Dear Community Members, Partners, Volunteers, Donors and Allies:
With Less than 1 week away from CelebrAsian, have you purchased your tickets to this meaningful fundraising gala that promises to be both fun and celebratory in honour of ACAS’ 20 years in community activism serving the East and Southeast Asian LGBTQ and HIV communities?
Tickets for the ACAS #CelebrAsian 20th Anniversary Fundraising Gala Dinner are available for purchase online here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/celebrasian-acas-20th-anniversary-gala-dinner-tickets-1415749545
The #CelebrAsian Gala Dinner will take place on Friday, May 30, 2014 at the Old Mill (21 Old Mill Road, Toronto ON M8X 1G5 ). Reception for CelebrAsian starts at 6:00 p.m.
The evening will see the presentation of two special awards to individuals who espouse the core values and visions of ACAS and have contributed to our organization’s success.The Patrick Truong Award, named after our late Support Program staff and AIDS activist, is to honor a person living with HIV/AIDS who has made significant contributions in the areas of HIV/AIDS in Canada or internationally. This year’s Patrick Truong Award recipient is Derek Yee, a fearless community leader and a past board member of ACAS. “Through my involvement with ACAS, I have learnt resiliency in life and have grown as an individual with my community,” says Derek Yee.
The 20th Anniversary Community Building Award honours an individual who has demonstrated long-term commitment, dedication, and accomplishments in community organizing or advocacy work related to HIV/AIDS, LGBT, human rights or social justice. Dr. Alan Li is the recipient of the 20th Anniversary Community Building Award. Alan is a primary care physician at Regent Park Community Health Centre. At the highest peak of AIDS epidemic in Ontario in the early 1990s, Alan and members of Gay Asians Toronto (GAT) started the Gay Asian AIDS project (GAAP) and subsequently ACAS. His activism and community building have spanned more than 3 decades, including being the founding co-chair of the Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment (CAAT), a coalition group working for rights of immigrant, refugee and non-status persons living with HIV. “This is a historical occasion for us to celebrate the legacy of activism and dedicated services provided by ACAS and to show our continued support,” says Dr. Alan Li.
The fundraising gala event feature live performances by queer positive multiracial dance troupe Il Na Na DiverseCity Dance Company, violinist virtuoso Whitney Lau, and premiere Toronto Asian drag talents Mina and Sofonda Cox.
If you would like to purchase your ticket in person, or if you intend to attend as a group, please contact Heywon at officeadmin@acas.org or 416-963-4300 so we can try our best to arrange you and your guests to sit together.
If you have further information about this event or our organization, please contact Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp, ACAS Executive Director, at 416-963-4300 ext. 227.
We look forward to seeing you at ACAS’s 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner!
