Annual Street Event Draws Crowds In Support of a Charitable Cause

Downtown Bethesda is no stranger to street festivals, but the sights and sounds – and enticing smells – that filled Elm Street on Sunday afternoon all helped draw crowds in support of a charitable cause.

Children of Persia (COP), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged Iranian children and families inside Iran and struggling Iranian-American families across the United States, presented its seventh annual Walk for Children on October 3.

"The idea of the Walk for Children began as a fundraiser to help our mission, but it has morphed into a walk plus a street festival," said Katayoon Shaya, president of the COP board of directors.  "It's our biggest event of the year and all of the funds raised go towards our mission of helping disadvantaged Iranian children and their families through education, social services and healthcare assistance programs."

In addition to providing crisis assistance to Iranian-American families struggling with financial hardships, Children of Persia, which was established in 1999 by a group of Iranian-American professionals, also provides college scholarships and mentoring programs to young Iranian-Americans.

Current U.S. sanctions against Iran prohibit the organization from sending any funds directly to Iran. However, COP has been able to assist disadvantaged children inside Iran by providing funding for the construction and operation of medical clinics in rural Iran and through an annual internship program that sends teams of doctors and volunteers from the United States to those medical centers to carry out training and administer special programs, Shaya said.

"We are a well-established organization within the Iranian community," Shaya said.  "We take the trust people put in us very seriously and we're very good stewards of the donations we receive."

Organizers estimated that nearly 1,200 people participated in Sunday's event.  Several hundred people had registered for the walk through downtown Bethesda, but the main attraction of the day seemed to be the more than 40 vendors selling Iranian food, pastries, art and handicrafts on Elm Street between Woodmont Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue where DJ's from Bethesda-based Exclusively Entertainment provided the Persian music that transformed the event into a street party.

One of the most popular attractions was the Parthian Design booth where Shahrum, a calligraphy artist, rendered a variety of calligraphy designs – traditional Persian poems and verses in particular – on all types of textiles and articles of clothing.

"This is a very important cause.  Children of Persia is helping the children who will be the future of our country," Shahrum said. 

Parthian Design, and some of the other vendors, said that they would be donating all of the proceeds from their sales at the event to COP.

Many of the more than 100 volunteers who staffed the event were young Iranian-Americans who said that they were grateful for the opportunity to help other children.

"I think it's a very good cause, it helps little kids whose families can't support them," said Kimia Zarabian, 15, as she painted flags and flowers on the hands and faces of the little girls circling her at the face-painting booth.  "It's great to be able to help others and have a lot of fun doing it!"