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Scotia Run Fundraising Challenge – Over $6,400 Raised Thanks for everyone’s generous support, since the launch of the ACAS Scotia Run Fundraising Challenge on July 30, we have already registered 16 runners and raised $6,471, which is 32% of our $20,000 fundraising goal. To encourage others to join ACAS in the Scotia Run Fundraising Challenge and help us reach our $20,000 goal, we have decided to reimburse you for the registration fee if you are able to raise a minimum of $500. To ease the process of registration, if you would like to join any of the above teams as a runner/walker, you can use the general discount charity PIN 13STWMSCC. You will need to pay for the registration fee upfront first, and if you are able to raise at least $500, ACAS will reimburse you the $40 registration fee for the 5k (excluding taxes and processing fee). You can register to become a runner at https://secure.eventsonline.ca/events/crs_scotia/. Please make sure you select Asian Community AIDS Services as your designated charity and then create your fundraising account after the registering as a runner by clicking on the “transfer information to create online fundraising account” option. 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 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 reach your goal and even exceed it. Much love and best wishes. Run my friend RUN in good health!”  “ACAS has been part of my life since 2006, and I know they are a wonderful support to my friends.” “Thanks for all that you do for the community! See you at the Finish [...]

ACAS Member of the Board of Directors Job Description and Expectations Purpose: To provide leadership, sound governance to the organization, and represent it to the community, other stakeholders, and the public, and to accept the fiduciary responsibility (e.g. ultimate legal authority) of the organization in its affairs. Mission Statement: Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) is a charitable, non-profit, community-based organization that provides HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and support services to the East and South East Asian Canadian communities in Ontario. These programs are based on proactive, holistic, collaborative, empowering, and non-discriminatory approach to education. General Responsibilities of the Board of Directors: To support the missions, goals, objectives and philosophies of ACAS. To respect and uphold ethics of confidentiality. To commit to training on any important issues to the agency. To attend all board meetings whenever possible. To Chair and participate in ACAS committees as required. To represent ACAS of its mission and vision, from time to time at events and functions. To avoid and clarify any potential conflicts of interest, and to oversee such matters in a lawful and ethical manner. To oversee ACAS’s fundraising initiatives. Specific Functions of the Board of Directors: Planning and Goals Annual assessments and reviews of external trends and environment in regards to current initiatives pertaining to ACAS core program, Strategic plan creation, implementation, and evaluation of current programs including potential new ones, Policy development Review results of ACAS work in meeting its goals. Governance Assess, review, monitor, appraise, support, and when necessary, change the top management. Conduct a Performance Review of top management. Match strategic goals with internal or required capacity building. Endeavour to maintain a full roster for Board of Directors. Annually assess Board capacity, skills, experience, and areas for development according to an Annual Board Development plan. Endeavour for a secure financial structure in [...]

Summer is here, and ACAS would like to thank everyone, including the newly crowned Miss Charlene Gutierez, winner of Miss Gay Philippines Canada, and first runner-up Miss J. Monroe, as well as long time supporters the Three Queens of the Philippines  for taking part in the ACAS 2013 Pride events this year. Pride signifies diversity, acceptance of LGBTQ persons and the need to combat homophobia as well as HIV stigma and discrimination. ACAS took part in the Trans March, Dyke March and the main Pride Parade this year with over 70 marchers and featuring our #SuperQueer ACAS heros! Following the artistic tradition of our talented youths, the Powerpuff Queers held centre stage at the QAY Stage during Pride Saturday. The line of up talents this year include crowd favourites such as the DestinAsian Dance Crew, Drag sensation Jolin Starr, as well as, Ramon Vi, Annie Sun, Dento Lam, David Tang, and Marc Castillo. With such hot weather, who would like to stay indoors? During this past month, ACAS once again took part in the Taste of Thailand and helped spread important safer sex and healthy relationship messages to the large crowd of revelers who were savouring the delicacies of Thai cuisine. Food and sex, what a satisfying combination! To cool off in the heatwave, ACAS Women’s and Youth Programs as well as the Support Program all held a picnic at Woodbine beach on July 27th. It was certainly a fun time relaxing on the beach and catching up with one another over delicious food with good friends! We would like to wish Heywon Kim, Women’s Outreach and Education Program Coordinator, best of luck with her CIDA CIDA International Youth Internship in Thailand. Heywon will be working with the Thai National AIDS Foundation, our project partner, as a Youth Outreach Worker. Starting August, please follow her work through the ACAS Blog. [...]

Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) and its youth program Queer Asian Youth (QAY)are gearing up to become #SuperQueer for this year’s Pride Festival in Toronto. To celebrate the diversity and strength of the LGBTTIQQS2A communites, ACAS will once again showcase the pride of our East and Southeast Asian heritage and take part in all three marches during the Pride Festival: the Trans March on Friday, June 28; the Dyke March on Saturday, June 29, and the Pride March on Sunday, June 30. This year, ACAS is very honoured to have the recently crowned Miss Charlene Gutierez, the newly crowned winner of Miss Gay Philippines Canada, the first runner-up Miss J. Monroe, and our long time supporters the Three Queens of the Philippines march with us. Members of Queer Asian Youth (QAY) are set to once again showcase their talents, creativity, vibrancy and youth power at “The Powerpuff Queers,” QAY’s Annual Pride Stageat Paul Kane Parkette on Saturday, June 29 between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Performers at this year’s event include the DestinAsian Dance Crew, Drag sensation Jolin Starr, Ramon Vi, Annie Sun, Dento Lam, David Tang, Marc Castillo and others. QAY aims to provide a safe and supportive social spaces for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, queer, curious, undecided, or questioning East and Southeast Asian youth and their friends in the Greater Toronto Area. As a way to reaffirm their sexuality, sexual orientation and gender expression, QAY employs a peer-driven model and aspires to empower queer Asian youths with opportunities where they can learn and apply leadership skills to become future forerunners in our community. As part of the lead up to this year’s Pride, ACAS has launched its #GoldenPiggy Challenge, a fundraising initiative for the agency to ensure our ability to provide the much needed HIV practical support services and LGBTQ programming to the East and Southeast Asian Canadian community. Those who participate in the [...]

GOLDEN PIGGY CHALLENGE ACAS has launched its first ever #GoldenPiggy Challenge fundraiser as a lead up to this year’s Pride event. The money raised from the challenge will help ensure our ability to provide the much needed HIV practical support services and LGBTQ programming to the East and Southeast Asian Canadian community in the GTA. 5 Steps to Take Part in the ACAS Piggy Challenge! It’s easy and fun! Step 1: Adopt Your Piggy Come to ACAS and pick a piggy that you want to adopt. We have piggies in various colours you can choose from. Make sure you name the piggy and give it lots of TLC. Now you are ready to start the Piggy Challenge! Step 2: Decorate Your Piggy It’s spring time and your piggy likes to be fabulous. Why not be creative and decorate your piggy? Your fundraising effort is more likely to be successful if your piggy is strutting the styles that everybody loves. Having said that, we feel a naked piggy can also be very sexy. Step 3: Feed Your Piggy This is the most important part of your Piggy Challenge. Whether your piggy is at your home, your office, or some random party, they need to be fed. Ask your friends to feed them some coins. Toonies or bills are their favorite. Make sure you feed them enough so that they are full! Step 4: Tweet Your Piggy Your piggy is a bit of an exhibitionist and loves having its pictures taken. Whenever you take your piggy out for events or you are both relaxing at home, take some lovely photos and share them with as many people as you can! Tweet about it, Instagram it, Facebook it or send pictures to us. The hashtag is #GoldenPiggy Step 5: Bring Your Piggy Back Once your [...]

Show your Asian Pride by marching with us ACAS this year at Pride! Friday, June 28 Trans March: March with ACAS Find ACAS at 7:30pm at Norman Jewison Park (Yonge St. & Isabella St.) Contact Meza (youth@acas.org / 416-963-4300 ext. 229) for more info. Saturday, June 29 Dyke March: March with ACAS Meet us at 1:30pm at TBA Contact Heywon (women@acas.org / 416-963-4300 ext. 225) for more info. Sunday, June 30 Pride Parade: March with ACAS Meet us at 1:00pm at George Hislop Park (Yonge St. & Isabella St.) Contact Daniel (mensexualhealth@acas.org / 416-963-4300 ext. 234) for more info.

INTERNAL JOB POSTING Temporary Position Women’s Outreach Program Coordinator   Internal Job Posting:  For members, volunteers, service users, and current employees Type of Contract:  Short-term, part-time (20 hours/week) Contract Duration:   August 1, 2013-March 15, 2014 Training: July 18-19, 2013 (Mandatory) Application Deadline: Friday, June 28 (midnight)   Responsibilities 1.          Plan, implement and evaluate the Asian Women-at-Risk Outreach and Education Project 2.          Recruit, train and support 8 peer educator volunteers to assist with HIV/AIDS education services for Asian women 3.          Provide 8 HIV/AIDS outreach sessions at various East and Southeast Asian ethno-cultural community events, ESL classes, church groups and settlement services 4.          Conduct 12 HIV/AIDS/STIs workshops for Asian women in the City of Toronto 5.          Organize “Pillow Talk” community learning forum 6.          Organize World AIDS Day activity in collaboration with other ACAS programs 7.          Collaborate with ACAS Men’s sexual health project to organize outreach and workshops targeting heterosexual men 8.          Attend network meetings and professional development training as required 9.          Maintain statistics, prepare reports and a funding proposal 10.      Other administrative tasks as needed Qualifications: ·         College or university education or 2-3 year work experience in social work, adult education, or health promotion ·         Familiarity with the East and Southeast Asian communities in Toronto, especially with issues faced by newcomer women and their families ·         Knowledge, and/or lived experience, and sensitivity to issues concerning HIV/AIDS/STIs, healthy sexuality, and violence against women ·         Good communication and writing skills in English ·         Basic volunteer management skills ·         Experience in workshop planning, and group facilitation, especially with women ·         Experience in conducting health outreach activities, and community development ·         Fluent in one of the East or Southeast Asian languages and able to conduct a workshop in that language ·         Ability to prioritize, delegate, and handle multiple tasks ·         Able to interact with diverse populations and use active listening skills to determine appropriate response to callers, visitors, and others during daily activities. ·         Ability to work under a trans-positive, queer-positive, [...]

May is Asian Heritage Month, and ACAS has had a busy month of events to celebrate our Asian roots. To start off the month, ACAS attended the Asian Heritage Month Opening Ceremony in the east Chinatown. The event was organized by Toronto Police’s Chinese Consultative Committee of which ACAS is a member organization. We were  pleased to celebrate the event with our Board Chair, Andre Goh, and long-time ACAS supporter and award-winning writer Paul Yee. In an effort to break the silence on HIV stigma, the Support Program hosted “My Story-Living with HIV.” The event featured two ACAS service users who spoke to ACAS and community members about their stories of challenges and personal resiliencies to ACAS members and the community. We would like to take the time to thank the courage of the two speakers and the inspiration they have instilled through their stories. Aside from celebrating Asian Heritage Month with a Spring Fling edition of our popular Asian Bathhouse Night at Spa SX, the Men’s Program held a special Asian Men Social Night “Dating Then & Now” for our gay, bi, and MSM service users to discuss the many different forms of dating relationships such as open and polyamorous relationships that exist in our community, and an opportunity to offer each other useful strategies to stay healthy sexually. Riding on the success of last year’s successful event, Queer Asian Youth (QAY), ACAS’ Youth Program, once again celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia with “What’s Up, Asia?!” featuring panel speakers to speak about the various LGBTQ activist movements in Asia. QAY also held a special edition of “Mmm, Movie Night” screening various shorts from Queer Asian web series to coincide with Asian Heritage Month. Meanwhile, the Women’s Program have been busy learning how to make delicious food with [...]