About 400 people gathered Tuesday night at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre to help raise money for a Freedom Center in Iraq. The center is the vision of Global Hope, an organization founded by Heather Mercer.

The Freedom Center is under construction in northern Iraq. The 25,000-square-foot building will be home to five businesses, including a coffee shop, an Internet cafe, a copy center, a park and playground, and space for women's health programs. Mercer said the center is expected to open in the spring with 45 to 60 employees.

Dr. G.B. Espy, a Marietta gynecologist, announced plans Tuesday night to include breast cancer screenings in the health care division. Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women in the country.

Espy, of Marietta's ObGyn Associates, was in Iraq several months ago performing humanitarian work when he met Mercer, an American missionary who lives in Iraq. Mercer contacted him about Mohammad Mustafa, a 7-year-old boy who has lived more than half of his life with a crippling, chronic bone infection that left his left leg four inches shorter than his right. Through the efforts of Espy, Mercer and many others, Mustafa was brought to the U.S. for leg-lengthening surgery at WellStar Kennestone. Dr. William Terrell, of Pinnacle Orthopaedics in Marietta, performed the delicate surgery.

After seeing Mustafa, Espy said he knew he had to help the boy. Mustafa was at the event Tuesday night and walked onstage with the help of a walker to thunderous applause. He will undergo his last surgery for the leg lengthening in January.

Espy said he hopes to continue to work with Mercer on future ventures.

"I've never seen such a committed human being in all my life. Period. I would like to always be a part of it," he said.

Organizers of the fundraiser raised more than their goal of $100,000 in sponsorships before Tuesday's event, said Johnny Gresham, who spearheaded the campaign. Gresham said he hopes to raise an additional $275,000 to go towards the center.

"It is a great thing for a community to come together to try to do something in the world. We all tend to think of ourselves and our communities, but this is us reaching out on a worldly basis," Gresham said.

Former Kennesaw State University President Dr. Betty Siegel said she felt compelled to get involved in the fundraising efforts for the Freedom Center.

"I think the idea for me (of getting involved) was just doing something that was making a difference for the people who couldn't help themselves. I didn't think about the person, I thought about the cause," she said. "This is a cause that brings people together on health issues, business, planning. It's a braiding of community people. There's a strong group here."

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson said a main reason he attended was to support Espy, who devised the fundraising campaign with Gresham.

"I had the occasion about 10 years ago to be asked to help G.B. in getting some medical equipment. I became so respectful of his outreach in terms of helping others in healthcare who didn't have it and helping others out of the good of his heart, that anytime I'm invited to anything G.B. is a part of, I come," Isakson said.

Fundraiser attendees included Kennesaw Mayor Mark Matthews, Marietta City Councilman Philip Goldstein, Kim Gresh of S.A. White Oil Company, Dr. and Mrs. Gregory Simone of WellStar Kennestone, Kim Menefee, Post Properties founder John Williams and Dr. Candice Saunders of WellStar Kennestone and many Cobb County judges.