Can you help us transform our new Community Center into a warm and welcoming atmosphere?
We are in need of matching furniture, signage, and paintings or other artwork, especially in the common areas that first greet our survivors and visitors.
This is a safe space for some of our survivors to come in for counseling and healing workshops. It is also a place where our advocates take hotline calls and our staff prepare ways to better serve our communities in Southern California and beyond.
We could use volunteers with an artistic background to help us settle into our new home. We would also appreciate corporate donors who may have donations that fit our needs.
Please email volunteer@cpaf.info if you have any ideas on beautifying our new space, or if you have items you’re interested in donating.
We truly can never thank our community of supporters enough.
Each individual’s and community group’s efforts contribute to making the holidays that much more bright, cheerful, warm, and meaningful for our women and children who especially benefit from such love during this time.
Because of you:
Well over 300 gifts were donated and wrapped for men, women, youth, and children served through our shelters, community center, and prevention programs.
Our Gift Wrap Party completed in record time, and our Holiday Party ran smoothly and efficiently thanks to the many hands and self-initiative of our volunteers.
Every family who attended the Holiday Party received gifts and enjoyed a meal together.
Thank you to our community partners for donating funds to sponsor meals and materials for our events!
One of the toughest challenges is securing funds for supporting these events. The more funds we have, the better quality we can provide for our families – and the differences do not go unnoticed. Thank you for making a difference.
Ralphs
Union Bank – ASPIRE
Warner Bros. – NAPA
Wintime Inc.
Thank you to all those who organized drives and donated gifts!
Your support is deeply appreciated, and it is always heartwarming to be met with such generosity as putting these events together take a lot of work! We are so grateful for you.
APA Toy Drive
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA
Asian Pacific Women’s Center
Dogeared
Evie Jeang
Girl Scouts Troop 341
Handmade Especially For You
Palisades Charter High School – Asian Student Union
Sanrio
Sony Picture – SPARC
Strength in Scarves
Tzu Chi Foundation
Union Bank – ASPIRE
Thank you to all our volunteers for taking time out of your weekends to help!
We had so many great, efficient, pro-active, caring, and creative volunteers write cards, wrap gifts, serve food, set up, decorate, and sponsor meals for our holiday events this year. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Left to Right: Kat Sea and Vinh T. Ngo from Bank of America; Michelle Esperanza and Christine Lee from CPAF; and Millie Yamaki from Bank of America.
On December 19th, CPAF received a $10,000 grant from Bank of America to contribute toward our work in providing shelter and support to domestic violence survivors in more than 25 languages. We are thankful for Bank of America’s support to help us meet the critical needs of the individuals and families we serve. We look forward to partnering further with Bank of America to build healthy and safe communities and nurture change together.
THANK YOU to all #GivingTuesday participants!
We are nurturing change together – one post, tweet, and donation at a time.
Your contribution makes a difference in the lives of survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Read more survivor testimonials here.
Just as there is no end to community-building, there is no end to giving. #GivingTuesday was the beginning – and you still have until December 31st to make an impact on CPAF for the year 2016.
2016 will go down in our country’s history books. What will be your story?
We encourage you to continue spreading messages of hope, strength, encouragement, and love this holiday season, and invite a friend to donate to CPAF before this year’s end.
Giving Tuesday is a national social media campaign focused on giving back – an opportunity for all of us to reflect and respond to the needs of our communities.
During this time of giving thanks, preparing feasts for families, spending time with loved ones, and shopping for friends, Giving Tuesday sets aside a moment for us to come together as a larger community, beyond our immediate family, friends, and self.
What does community mean to you?
This Giving Tuesday, we ask you to make a donation, and then post, tweet, and share about why you give back. Help us spread the word about this movement to create a ripple effect of meaningful discussions and positive change. Don’t forget to tag CPAF and #GivingTuesday!
Elaine Mayumi Whitefeather and CPAF’s Community Engagement Manager Christine Lee
“You Matter.” Those two words changed Elaine Mayumi Whitefeather’s life when she thought she hit rock bottom.
Elaine’s first memories of surviving childhood abuse, racial violence and sexual assault traced her back to when she was only three years old. Her perpetrators included her own father, people from a religious institution and strangers. She grew up during the height of racism when being of mixed races (Black, Native American, and Japanese) meant not being treated as an equal in America. Elaine noted that she was 10% white, but no one addressed this fact and treated her as a third-class citizen. She was told that God didn’t listen to her prayers, so she learned to rely solely on herself every time she faced any abuse or discrimination.
Elaine recalled a day when she was molested, raped and severely injured by multiple men. When she eventually stumbled home with two broken feet, her mom told her to not let her father see her in such a disgraceful state. “I learned to put makeup on that day,” she said. “I never learned to put on makeup to look pretty. I wore makeup to cover up my bruises.” There was no one to comfort Elaine or to simple tell her that what was happening was wrong.
Elaine Mayumi Whitefeather shares her story in Berkeley, CA
When Elaine was 20-years-old, she had 33 arrests and a couple of failed suicide attempts. “I was afraid of living,” said Elaine. “Death meant the end of it all. No more fear. Death was peace to me.” However appealing the idea may have been, suicide was not an option for her on the day she decided to drown herself in a river.
Elaine said she felt someone touch her shoulders as she was walking into the riverbed. She turned around and saw a white man with tears in his eyes. He told her the two words that planted a seed in her heart. “You matter.” It was then that she realized that she had to value herself in order to save herself.
The man she met that day happened to be a visiting professor. He called a professor from her university and told him that there was a girl with a broken heart and a wounded spirit that they need to support. He built a bridge for her to get out of the darkness. It was from there that her healing journey began.
Elaine Mayumi Whitefeather addresses a room filled with invited guests of the Blue Shield of California Foundation
Decades later, Elaine Mayumi Whitefeather has worked tirelessly in human service work, dedicating a majority of her time in the field of domestic violence. Elaine received a standing ovation after her speech at the Communities Empowered for Systems Change, A Peer-Led Institute presented by the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network.
CPAF took part in this two-day gathering in Berkeley, CA made possible by the Blue Shield of California Foundation. CPAF and other agencies exchanged their experiences and ideas in working with marginalized communities. The foundation launched the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network in 2012 to support underserved communities that are often overlooked.
Stories like Elaine’s resonated with a majority of those in the audience, as we were reminded that roughly 80% of the attendees were domestic violence survivors themselves. “Social justice always starts by those who were affected,” Elaine said. “Domestic violence isn’t something you get over. Your power is in your pain. Your pain will lead you to your greatest purpose if you follow it all the way through.”
Elaine’s life exemplifies how a person can transform his/her negative experiences into opportunities of empowerment. We at CPAF came out of the meeting re-energized and re-focused. We are here to continue our work to encourage and build bridges in support of our API families. Our goal is to have more survivors like Elaine share their stories and help end domestic violence in their communities.
On July 15th, more than 50 youth from Long Beach and Orange County came together for CPAF’s 2nd Annual “Violence Free Begins With Me” Asian and Pacific Islander Youth Forum. Young women and men explored their own identities and shared their community’s experiences with historical trauma. They learned about “toxic masculinity” and its connection to sexual violence. Finally, they honored their ancestors’ resilience and made commitments to continue building a world free from violence.
Left to Right: Kat Sea and Vinh T. Ngo from Bank of America; Michelle Esperanza and Christine Lee from CPAF; and Millie Yamaki from Bank of America.
