IID Corpus Christi held its 3rd Annual Friendship and Dialog Dinner at Corpus Christi Country Club on Nov. 29, 2011. Emceed by Ms. Katy Kiser, the well-attended dinner gathered and united community leaders, media representatives, elected officials, clergy, participants from various faiths, academia and health care professionals. The program included an award ceremony for outstanding IID volunteers, advisory board and host committee. US District Judge Hon. Nelva G. Ramos and State Representative Hon. Raul Torres kindly presented the awards for IID. Among the host committee awardees was Corpus Christi Mayor Hon. Joe Adame who read a proclamation for IID Annual Dialog and Friendship Dinners in Corpus Christi.

The audience also enjoyed beautiful music performances from Hindu, Turkish Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions. The keynote speech entitled "Promoting Common Good in Our Communities"was powerfully delivered by Prof. Jim Harrington, Director ofthe Texas Civil Rights Project. In his address, Harrington mentioned the democratic developments in Turkey andcontribution of the Gulen Movement to these developments. He later elaborated on how Americans can take specific examples from the movement to promote the common good locally.

Finally, Dr. Isabel Araiza, Associate of Professor of Sociology at TAMUCC, made a detailed presentation overviewing the IID activities of the past year.

(November 29th 2011, Corpus Christi, TX)