TIGARD, Ore. -- Amid tense times for their peers around the world, the metro area's Muslim community celebrated this weekend.
Saturday marked the opening of the MET Community Center. MET stands for ‘Muslim Educational Trust'. The Portland-area group, founded in 1993, strives to teach the public about the teachings of Islam.
Located off of SW Scholls Ferry Road in Tigard, the community center houses a library, a school, a gym and a museum dedicated to the history of Islam.
Heads of the group say the facility is open to people of all faiths.
"It means a lot to the community because it's needed now especially, more than any other time, when the islamophobia is going around and so on. A lot of bigotry is going around and so on," said Sal Kadri, fundraising co-chair for the center. "So, it's needed."
Local officials were on hand for the opening, including Portland Mayor Charlie Hales.
"At a time when there's a lot of divisive nonsense in the national discussion, if you can call it that, we in this community and in this metropolitan area and this state believe that we're all brothers & sisters," he said.
Mayor Hales also declared December 12th to be "Muslim Heritage Day."
