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| Strengthening Knoxville,
One Neighborhood at a Time |
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| About Ray |
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 I am a lifelong resident of Knoxville growing up in the Fourth and Gill neighborhood. My parents, Sam and Elizabeth, owned the neighborhood grocery store for 32 years. Abbas Food Market was where I did a lot of my growing up. My parents were my first and best teachers. I learned my work ethic from watching my dad work 12-hour days, 6 days-a-week and my compassion from my mother as she cared for me and my three brothers and sisters.
 Fulton High School is where I began becoming more involved in my community. In the fall of my senior year, three friends and I developed an idea for a senior project that would raise money for organizations serving the homeless. The idea grew into the non-profit organization "Falcons for Food", that provided thousands of dollars to local service providers as well as food, clothing, and other services to thousands of low-income families during its 9-year run.
After graduating from Fulton, I attended UT and received my Bachelor's Degree in Academic Psychology. I continued to run "Falcons for Food" as a volunteer director while working in the private sector. The doors "Falcons for Food" opened for me were crucial. The most important of these doors was an opportunity to serve on the Love Kitchen Board of Directors in 1993. I have served on their board ever since, becoming President of the organization in 2005.
 I have spent the last 11 years working in employment and training programs. In 1998, as an employee of the Community Action Committee, I was a member of the team that opened one of the first Career Centers in the state while assisting the dislocated workers from the Levis plant on Cherry Street. Tennessee Career Centers bring businesses and job seekers together by providing tools such as Internet access, case management, and job training as well as many other services. In 2002, I was named the coordinator of the Knoxville Area Career Center. My work in the Tennessee Career Center system included stints with the Blount County and the Five Rivers Regional Career Centers before returning to the Community Action Committee in 2005 to manage their youth program. In my current position, I assist the chronically homeless return to work as the employment coordinator for the chronically homeless.
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PAID FOR BY RAY ABBAS FOR CITY COUNCIL
Bill Warwick, Treasurer, 219 East Anderson Avenue, Knoxville, Tennessee 37917 |
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