provide a space for our youth with a gym and lounge and extra meeting rooms. The parking lot expansion will provide a two-way enter/exit space around the wellness center plus an additional 70 parking spaces.
Our long-term strategic plan is to purchase a big piece of land that we can turn into a banquet hall that can host major events for our community including Eid prayers and other celebrations.
Departmental Expansion
We now have four support departments and seven service departments. The support departments are Administrative, Financial, Media and Facility. The service departments are Religious, Quran, Youth, Wellness, Outreach, Education and Da’wah.
Our plan is to produce healthy communication among departments and to produce professional work that is efficient and sustainable, and to expand in each department based on the needs of our community.
Each department is tasked to produce its own strategic plan for 2030 (next five years) that will be discussed among all departments mid-February of 2025. Before Eidul-Adha we will be able to establish our road map for our services to the community in the next five years, insha Allah.
Finally, we will try our best to continue to make the Prayer Center a place for serving the community in all their spiritual, educational and social needs by developing and empowering them on the values of faith, justice and equality and by producing leadership that will lead by excellence and humility, insha Allah.
We are grateful for your Dua and your support, and may Allah (ﷻ) reward and accept from us all. Ameen.
By Imam Kifah Mustapha