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Dear Friends: Since joining ACAS in August last year, it has been an honour for me to be part of a very dedicated staff. ACAS has always been special to me, through its many staff, volunteers, and its history. Since this article is the first to address our membership and volunteers, I would like to share some of memories of my past involvement with the agency. I can still vividly remember the opening of the Gay Asian AIDS Project office on St. Joseph St. in 1991 and the opening of the current ACAS office on Isabella St. five years ago. The joy of having a safe space for Asian PHAs, Asian lesbians and gays, and their significant others was shared by all of those involved in the formation of the agency. We were frightened by AIDS and saddened by the loss of our loved ones. Yet, we were all strengthened by working together. Throughout these years, under the leadership of the Board of Directors and with the hard work of many staff and numerous volunteers, ACAS has grown and matured. The issues and the faces of HIV/AIDS are changing. Although new drugs and treatments allow many PHAs to stay healthier longer, quality of life is still questionable. Many PHAs do not respond or cannot tolerate the side effects of the treatments and those that do are subject to a complex and strict regimen of medication. Although men having sex with men are still a group facing higher risk of HIV infection, more women and youth are being infected. ACAS is well positioned to take on the many new challenges ahead. We will continue to provide culturally appropriate education, prevention, and support services to the more diverse populations in need. In the past few months, we have secured four-year funding from Health Canada AIDS Community Action Program. With the additional resources, we were able to hire Carmen Baguinan, to be our part-time Volunteer Coordinator. With her guidance, we believe we will provide more effective volunteer training and co-ordination of our various service programs. With funding from Health Canada, we have also undertaken a needs assessment study: the legal, ethical and human rights issues related to the access to services of Asian PHAs. The project will present its findings by the end of June. We continue to receive the support from our funders from Ontario Ministry of Health for our Support Programs and agency operation. With one-time funding from the Ministry, we were able to upgrade our computer equipment, install a faster internal network and obtain better access to the Internet. We also have obtained an easy to remember web site address: www.acas.org. You can expect more outreach activities and program information being conducted through the new web site later this year. We also have installed a telephone voicemail system that will facilitate better communications among our staff with clients, and volunteers. The voicemail system can also provide agency information in Asian languages. With support from Human Resource Development Canada and Ontario Summer Student Placement Programs, we are providing training opportunities to three summer students: Connie Cheung, Kellie Fong and Sue Leba. They will help us in program development targeting youth, gay and lesbians and in the area of Asian Language treatment information research. Apart from our program services, ACAS continues to provide support and community development to many people of colour lesbian and gay community groups and initiatives such as the Coalition Against Homophobia, Gay Asians Toronto, GenerAsians Together, Asian Lesbian-gay-bisexual Peer Support Services, Gay Vietnamese Alliance, and SaPinayKa. Such collaborations also strengthen the effectiveness of our education programs. Most importantly, ACAS has obtained charitable status at the end of last year. We are now in a position to issue charitable tax receipts to our donors. We really appreciate your financial support for our ongoing activities. Looking ahead this summer, we will be renovating our offices. We hope our space will be more welcoming and more efficient for providing services and program activities. I deeply appreciate the friendship, guidance and support of our dedicated board members, staff and volunteers in my orientation at the agency. Please share with me your ideas how to make ACAS a better place to work, to meet and to build our capacity to fight against AIDS. See you all on Pride Day! |
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