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2013 has been an amazing year for ACAS, and we would like to extend our gratitude to our allies, volunteers, donors and community partners so that we can continue to provide the much needed culturally and linguistically appropriate services to the East and Southeast Asian HIV and LGBTQ communities in Ontario. Some of the work we accomplished in the past year are: Organizing health promotion workshops, holistic health mini-clinics, and a treatment adherence skills building weekend for HIV+ people thanks to community partners, small business owners, and pharmaceutical companies Launching a new website integrated with Google translate to provide better accessibility and online zine, Qi Magazine, featuring a sexual health related blogs, interviews, stories, comics, art and photography Distributing thousands of condoms at Asian community events, festivals, bathhouses, and dance parties Conducting sexual health education workshops with over 700 attendance Recruiting and retaining 120 active volunteers ankara escort ankara escort çankaya escort çankaya escort escort bayan çankaya istanbul rus escort eryaman escort ankara escort kızılay escort istanbul escort ankara escort ankara escort escort ankara istanbul rus Escort atasehir Escort beylikduzu Escort Ankara Escort malatya Escort kuşadası Escort gaziantep Escort izmir Escort And to all the donors and supporters who helped us at the ACAS Scotia Run Challenge, Golden Piggy Challenge, and the World AIDS Day #LOVEandFORTUNE13 fundraising drive, we would like to say a big thank you for your generosity and dedication. We look forward to celebrating 20 years of ACAS and World Pride 2014 with you next year!

A year end note from Board Treasurer: December is a month of festivity and celebration. As year end approaches, we ask that you remember ACAS in your holiday plans. Please consider making a positive impact by setting aside part of your budget to support the work of ACAS with a tax-deductible donation. In the past year, with your support from members like you and our funders, we were able to provide relief fund and health promotion workshops for over 100 HIV+ people and their families. We had 783 people attended our sexual health workshops and distributed 18,880 safer sex materials to Asians living in Toronto. We truly believe that our work has a powerful impact not only on the people that we directly work with, but also on the larger Asian community as a whole. We rely on charitable donations in order to continue to provide these quality services. And that is why we ask you to remember ACAS with a charitable gift in support of our important work during the year end season. Any amount you can share will be greatly appreciated and put to good use right here with us. You can either donate online via ACAS website at http://acas.org or send a cheque to ACAS, 260 Spadina Ave., #410, Toronto, ON M5T 2E4. I thank you very much in advance for your contribution and support. I wish you a Happy Holiday and a great 2014! Sincerely, Joel Bansil Chair, Fundraising Committee Board Treasurer Make donations now at: http://acas.org

  Interested in letting us know how we are doing and have help us improve our programming or services? Please fill out the ACAS Men's Program or Women's Program Surveys: Asian Men Sexual Health Survey Dec.2013 The Purpose of this survey is to collect information for the improvement of ACAS Men’s Education and Outreach program, as it is our aim to provides HIV/STIs prevention and support services for the East/Southeast Asian populations in Ontario. For this survey, you would have to identify as an East/Southeast Asian gay/bi or men who have sex with men. This survey will approximately take 10 minutes and it is anonymous and confidential. Thank you for your support and ongoing contribution to ACAS. If you have any questions, please contact: Daniel Le Men Sexual Health Promoter mensexualhealth@acas.org 416-963-4300 Ext.236 Richard Utama Men's Sexual Health Coordinator men@acas.org 416-963-4300 Ext.235 Ryan Tran Peer Outreach Worker gaap@acas.org The ACAS Women’s Program Survey This survey is for us to understand Southeast/East Asian women's understanding and knowledge around HIV/AIDS as well as safer sex practices/behaviors. It is completely anonymous. We would really appreciate if you could take a moment to fill out this survey. We deeply appreciate your help in advance. Here is the link for the questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/womensquestionnaire2013 Also, if you know any self-identified Southeast/East Asian women who may be interested in filling this survey, please feel free to forward this email/link. We would like to collect the survey as many as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions/concerns. Thank you for your continuous support of the ACAS Women's Program! Chie Takano Reeves Women’s Education & Outreach Program Coordinator (416) 963-4300 ext. 225 ∙women@acas.org      

Thanks to everyone who came out to support our #LOVEandFORTUNE13 World AIDS Day Awareness Donation Drive on November 28, 2013. As you can see from our lovely video, everyone had an amazing time! Currently, ACAS is holding a Win iSkin earTones (Earphones + Mic) Prize Draw.  You can enter the draw by simply “liking”, sharing, or commenting on any post by Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) on ACAS Facebook Page that are posted between December 1 and 13. Ten (10) winners will be chosen on December 16. Please follow the two steps to enter the contest. 1. “Like” ACAS Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/AsianCommunityAIDSServices 2. “like”, share, or comment on posts by ACAS posted between December 1 and 13 We will contact the winners via private message on Facebook. We will announce the winners on ACAS Facebook Page. The winners are required to visit ACAS to pick up the prizes by January 31, 2014. ACAS staff and their immediate family as well as Board members and their immediate family are ineligible to win this contest. iSkin earTones http://www.iskin.com/eartones/ #LOVEandFORTUE13

Winter has finally arrived, but that has not stopped ACAS and QAY from becoming even more involved in the community. Aside from fun programming hosted by the Women’s and Youth Programs, our staff members have we busy presenting various research conferences this past month. To top off the excitement, ACAS has also been mentioned in several media publications this month! ACAS goes international at ICAPP 2013! As the only AIDS service organization serving the East and Southeast Asian population infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Canada, ACAS presented our innovative approach to online outreach to the gay, bi and MSM population and our community-based research findings on migrant workers and sexual health at the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAPP 2013) in Thailand. Our executive director, Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp, and staff members Daniel Le and Heywon Kim had a great time learning about the various wonderful HIV initiatives taking place across the Asia Pacific and exchanging knowledge on best practices with our Asian counterparts at the conference.   The BC Gay Men’s Health Summit 2013 & the OHTN Research Conference 2013 The ACAS Asian MSM Pathways to Resiliency (AMP2R) Study team have been busy sharing their preliminary findings on the strengths and resiliency strategies of Asian gay/bi men and MSMs in research conferences across the nation this path month. Principle investigator Dr. Alan Li and Research Coordinator Christian Hui presented an interactive workshop on “Creating pathways of resiliencies amongst Asian & ethno-racial MSM communities” at the BC Gay Men’s Health Summit 2013 in Vancouver, BC on November 7-8, 2013. Two weeks later, Dr. Li and Christian Hui gave an oral presentation entitled “From crisis to rebirth – Exploring resiliency response of Asian MSM in dealing with testing HIV positive” at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Research [...]

ACAS October 2013 Update Though the weather has cooled off, ACAS has been busy engaging various community members this past month.  On Oct 1, ACAS held an “Asian Migrant Farm Workers (AMFWs): HIV Knowledge, Practices, and Healthcare” Forum funded by the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) aimed for service providers of AIDS service organizations, sexual health educators, healthcare providers, policy makers, post secondary students, and interested community members in international migration and health issues. Participants not only got an opportunity to hear real-life stories from Asian migrant farmworkers, but they also engaged in rich discussions on labour issues and immigration policies related to migrant farm workers. As a leader and advocate on AMFW issues, ACAS also shared its report on sexual health, HIV knowledge and healthcare of AMFWs from its community-based research project. We sincerely thank all those who had attended the forum. Over $20,000 raised! Thanks for all your support, generous donations, and the commitment of our 26 runners and walkers, ACAS has exceeded our fundraising goal for the year and raised a total of $20,120.91 at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k! We could not have done it without the generosity, dedication, and energy shown by our supporters, donors and race participants. This year, ACAS has a total of six teams of walkers and runners to raising funds for the agency. Competition has been extremely tight amongst. In the end, the ACAS Men’s Program Team, Fast and Furious, overtook the Women’s Program Team by a small margin. The funds raised will ensure that our East and Southeast Asian service users living with HIV/AIDS can continue to receive the much needed culturally and linguistically appropriate services they need. For example, the ACAS Support Program had been able to hold an health focused retreat for services users [...]

Thank you for all of your donation and support. ACAS (Asian Community AIDS Services) has raised $19,336 this year through ACAS at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2013!! We are now just a little short from our goal of $20,000! Please help us reach the goal by sponsoring our fabulous runners or one of the teams fundraising for ACAS this year: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=117277&langpref=en-CA&locationID=117371&referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2fen%2fcharities.htm Alternatively, you can make a direct donation to ACAS right here by making an online donation through the secure fundraising page: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1752911&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2Fen%2Fcharities.htm All donations over $20 will receive a tax receipt. Thanks so much for making us raise the funds needed to support East and Southeast Asians living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto. 

Dear Runners and Supporters, Thanks for all your efforts and donations, the ACAS runners and walkers will be participating at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k once again. With you help, we have raised $17,593.44 to date, which is 88% of our $20,000 goal. Please consider making a contribution to ACAS or one of our runners to help us reach our fundraising goal this year! Our East and Southeast Asian service users living with HIV/AIDS will greatly benefit from your generous support and allow us to provide them with the much needed services they need. If you would like make a direct donation to ACAS, please click on the following secure, online donation link; Any donations over $20 will receive a tax receipt: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=117277&langpref=en-CA&locationID=117371&referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2fen%2fcharities.htm If you would like make a contribution to one of the fabulous ACAS teams, or one of the ACAS staff, volunteers or runners/walkers participating in this year’s fundraising drive at the Scotia Run, please click on the following link and you will be directed to the secure, online donation page. 1. Fast and Furious $4172.41 2. ACAS Her-icane $4125.00 3. Team ACAS $3192.00 4. ACAS Board 2013 $1325.00 5. Team Patrick Truong $1616.00 6. The Doggy Team $510.00 If you are running or walking this Sunday, Here is the information you may need for this Sunday's race: If you are having your race kit picked up by your team leader, please plan to go to the venue with the group so we can give you the race kit. To come with the group, please meet us at the Tim Horton's located at 148 Simcoe St (at Richmond) at 6:30 am SHARP to take the shuttle together to Exhibition Place.  As the weather forecast is predicting a high of 11C and low of 5C, please dress accordingly to ensure you are warm for the event.   5K [...]

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 [...]

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! Thanks to our Health Promotion Worker, Kenneth Poon, for creating the latest team, the Doggy Team, to fundraise for ACAS, we have now a total of 6 teams to raise funds for East and Southeast Asians living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto. Since we first started the fundraising challenge, competition has been fierce. Currently, the ACAS Men’s Program Team, Fast and Furious, is in the lead after having trailed behind in the first two months of the fundraising challenge. 1. Fast and Furious $3402.41 2. ACAS Her-icane $3215.00 3. Team ACAS $3192.00 4. ACAS Board 2013 $1230.00 5. Team Patrick Truong $1140.00 6. The Doggy Team $345.00 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 We at ACAS are committed to providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services for East and Southeast Asians living with HIV/AIDS, and your support to our fundraising challenge will ensure that our service users receive the much needed services in the best manner possible. You can help us with the cause by registering as a runner/walker or become one of our sponsors. Here are some of the reasons why our supporters have been sponsoring our runners: “It is such a honour to contribute to your good work and the good work of ACAS. I know you will [...]