A MESSAGE FROM OUR BOARD PRESIDENT, KIRN GILL:
The Board of Directors at Asian Women's Shelter is pleased
to announce the selection of our new Executive Director, Elizabeth
Kirton. Elizabeth joined AWS in early 2012, shortly after
her return to the US from nearly two decades working in Southeast
Asia. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, Elizabeth most
recently worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, leading teams of national and international staff who
served refugees and refugee returnees in the border areas of
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Burma. Before leaving for Asia,
Elizabeth had already mastered Hmong and acquired the ability to
converse in Thai and Lao over the course of her UN duties.
Elizabeth is a valuable addition to the AWS team and adds the
40th language--Hmong--to our roster.
Since joining AWS last year, Elizabeth has demonstrated depth and
range as a leader through her development work, including grants
management and funder relations, and her advocacy on critical
issues impacting our community on both local and national levels.
We are proud of the role that she has played with staff,
partners, and survivors thus far and are excited to have her in
this new capacity. Please join us in congratulating Elizabeth in
her new role as the Executive Director!
Dear Friends of Asian Women's
Shelter:
I am proud and excited to greet you as the new Executive
Director of Asian Women's Shelter, where I have been part of the
team for a little more than one year. As the Community
Resource Coordinator (grant writer), I have met many of you, and I
look forward to widening the circle. Through an eclectic
career, the constant is my commitment to under-served and
underrepresented communities, and I am pleased to bring that
commitment to AWS. I feel fortunate to follow my
predecessors, Beckie Masaki, Aiko Pandorf, Orchid Pusey, and Samina
Masood and stand with my AWS colleagues, Board of Directors, and
others in the San Francisco domestic violence community who make a
difference in individual lives, public policy, and community
attitudes.
In the last year, I have learned from the experts-AWS staff
(including volunteers, MLAMs, and the part-time colleagues
supporting us), Board of Directors, community partners, and
residents-about what we have accomplished through our combined
efforts. AWS has undergone significant leadership changes
over the past several years, but maintained lifesaving programs
without interruption, remained internally strong, and stayed
responsive to both survivors and funders.
Asian Women's Shelter reaches those with the fewest
resources-survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence,
sexual assault, and human trafficking whose gender, language, and
culture close the door to safety, healing, and rebirth. AWS
welcomes people from all over the world, seeking solace and
strength in their own languages, beliefs, cultures, and familiar
food. When residents walk through the doors of our shelter,
they are supported in retaining what works for them, but encouraged
to move away from what does not-to discover new paths to lives free
of violence, homophobia, heterosexism, racism, and power
abuse.
As an organization, we continue to be alert to the shifting
demographics and needs in our communities that have inspired AWS
over 25 years to build innovative and creative programs:
Multi-lingual Access Model (language advocates), Queer Asian
Women and Transgender Support, Chai Chats, Community Building,
Volunteer Training, and Anti-Trafficking. And, since its
birth, AWS has been committed to collaboration, and we stand with
community partners, volunteers, and all of you who take the message
of ending domestic violence to your own communities; together we
will effect lasting change for San Francisco.
To all those of you who have been a part of AWS, thank you!
To those considering joining us, please do! I look
forward to meeting you at our 25th Anniversary Gala Event on
Saturday, May 11, and to your partnership, as we start a great 26th
year!
In partnership,
Elizabeth