Monthly Archives: October 2014

Over $24,800 Raised for ACAS at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Charity Challenge 2014!!! On behalf of all the staff and board members, service users, volunteers and allies of ACAS, we want to thank everyone who participated at #STWM2014 on October 19 and help us surpass our fundraising goal with more than $24,811 raised!!! The money raised will help ensure our ability to continue providing quality programming for East and Southeast Asians living with HIV and LGBTQ community members in the Greater Toronto Area. Though it was a cold morning, our team of runners and walkers braved the weather and completed the race. You can view our lovely photos from the race day here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.723748821037449.1073741862.337056206373381 With a total of 5 teams and 27 runners and walkers, 2014 has proven to be our best year yet since we started participating in the charity challenge four years ago. A special thanks to our top fundraiser, Dr. Alan Li, with $4,430 and our top team, Team CelebrAsian, with $8820 raised! For a list of our complete fundraising result, you can visit the ACAS 2014 Scotiabank Charity Challenge Page at https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=140859. You can see a detailed breakdown of how the 5 teams and individual fundraisers have done this year: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=140859&langpref=en-CA&locationID=140953&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2fen%2fcharities.htm Thank you once again from everyone at ACAS!!!   Welcome Mina Heng, ACAS’s new Administrative Assistant!  We would like to introduce to you our new Administrative Assistant, Ms. Mina Heng! Some of you know Mina from the community or remember her fabulous and electrifying performance at our CelebrAsian 20th Anniversary Fundraising Gala earlier this year, and we are very happy that Mina has now joined our team at ACAS. Please say hi to Mina next time you are at the ACAS office. She will be happy to answer questions you may have about our programs or [...]

On Behalf of All the Staff and Board members, Service Users, Volunteers and Allies of ACAS, We want to thank everyone who participated at #STWM2014 yesterday and for helping us raise over $23,000!!! This is an amazing feat and we can assure you the money raised will help support our programming for East and Southeast Asians living with HIV and those from the LGBTQ communities. The donation deadline is this coming Sunday, October 26, 2014, so you can still donate to us or continue with fundraising efforts by letting your networks know how wonderful you did at the race! You can see a detailed breakdown of how the 5 teams and individual fundraisers have done this year: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=140859&langpref=en-CA&locationID=140953&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2fen%2fcharities.htm A message from Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp, our Executive Director, after the race:  "Thanks everyone for making our Scotia Run a successful one. We reached our fundraising goal and ran in the cold! Have a good rest." :) You can view our lovely photos from the race day here (Thanks Meza Daulet, Social Media Coordinator for taking such wonderful photos!) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.723748821037449.1073741862.337056206373381 Thank you once again from everyone at ACAS!!!  

On behalf of the board, staff members, service users, and volunteers of ACAS, we want to express our gratitude to all our runners, walkers, donors, sponsors, allies and supporters for helping us surpass our $20,000 fundraising goal at the 2014 Scotia Run Challenge before the race!  The Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5k Run will take place this Sunday, Oct 17, 2014. For this year’s charity challenge, ACAS has a total of 26 registered runners and walkers and 5 teams raising funds for the agency. From our participation at the charity challenge event the past four years, this year brings us our best record to date. As of today, we have raised a total of $21,886 from 337 donors and sponsors!!! Your donation will greatly benefit all the service users of ACAS from the East and Southeast Asian HIV and LGBTQ communities in the Greater Toronto Area. Your generosity has allowed us to continue with our goal to support our community and care for our future. To see a list of the results from the team and top individual fundraisers, you can visit the ACAS 2014 Scotia Run Charity Challenge Fundraising Page. Please note that you can still sponsor and support ACAS at the Scotia Run 2014 Charity Challenge until Sunday, October 26, by clicking on the team name or the individual fundraiser you would like to sponsor: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LocationHome.aspx?eventid=140859&langpref=en-CA&locationID=140953&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com%2fen%2fcharities.htm All donations over $20 will receive a tax receipt. Once again, we want to thank YOU!!! Information for Runners and Walkers: For the runners and walkers who requested that we pick up the race kits on your behalf, you will need to meet us on the race day, Sunday October 19, 2014 at 6:40 am sharp at the Tim Horton's at 148 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON M5H 3G4 (major intersection University Ave and Richmond Street W. Simcoe Street [...]

Psychotherapy is the art and science of counselling people on their life journey.  What makes for a holistic psychotherapy?  How can this ‘holistic’ approach to psychotherapy benefit people looking for a more humanistic, relational and multi-dimensional experience?  Can psychotherapy go beyond a mere ‘fix it’ method, to one interested in nurturing and growing our fullest potential?     Watch this presentation on "Holistic Psychotherapy" by Avi Zer-Aviv as part of the ACAS Support Program Health Promotion Workshop Series sponsored by ViiV, Janssen, Gilead, Merck. Visit the ACAS HIV Treatment Information in Asian Languages Website for more videos from our Health Promotion Video Series.  

The ladies of ACAS has a special treat for you! Meet the Team Herricane! They are a group of powerful women who makes a huge positive impact in our community! You should definitely support them at Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon on October 19 here: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?EventID=140859&LangPref=en-CA&TeamID=570650

As Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) continues to celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we would like to share with you our community reflection on 25 years of community outreach at bathhouses in Toronto. Written by Nalini Mohabir, Twenty-five Years of Bathhouse Outreach: Approaches to Peer Outreach and Play documents the history and success of ACAS as well as our peer-based bathhouse outreach strategy. It highlights the benefits and importance of involving queer, racialized men as peers in the promotion of safer sex education and the strengthening of community which we serve.

ACAS holds Annual General Meeting and welcomes new Board Members! On September 18, 2014, ACAS held its Annual General Meeting at Fife House. It was a well-attended event where members got to meet ACAS staff members, learned about the successes of all our programs, and caught up with friends and allies. ACAS would like to thank the dedication and support from exiting Board Members Andre Goh, Karen Tsang, Michael Adia, and Carmen Subibi. We would like to welcome our new Board Members Gerson Mobo and Ronald Chu to our board! Our current board members are: Paul Cadiente, Joel Bansil, Ronald Chu, Paul Fernandes, Emily Hao, Jazzmine Manalo, Gerson Mobo, Giovanni Temansja, and Agnes Tong.   ACAS Scotia Run Charity Challenge Update With only a little more than weeks away, excitement is building among our 24 registered runners/walkers and our 5 teams raising funds to support ACAS and East and Southeast Asians living with HIV. As of Thursday, October 2, 2014, we have raised $9041, which is 45% of our $20,000 fundraising goal. Please kindly consider supporting our many dedicated runners and walkers for this meaningful event! Our top fundraiser is Dr. Alan Li, founder of ACAS and recipient of our 20th Anniversary Community Building Award, with $2450, and the team with most funds raised is Team CelebrAsian with $3590!!! Like previous years, many of our ACAS staff are participating at the charity challenge. If you would like to sponsor a staff member, please click on the name of the staff you would like to sponsor and you will be redirected to a secure online donation page. Andrew Miao $650.00 Noulmook Sutdhibhailp $575.00 Christian Hui $535.00 Richard Utama $515.00 Ryan Tran $415.00 Trisha S $250.00 Meza Daulet $100.00 Cassandra Dong Nguyen $35.00 Jenny Cheng $35.00 As for the teams, we currently have a tight race between Team CelebrAsian and Team [...]