Asian Family Support Services of Austin’s Post

We are so excited to announce our volunteer of the year for Silk Road, Mona Kafeel! 🥳 Mona Kafeel is a dedicated advocate currently serving as the CEO of the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation (TMWF), where she serves with a steadfast commitment to uplifting women and families. Mona brings a wealth of experience and unwavering dedication to the movement against gender-based violence, channeling her efforts into survivor-centered solutions aimed at fostering positive change. We celebrate Mona's commitment to the partnership between TMWF and AFSSA, always going the extra mile to build our statewide culturally specific coalition of service providers through Texas Coalition of Asian Survivors, and for ensuring that Asian survivors in Central Texas have increased options for safety and wellbeing 💜 Celebrate Mona with us at our Silk Road gala this year! 🤗🗓️ When: November 2nd, 2024 at 6:00pm Where: Hyatt Regency Austin, Texas Ballroom, 208 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX

Mark called AFSSA after initially fleeing Florida from his abuser. With no money left from disability benefits, he was about to be unhoused. We’re sharing survivor stories so our community of supporters can get to know who is at the heart of our work. The clients we serve. We hope these stories highlight the barriers that Asian and immigrant survivors face, the importance of culturally specific and trauma informed care in their healing and the honor we have as advocates and loved ones of survivors getting to walk alongside them on their journeys. Here is Mark’s story. #Survivor #DomesticViolence #SexualViolence #SexualAssault #DVAM 

📣 VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 📣 Join us for Asian Family Support Services of Austin’s Silk Road Gala on Nov. 2nd, where we celebrate the resilience and unity of Asian and immigrant communities while raising critical funds to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking 💜 Volunteers are such an essential part of this work and we are so grateful for your generosity, whether it’s offering your time, sharing resources and ways to engage or breaking cycles in your circle of loved ones. We hope that being part of our gala allows you to be more connected to community and to witness that this movement is also full of joy, hope and celebration. 💌 Shift roles needed: -Set up + registration -AFSSA services tabling -Guest experience floater -Hospitality/greeter -On-site fundraising support -Tear down support When: Nov 2, 2024 with roles of different shifts ranging from 3-11 pm Where: Hyatt Regency Austin, 208 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX Sign up at the link in the comments 🤗 hope to see you there! #Volunteering #SilkRoadGala 

From the poet to the co-founder, we are so excited to have this amazing deck of speakers for our open mic event, “Unbroken Threads,” created specifically for Asian and immigrant survivors 💜🎤 We chose the theme “Unbroken Threads” because all of our stories are intimately connected to one another. While we all hold our own individual experiences, we don’t go through anything alone and we are strong believers that everyone has an important part to play in the gender-based violence movement 💌 Thank you to all of our storytellers for showing up, with vulnerability and heart, to be in this space of connection and healing with us. We look forward to coming together to honor each other’s journeys and envision a brighter, violence-free future. Hope to see you there 🫶 🗓️ Save the Date 🗓️ ⏰ When: Oct 10 @6-9 PM 📍 Where: Austin PBS, 6101 Highland Campus Dr Building 3000, Austin, TX 78752 #Survivor #DomesticViolence #SexualViolence #OpenMic #Storytelling 

Beep beep, calling all queer women, trans women and non-binary folks of color! 🚗🔧 We know how intimidating it can be to learn new skills if you didn’t have someone in your life to teach you growing up! Join us for an empowering auto workshop where you'll learn essential car maintenance skills and do it in a safe and fun space where you can mess up, make mistakes and try again. This workshop will be entirely hands on so that you leave fully confident to not only do it yourself, but also to teach it to someone else you love. Skills we’ll be covering (may not get to all of these so we’ll try and cover as much as we can within the time frame) Replacing wipers Checking air and cabin air filter Checking + replacing oil Jump start + replacing battery  Checking belts  Checking + replacing brakes Checking fluid levels  Checking + replacing tires Replacing lightbulbs We’ll have enough space for 15 participants so RSVP soon to secure your spot! We are also so grateful to Derek, the mechanic leading this event for offering to check out and fix minor car repairs during the workshop itself. We won’t be able to fix or address larger car issues in this workshop. A huge thank you to Kind Clinic for offering their space for us to do this workshop. Queer Black Women Alliance, Pride in Black and Asian Family Support Services of Austin are so excited to collaborate together! We hope this is a really supportive space to strengthen autonomy and self confidence while getting down to the grit and grime with us. Please RSVP at the link in the comments! When: Oct 20 @ 11 am-3 pm Where: Kind Clinic Koenig, 101 W Koenig Ln UNIT 100, Austin, TX 78751

🤸 ReModel Minority assemble 🤸 Thank you so much to Texas ABSA for having us! We got to talk to students about dismantling the model minority myth and how we can actively break away from harmful stereotypes during a time like college where so much self exploration and community building happens! We are so grateful for all the students being so open and engaged with us and with each other - we had a lot of amazing discussions surrounding culture, identity, shame, and belonging. This is truly where the work happens 🥺 #ModelMinorityMyth #ModelMinority 

Moods of the week from our favorite pygmy hippo, Moo Deng 🦛💖 Whether you’re munching away at the patriarchy or blushing in the hands of community care, we hope you know you don’t do this work alone. A reminder to take time for yourself this week to practice some self care and lean into community care, that being part of the gender-based violence movement and fighting against systems means taking care of yourself and checking on those you join in solidarity with. If Moo Deng teaches us anything, it’s that we bite back! As always, if you’re a survivor of violence and abuse and need any support, you can call our 24-hour free, confidential, in-language hotline at 877-281-8371. Let us know what mood you’re relating to this week 🤭 #MooDeng 

Thank you so much to Happy Lemon for collaborating with us on a summer fundraiser and for everyone that came out to support us with their treat of the day 🍋🥰 Your wintermelon lemonade supported AFSSA’s mission in creating Asian and immigrant communities free of violence and abuse through advocacy, support, awareness and access to culturally grounded social services. As always, AFSSA’s 24/7 free, confidential hotline at 877-281-8371 is there if you or anyone you know is in need of support. It is available in all languages and is available for all survivors. We are here for you 💜

Our next Deshi Voices meeting is THIS Wednesday - FREE FOOD will be provided 🥳 We’re going to be unpacking intersectionality, the struggles of being a minority within a minority and how this shows up in the ways we experience and move in the world. Thank you so much to A Better Force for collaborating with us in creating discussion guides. We are so grateful to continue expanding on the meaningful conversations we’ve been able to have on what it means to be Bangladeshi in America and how restrictive gender roles have contributed to violence within our communities 🇧🇩🫂 These conversations are where change happens and ripples out in the communities we are a part of and care about. Hope to see you there! Please RSVP at the link the comments 💌 When: Sept 25th @ 6:30-8:00 pm Where: Carver Branch, Austin Public Library: 1161 Angelina St, Austin, TX 78702

Gather for a night of connection and storytelling at our open mic event, “Unbroken Threads,” created specifically for Asian and immigrant survivors 💜🎤 We chose the theme “Unbroken Threads” because all of our stories are intimately connected to one another. While we all hold our own individual experiences, we don’t go through anything alone and we are strong believers that everyone has an important part to play in the gender-based violence movement 💌 We’ll have snacks and light refreshments, along with self care bags for grounding during and after the event. We’re also looking for a few featured performers to start out the night - it can be in any medium, such as music, spoken word poetry, dance. If you’d like to share your story at the open mic, it can be read anonymously by a volunteer from our team or you can share it in person at the open mic portion of the event. We know how much vulnerability and strength it takes to share your story - whether you decide to share your story or simply show up to be in community, we hope this can be a space for needed connection and healing. Sign up as a performer, open mic speaker, or just to RSVP by scanning the QR code or heading to the link in the comments! We look forward to coming together to honor each other’s journeys and envision a brighter, violence-free future. Hope to see you there 🫶 🗓️ Save the Date 🗓️ ⏰ When: Oct 10 @6-9 PM 📍 Where: Austin PBS, 6101 Highland Campus Dr Building 3000, Austin, TX 78752