Gov. Gregoire addresses the Asian Counseling & Referral Service 35th Anniversary Dinner/Auction
September 13, 2008
AS WRITTEN
Good evening, and thank you Lori for the introduction.
I�m honored to be here tonight to help celebrate an important milestone.
And it�s that A-C-R-S has been in the business of improving the lives of thousands of Asian and Pacific-Islander Americans for 35 years!
Thirty five years! That�s longer than some in this room have been alive!
Just imagine the thousands of lives you have touched for the better�
�all the hungry families you have fed�
�all those with mental health issues and addictions you have helped get back in their feet�
�.all the kids you have helped reach and stay on the right path...
A-C-R-S is in the business of strengthening our communities � and it does it using 30 languages on behalf of some of the poorest, most invisible people in Washington.
A-C-R-S is all about compassion�and that�s why I�m honored to be here tonight and that�s why I�m a big fan of this great organization.
It�s also why I worked with your great legislators and supported state appropriations totaling $5 million to help build a wonderful new home for this organization in the Rainier Valley.
That was on top of another $14 million provided by local government and private donations, and that�s what I can a community coming together.
I�ve visited your new headquarters, and I�ve seen your operation up close several times, and I always come away impressed.
I also want to say a little bit about how important this auction tonight is to those in the Asian community who really need our help.
And one of those needs is especially basic�
�Food...
�Food to feed low-income families who have their own struggles with high gas and food prices.
I took part in the A-C-R-S �Walk for Rice� this spring as part of our renewed effort to help our struggling food banks across Washington.
And I know we raised about $100,000 for the A-C-R-S Food Bank.
That�s a good down payment.
This summer, I also released $200,000 from my emergency fund to help food banks � including this one � pay for fuel and other needs.
And a few weeks ago, I donated the $3.300 pay raise given to me this year by our citizen salary commission to our food banks.
But we need to do more.