Meet Our Members: Asian Couseling and Referral Service

Meditation Garden Outside ACRS

By Stephanie Marin, Advocacy Assistant

After October 14th's Seattle Food Committee Meeting, I had the pleasure of touring the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way S.  This five year old green building is the hub of the organization with a full range of services spanning three floors.  A bamboo floored gym with attached gourmet kitchen on the organizations bottom floor serves many purposes over the course of the week.  Tuesday through Thursday mornings ACRS hosts Club Bamboo in the space, an Ethnic Hot Meal
program

ACRS Gymnasium

with culturally appropriate activities for community members 60 and older.  In the afternoon, the gym transforms into an after school meeting place for community youth to eat and play.

Gilded Bowls

            Further down the hall, you can get yourself a cup of coffee at Café Hope, one of ACRS’s job skills training opportunities for clients.  While sipping your cup of joe, enjoy the unique artwork spanning the buildings walls.  A large cylinder of blue, white, and gold gilded bowls loom in the stairwell while cultural clothed, handmade dolls span the main wall up to the 3^rd floor.   Both are the handiwork of ACRS clients and staff, showing just how much this space means to them!

            Around the rest of the bottom floor and through the 2^nd floor, a multitude of offices, conference rooms, and computer labs provide space for ACRS variety of programs and other community needs.  Staff is on hand ready and willing to help for counseling, casework, and referrals in 30 languages!  Homeless clients also have access to showers and laundry facilities on site.  ACRS even houses offices for doctors to come in and meet with patients.  Elderly and disabled patients no longer have to travel outside of their community to meet with their doctors. 

Handmade Dolls

ACRS also offers several programs outside of their main office, including a Food Bank in the heart of the International District.  This space serves around 5,000 people per month and specializes in culturally appropriate food for Asian and Pacific Islanders.  This focus means ACRS often has to purchase many of the products for their food bank, most significantly rice.  ACRS’s yearly Walk for Rice helps them continue to offer rice and other culturally appropriate foods to Seattle’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities!

To Learn More about ACRS and their Services, Please Visit: http://www.acrs.org/