We Are Stronger Together: Help Make Our Resilient Communities Even Stronger

“Since I’ve been coming to ACRS, my happiness has grown. This place gives me strength. It lifts my heart. Perhaps that is the biggest reason I come here.” – Setsuko Irei, ACRS Club Bamboo client

In my first year as executive director, I am struck and inspired by the stories of courage and resilience of members of Asian American Pacific Islander communities. People like 86-year-old Setsuko, who is a widow and speaks little English. Yet every morning, she takes three buses and travels nearly two hours to Asian Counseling and Referral Service and our Club Bamboo senior program. She exercises with other AAPI seniors, bonds with them over nutritious meals, and gets the care she needs from people who understand her culturally.

Setsuko’s story and others remind us that no one should be alone. Belonging to a community is so vitally important not only for our own health and well-being, but others as well.

Finding strength through community is more important now than ever as AAPI communities face unprecedented challenges. As we look ahead to 2020, your financial support to stand with the most vulnerable will help transform the lives of more than 35,000 clients who walk through our doors each year.

This giving season, I hope you will make a gift and make our resilient communities even stronger. Each of you, especially in these crucial and uncertain times, fuels the hope, opportunity and voice that ACRS represents to our communities.

With deep gratitude for all you do for ACRS and the communities we serve and the warmest of wishes this holiday season,

Michael Byun
ACRS Executive Director

P.S. Does your employer match donations? If so, please make a request for them to match your gift and double the impact.