Please join us on Friday, October 3rd, 2025 at the Leonora Event Center for an evening of celebration, entertainment and fundraising for Somali Hope Academy.
2532 25th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55406
October 3rd, 2025
Doors Open at 6:00PM CST
Dresscode: FORMAL ATTIRE
Amoune Omer is the volunteer Executive Director of the Somali Hope Foundation. Along with her Co-Founder, Mahamud Elmi, she saw the opportunity to assist children in rural Somalia by establishing a school and creating a Foundation to support it. Completed in 2012 and named the Hope Academy, the school provides free, high quality and equitable education to 840 girls and boys in Bursalah, Somalia. In addition to running the Foundation, Amoune is also responsible for managing the important relationship with its community partner in Bursalah. She holds a full time position with the Government of Canada.
Justin Trudeau is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. His vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. His experiences as a teacher, father, leader, and advocate for youth have shaped his dedication to Canadians. As Prime Minister, Justin leads a government that works hard every day to continue moving Canada forward. His team is focused on creating good middle class jobs, making life more affordable, keeping Canada’s communities safe, fighting climate change, and moving forward on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. A proud feminist, Justin appointed Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.
Yasir Naqvi is the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, a diverse and urban community in the heart of Nation’s Capital. Yasir’s passion for his community resulted in him being elected as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Ottawa Centre in October 2007 in which he served until 2018. During this time, he served as the Attorney General of Ontario, Government House Leader, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Minister of Labour. Through this work he raised the minimum wage, brought forward new protections for vulnerable workers, banned race-based carding in Ontario, and modernized our court system.
Sabrina Dhowre Elba is an actress, activist and model. Born in Canada, of Somali descent, she was appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development in April 2020. She also works with a variety of civil society organizations, including Conservation International, on environmental issues. She is passionate about gender equality and promoting the empowerment of women and girls worldwide. She has championed the Somali Hope Foundation through the selection of SHF as a beneficiary of the 2021 #WALKAMILEINMYSHOES campaign. As a recent visitor to the school she can speak to its progress.
Eli Tannis is the son of Lebanese immigrants. Born and raised in Ottawa, he and his wife, Joyce, and their four children still remain residents. A recently retired businessman, he spent 42 years running a local family owned and operated business, Tannis Food Distributors. Eli and his siblings successfully scaled a small trading business launched by his father in 1940 to a prosperous business that has been proudly serving the community for over 75 years! A founding member and active organizer for the Tannis 21 Foundation, Eli also spearheaded a partnership between his siblings and Ottawa Salus to help fund and create Karen’s Place, a housing development for those living with mental illness in memory of his sister located in Ottawa South.
Debra Frazer has been an active supporter of the Somali Hope Foundation since its inception in 2008 and currently serves on the Board of Directors as Vice-President. She provides hands-on support in the areas of: business and strategic planning; financial management and administration; grant sourcing and reporting. She retired in 2019 following an executive career primarily spent in the role of Director General of Corporate Services, Ottawa Police Service. She was the highest ranking civilian in an organization of 2,000 people and the first woman in Canada to undertake this role for a major police service. She lived in Africa as a child and welcomes the opportunity to work with a dynamic team bringing free, high quality and equitable education to girls and boys in rural Somalia.
Mahmuda feels honoured to serve as the Executive Director of Canada's first and older Muslim based International charity, Human Concern International. Her education background is in Economics and after working in several financial institutions she found her passion for serving people and building communities at HCI. As a mother of two children, her mission is to leave behind a welcoming, safe and hopeful home for our children. As a Muslim female Bangaldeshi Candadian leader who is a daugher of a Freedom Fighter in Bangladesh, her vision is to have just, inclusive and empowering environment in our global community.
Hafsa Khan is the Generous Juniors (GJs) Club Coordinator for Human Concern International (HCI) and fellow GJs parent. She has grown up volunteering with HCI since she was a teenager, and she wanted that blessed experience for her daughters too. Together, they envisioned a Sadaqah club for kids. They dreamed of bringing together a community of like-minded parents and kids to join them in supporting HCI’s beautiful child sponsorship program, but on a new, more meaningful level. Sister Hafsa is a Pashtun-Canadian homeschooling mother of four girls, community Quran tutor, and graphic designer.
Ibrahim (Abe) Hussein has supported the Somali Hope Foundation since returning to Ottawa seven years ago from his studies in the US. He became more actively involved with SHF in 2016 after working with one of its co-founders on a community mentorship program for at-risk Somali youth here in Ottawa. Despite his biology background, Abe has spent over a decade in the construction sector educating youth apprentices, working as a tradesman, and, more recently, developing Health and Safety systems for bourgeoning developers in Ontario. He is passionate about elevating his community and is honoured to participate as a co-host at this year’s Gala.
Fatima Said is active in the community, holding volunteer positions as a political organizer, campaigner and educator. She followed her interest in politics to the Federal Government where she currently holds a position in the Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada as a Parliamentary and Regional Affairs (Ontario) Advisor. She recently managed a winning campaign in the 2021 Federal election while completing a Master’s Degree from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs specializing in Conflict Analysis and Conflict Resolution. Fatima is doing this work to inspire the next generation of racialized political and community organizers to ensure every institution in Canada reflects its diverse population and communities.
Ifrah Hussein is a Somali-Canadian award-winning poet and author of “An Anthology of Grief: Or the Ways a Somali Woman Loves”. She is the 2017 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion, 2018 Poetry World Cup finalist, recipient of the Best Spoken Word Artist award at ByBlack’s People’s Choice Awards 2019, and was named 2020 Poet of the Year by the Somali Museum of Minnesota. Ifrah began writing at age 12 and performing when she was 14. Her 2019 North American Tour received stellar reviews, and her second collection of poetry will be published this year. She recently visited the school and met more than 800 students, and is a long-time supporter of the Somali Hope Foundation.
Deputy Chief Paul Burnett was initially hired by the Gloucester Police Department in 1992, over the course of his 31 years he fulfilled a variety of supervisory roles and worked in a variety of units throughout the organization including the Traffic Section, the Collision Reconstruction Unit, the Professional Development Centre as a Use of Force Instructor, and the Tactical Team as both an operator and the Unit Commander. In addition, he has worked as an Investigator in the Professional Standard Unit and supervised the Community Policing Centre’s in the city’s east end.
In his previous role as a Duty Inspector, Deputy Chief Burnett oversaw Frontline Operations and was responsible for providing Incident Command for major events and high-risk operations, including demonstrations, major crime scenes, SIU investigations, tactical and search and rescue operations. He led the design, development and implementation of the organization’s first multi-year Strategic Equity Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. He fostered collaborative leadership across the organization and developed a strategy to build capacity in relation to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
As Deputy Chief he oversees the Community Policing Command, which includes the Frontline Policing Directorate, Specialized Policing Directorate, and the Neighbourhood Policing Directorate. This Command provides proactive and reactive public safety services in partnership with key stakeholders and the many diverse communities in Ottawa.
Deputy Chief Burnett was a member of the 2008 Olympic Security Team that provided personal security as the Olympic flame made its way across the province. He also attended the Vancouver Olympics and was deployed as a Bomb Technician. He spent a year Instructing at the Jordan International Police Training Center (JIPTC) in Amman, Jordan where he was the lead instructor in charge of the Improvised Explosive Device Training Centre responsible for training police recruits, as a result he was awarded the JIPTC medal.
Deputy Chief Burnett earned his Bachelor of Social Science degree from Ottawa University and is currently an Instructor at the Canadian Police College on the Critical Incident Commanders course.
Sahra is the Director of Financial Services at Universities Canada, a charitable organization advocating on behalf of university presidents for higher education, research and innovation. Sahra manages and oversees the annual financial cycle, including budgeting and year-end responsibilities, mitigates key elements of risks and compliance, monitors investment activities and develops and maintains financial and operational controls. She serves as the chair of Universities Canada's retirement plan committee and is also a member of the organization’s senior management committee.
She also serves as a Board member of the Women's History Project in hopes of promoting the role, achievements and contributions of women in Canadian history.
Sahra has been a supporter of the Somali Hope Foundation; she has been volunteering since 2019, where she helped the Executive Director with proposal writing. She continues to maintain communication with the SHF, and participates at the various events held by this foundation.
Sahra holds a bachelor of commerce with an option finance from the University of Ottawa and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.
Ibrahim (Abe) Hussein has supported the Somali Hope Foundation since returning to Ottawa seven years ago from his studies in the US; he became more actively involved with the organization in 2016 after working with Co-Founder, Justice of the Peace Mahamud Elmi. At the time, Mahamud was an Ottawa Police Sergeant and Abe was facilitating a community mentorship program for at-risk Somali Youth here in Ottawa. Despite his biology background, Abe has spent over a decade in construction educating youth apprentices, working as a tradesman, and is more recently developing Health and Safety systems for bourgeoning developers in Ontario. Still, his passion remains elevating his community. Team sports are a close second! Abe is honoured to jump into the co-host seat at this year’s gala.
Please register and join us for an enjoyable evening at SHF Gala 2022. We're pulling out all the stops for the Gala program, which will feature a video trip to the Somali Hope Academy in Bursalah and a performance from Ifrah Hussein, a very talented young Somali poet living in Toronto. Registration is free and ensures that you will receive the Zoom Link which opens the door to our virtual Gala. Looking forward to seeing you on Gala night.
Abdirizak is a business owner and executive in the Ottawa area with 10+ years of experience in the finance sector. He is a CPA and CA with a love for business & adding value to society through opportunity.
