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.