"My parents live in Lahore," said Chaudhry, who came to America in 1974, attended the University of Pennsylvania, and opened his practice in 1980. "My wife's brother lives nearer the floods. . . . They tell me an area the size of Florida is under water."
Twenty years ago, Chaudhry helped create the Pakistani American Society of the Delaware Valley, an ethnic-unity organization that serves the estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people born in Pakistan who live in Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware.
In honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Aug. 11, Chaudhry, Pakistani Americans Mubarik Malik and Mohammad Aziz, and their India-born friend Mahmood Siddique are fasting during the day and breaking the fast with the evening meal called iftar after prayers. Traditionally, the fast is broken with dates and milk, followed by a dinner of spiced rice, chicken, and lamb kebabs.
Chaudhry, Malik, Aziz, and Siddique had planned a free iftar Saturday for 350 friends at the Foundation for Islamic Education, a school and worship center in Villanova. Also sponsoring the event is the Islamic Society of Greater Valley Forge, which opened a school and mosque in Devon in June.
After the flooding began two weeks ago, "we decided we had to do some fund-raising," said Chaudhry. So the sponsors increased the iftar invitation list to 500 and will ask them for donations to help Pakistan. Walk-up guests are also welcome, Chaudhry said. The goal is to raise $50,000, which organizers will channel to Pakistan through the Edhi Foundation, a U.S.-registered nongovernmental organization founded 40 years ago in Karachi to provide free medical services and food to Pakistan's poor.
