Farmington Hills, MI – March 6 2009
Ethan Bortnick will perform an hour concert at a fundraiser dinner March 21 at Shenandoah Country Club West Bloomfield
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A child prodigy pianist who is drawing raves across the country will be performing at Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield, MI on Saturday, March 21, 2009 to help raise funds for the Chaldean Federation of America (CFA) www.chaldeanfederation.org , a non-profit organization helping Christian displaced in and outside Iraq.
Ethan Bortnick, age 8, plays more than 200 songs from memory, has composed more than 30 pieces of music, and has appeared on several TV shows including Oprah, Tonight Show, Good Morning America, and Martha Stewart. He has appeared with such renowned musicians as Beyonce, Josh Groban, Santana, Natalie Cole, Smokey Robinson, Gloria Gaynor, The Pointer Sisters, and Patti LaBelle.
Ethan, who speaks English and Russian, started reading at age 2, and started playing the piano at age 4. He has perfect pitch, and can memorize books, scripts and music very quickly.
Bortnick will perform an hour concert at the fundraiser dinner on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield. Cocktails are from 6-7 p.m., a program beginning at 7 p.m., dinner at 8 p.m. and Bortnick’s concert immediately following dinner. (click here for a special message from Ethan Bortnick about this event www.ethanbortnick.com/chaldean )
The dinner is being held to raise funds for the Chaldean Federation of America (www.chaldeanfederation.org), a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that also sponsors the Adopt-A-Refugee Family program for the vulnerable Iraqi Refugee families in the countries of first asylum.
The Chaldeans, who are Christians living in Iraq are among 20,000 Iraqi refugees who resettled in the United States in 2008.According to the US State Department, United Nations officials says the majority of Iraqi refugees plan to return to Iraq but not the Chaldeans who say extremists regularly bomb their churches and send them death threats. Three years ago the Chaldean Federation of America launched a project to relief and re-settles 200,000 Chaldeans uprooted by the war.
“Chaldeans seeking refugee do not have militia to protect them in Iraq” says Joseph T. Kassab Executive Director of the Chaldean Federation of America that represents more than 1 million Iraqi Christians, “they do not have privet guards to protect them. The government of Iraq is unable to protect them because it is unable to protect itself. These people are peace-loving people who do not carry arms.”
The Adopt-A-Refugee Family program resulted in 2008 alone in more than $600,000 being donated for 2,900 refugee recipients. All of the contributions (100%) reached the adopted family in the country of refuge as the Chaldean Federation pays all of the processing and program-management costs.
The Chaldean Federation of America also has worked with U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Ted Kennedy and many other legislators to introduce legislations to expedite the legitimate admissions of Iraqi Christians into the U.S. Many dignitaries will be among the special guests at the March 21st dinner.
Event Tickets, $250 each or $2,000 for a table of 10, may be obtained/reserved by calling CFA offices at (248) 851-3023. Event Co-Chairpersons are Anmar K. Sarafa, President of Steward Capital Management of Birmingham, MI and John Oram, representing Pro Care Plus Co.
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