Anthony Marill Rockville Chamber of Commerce members are treated to a Ramadan dinner by the Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants.

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Anthony Marill Rockville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Andrea Jolly addresses those gathered for a recent Ramadan dinner sponsored by the Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants.

Anthony Marill Rockville Chamber of Commerce members are treated to a Ramadan dinner by the Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants.

 

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The Washington metropolitan area, along with many other communities, is now a minority majority jurisdiction. What does this mean for the local business community? So far, it has meant that a variety of specialized chambers of commerce and other business groups have developed to help members of individual ethnic and religious communities. There is an African American Chamber of Commerce, a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce and on and on.

At the same time, there are a number of geographically based chambers — Rockville, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg-Germantown, etc. These chambers tend to be only moderately diverse. The board and members of the Rockville Chamber of Commerce want to change how business is done.

Our children go to schools with kids of every color, ethnic heritage and religion. We interact with people at work who are different from us. Yet, we often don’t socialize with each other. We don’t really know each other. The fact is that we want to do business with people we know. So the Rockville Chamber is making it easy for its members to get to know people from a variety of organizations.

As Ramadan drew to a close, many of us were guests at an Iftar dinner sponsored by the Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants (MARTI), a regional organization headquartered in Rockville. For me and for most of the other chamber members who attended, it was my first Ramadan dinner. I was not exactly sure what to expect even though I had helped to plan the evening.

It turned out to be enlightening and I left enriched by the experience even though it was not significantly different from any other business dinner I have attended. The guests were friendly, the food was good, most of the speeches were interesting. The only difference was that the prayer was somewhat unfamiliar.

The occasion also provided an opportunity for me to learn a little more about Ramadan. I learned that observant Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down for a month while continuing to go about their busy lives and that Muslims are forbidden to gossip during Ramadan and are encouraged to donate to charity. The bottom line for me was that the dinner reinforced my belief that we are all human and that the differences that divide us are much smaller than the things that unite us. It also broadened my horizons.

Michael Gottlieb of Apatoff Peters and president-elect of the Rockville Chamber of Commerce also attended the dinner and said, “The chamber was honored to be MARTI's guest at the Ramadan dinner. This was a wonderful first step in forging a meaningful relationship between the Turkish community and the business community in Rockville.”

I will consider the dinner to have been a success when I see members of MARTI attending Rockville Chamber events and when I see business being done between MARTI members and chamber members. I look forward to the day when there is no longer a need for chambers divided by race, ethnicity or religion. I hope this was the first tiny step in that direction.

Andrea Jolly is executive director of the Rockville Chamber of Commerce. This is the first of regular columns she will write about the business community. Learn more about the chamber at www.rockvillechamber.org.

Tell us about your unique experience. Send it to Judith Hruz, editor of community engagement, at jhruz@gazette.net or call 301-670-2073.

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