Hello Survivors and Loved Ones,

This December, I am moving into my fifth position at API Chaya, this time as your Co-Director alongside Kalayo Pestano. I have been an intern, an advocate, the Queer Network Program Coordinator, the Community Solutions Organizer, and now am transiting into executive leadership. API Chaya’s move to a co-leadership model helps us embody our values of sustainability, mutual aid, and the balance of keeping the work moving, while also centering rest and care. And two former interns and survivors are taking the helm! 

It is hard to express how meaningful this is to me, as someone who first came into contact with API Chaya while in the middle of an abusive relationship. I cannot imagine getting through that time and experience without the love from staff: the listening without judgment; reminding me every single day that I had agency and choice; that I had a place where I belong; and honoring the many months it took me to leave that person. It was with API Chaya, and through the healing and organizing programs, that I was able to find my way back to safety and to really feel a sense of dignity. API Chaya has been my home, and I am thrilled to have a new kind of relationship with many of you.

As an advocate and organizer, I have seen over and over the role API Chaya can play in being with survivors from crisis, to reconnecting with resilience, to finding ways to embody joy, and create the lives they want. API Chaya is a place where our people can get support, intervene in crisis and harm, and to find belonging -  critical in our journeys of survivorship. I’ve committed much of my healing journey, my organizing energy, and life to API Chaya, including committing some of each paycheck back to the organization that has shaped me. I’m asking each of you to give now too - whether that be a one-time donation, or a monthly commitment to help sustain our vital work. 

With love, support, and generosity from people like you, API Chaya is $5,597 away from reaching our goal of $25,000 to celebrate 25 years of building power with survivors by December 31st. There are two weeks left to give in 2020, and all donations go towards empowering survivors and our communities to find justice, wellness, and healing. Our client Malaya* had this to say about the impact of support and connection from API Chaya:

We will never get tired of walking alongside survivors and families to build lives and communities where they are free to pursue their dreams. Please donate at apichaya.org/donate-online to ensure our survivors can meet their needs in this holiday season. This amount could house 25 families, cover weekly therapy for 25 clients, or deliver groceries to 100 families. We count on community members like you. Please donate today for the survivors like Malaya to struggle a little less, and build the lives they deserve.
 

In love and solidarity,

Priya Rai
API Chaya Co-Executive Director

*Names and identifying details have been changed to protect client confidentiality.