The people in the billboard are my parents, Najam and Farzana Naqvi. My parents are everyday heroes and the reason I choose them because they were the people who started a shia mosque in the Richmond city area. My parents decided to start a mosque in 1996 when the nearest shia mosque was in Maryland, which was a 2 ½ hours away from our home. My parents started to find land everywhere in the Richmond area, but was stuck because it did not fulfill the needs of running the mosque, like water and handicap facilities. In the year of 2005, my parents finally found a spot in the Goochland area and bought the land for the mosque. My parents immediately started to do the county regulations and make sure that the mosque was up to code. On October 4, 2006, the shia mosque named Imam Mehdi Center was finally opened. The mosque started out with about twelve families. The hardships the mosque faced was that no one at the mosque wanted to volunteer and help out and the financial part of the mosque. So, my parents would stay after every event to clean up and set up the mosque for the next day and my parents would support all of the financial parts of the center by themselves. My parents had the devotion to never give up on this mosque, even when people said the mosque wasn’t going to work. Four years later, the mosque has about twenty-two families and everyone is involved in the center. My parents have committees at the mosque that deal with setting up the mosque and deals with the financial needs of the center. The advice my parents give to anyone starting a center is to never up give up and have faith and devotion when starting a mosque.

The reason I choose my parents as my everyday heroes is because they started their own mosque and never gave up on it. My parents devoted themselves in running this center, even when people thought it would go downhill. This kind of value wants me to devote more towards my center and other things in life, even when people think that it won’t work out. I am very proud to be the son of my parents who started a mosque. I hope in the future I can have the same value that my parents share.