After working feverishly this summer on incorporating all the feedback that we received from our stakeholders, you may notice that the ACAS website has a new look! Staying true to our strengths as a community-based organization which provides culturally and linguistically appropriate education and services on HIV and LGBTQ issues, our brand new site features multi-lingual support capabilities to ensure we can minimize the access barriers to our target populations. Our new site is designed to provide a space to engage the site visitors where they can learn more about the work of our agency, to become an ACAS member, get to know about our staff, to become a donor or volunteer, to access ACAS materials, or to become a contributor to our online magazine, Qi Magazine (http://www.qimagazine.ca). We hope you like the new features our new site and remember to tell your friends to check out our fresh look!
Thanks to all our members and supporters who attended our 19th Annual General Members Meeting on September 20, 2013, we had a wonderful evening sharing the many successes by our various programs that took place this past fiscal year. We would like to thank our special guest speaker Kenny Chong from Pace Pharmacy and the wonderful talk on why it is important to build alliances between service providers and local businesses to address the issue of HIV within the East and Southeast Asian community. Also, a special thank you to our outgoing Board Members Derek Yee and Raj Jagwani, and a special welcome congratulations to our new board members Agnes Tong and Emily Hao. Agnes has worked in the Ontario health care system for many years and now works at the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), where she manages the health data analytics and evidence-based research portfolios to assess the population health status, evaluate the impact of existing programs and initiatives, and develop recommendations for future planning initiatives. Emily is an experienced sexual health educator with Planned Parenthood Toronto and an aspiring public health professional completing her Master’s part-time. She has worked closely with women and youth of all backgrounds for the past four years talking about safer sex, relationships, pregnancy and sexuality.
If you are interested in viewing the ACAS 2012 AGM Report, you can view the copy directly here at http://issuu.com/asiancommunityaidsservices/docs/acas_ar_final.
Thank you and welcome our new roster of volunteers! On September 9, fourteen volunteers went through the Core Skills Volunteer Training where they learned about HIV 101, LGBTQ 101, Trans 101, and anti-oppression training to become a new group of leaders in the East and Southeast Asian Community to advocate for HIV and LGBTQ issues and to promote healthy sexuality through education. A big thanks to our Volunteer Coordinator Trisha Steinberg and Women’s Outreach Worker Bebe Szerelmes for hosting such a wonderful training.
Are you ready for this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Half Marathon and 5k? A Sincere big thanks to all our donors’ generous support and the 21 registered runners/walkers who are participating in the ACAS Scotia Run Fundraising Challenge on October 20, we have raised a total of $12,524.41 to date, which is 63% of our $20,000 fundraising goal. With only less than 20 days from the race date, please kindly consider becoming one of their sponsors and help us reach our fundraising goal!
There are many staff who are running for their respective teams this year, and you can contact them directly or click on their names below to become their sponsor:
Top 5 Fundraisers:
1. Christian Hui $1692.00
2. Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp $1645.00
3. Mezart Daulet $1500.00
4. Andrew Miao $970.00
5. Amutha Samgam $925/00
For more information about registration, please visit http://run4acas.tumblr.com
To make a direct one-time donation to ACAS, you can click on the following link:https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/PersonalPage.aspx?eventid=117277&RegistrationID=1752911
Donations over $20 will be issued an electronic tax receipt.
For those who are racing this year, there are some changes to the packet pick-up information:
Packet Pick-up at RUNNER’S EXPO: Hall D, Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place
Friday October 18 2013 11:00am to 8:00pm
Saturday October 19 2013 10:00am to 6:00pm
For more information on Packet Pick-up, please visit http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/en/pickup.htm.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Christian Hui at community@acas.org
Have you checked out the September issue of Qi Magazine? Since its launch five months ago, Qi Magazine has become a much talked-about online magazine in the community featuring articles from the Asian LGBTQ and HIV communities. This month, we have an array of exciting articles including an interview with our 75 year old walker for the upcoming ACAS ScotiaRun Fundraising Challenge, Ms. Janakabai Ratnam, on why she decided to walk for ACAS. You can check out Qi Magazine at http://www.qimagazine.ca.
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