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:: June'08 Newsletter ::

The Year 2004 was an exciting year for MAIFS. In February 2004, the board appointed Kitty Prasad as their new Chairperson. She has been serving as a board member for the last three years. MAIFS employed their first staff member in March 2004. In addition several new board members and volunteers joined our organization.

Although we have been in existence since 1986, the board members felt that a large number of people in our community were not aware of the type of services MAIFS provides. Therefore, our main goal for 2004 was awareness building. We achieved the goal of awareness through advertising and networking. Our flyers describing the services we provide were distributed and displayed in several businesses in our community such as the grocery stores, temples and restaurants. Our Advertisement was aired on all the community Radio programs and we are happy to say that we were able to reach out to many more people in our community through these mediums. We also participated in several community and mainstream events to increase our visibility.

Our long term goal is to start a shelter for abused women and children. Some of our board members visited "Apna Ghar" in June 2004 which is a domestic violence shelter serving primarily Asian women and children, and was the first Asian shelter of its kind in the Mid-Western United States. The purpose of this visit was to understand the nature of their functioning and to get a feel about what it takes to run a similar transitional shelter here in MI.


2004 EVENTS 
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Our fundraising event for 2004 was held on March 26th 2004. It was a drama called "Kuchh Bhi Ho Sakta Hai" with Anupam Kher. 

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We took part in the 3rd Annual International festival by having an information booth. This event was organized by the Material planning & Logistics group of Ford Motor Company in August 2004. 

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We set up an information booth on the "India Day" event in August 2004. We were pleased with the number of people that stopped by our booth requesting information and inquiring about volunteering opportunities.

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We collaborated with New Visions in August 2004. New Visions is a grassroots organization whose mission is to inspire and support sustainable community action for ending violence against women in Asian communities of Southeast Michigan. On October 2, 2004, New Visions held its kick-off event, "Communities for Change: Working Together to End the Silence," at the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit. This event was attended by over 100 Asian community members including Korean and South Asian members, state and local domestic violence and related organization representatives, and other political and civic organization leaders. MAIFS set up an information booth during this event. At the end of the event, WahIndia TV contacted our chairperson and she made a video recording about MAIFS which aired on Basic Comcast channel throughout Southeast Michigan. 

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We collaborated with Ford Asian Indian Association (FAIA) and were made their beneficiary during the Ford Annual Dinner event held in October 2004. 

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The Year 2005 started with a bang! We collaborated with www.miindia.com a premier community portal with over a million hits a month. This portal has been well received by the community for its services and information. We are very thankful to the staff of miindia for giving us prime real estate on their web page!


STATISTICS

Total Cases in 2003 = 88

Total Cases in 2004 = 136


It was observed that our call volume substantially increased in 2004. Our case workers helped clients by listening to them, offering them non-judgmental support and by providing them with information on options and possible courses of action. Our case workers never tell clients what to do; rather, they empower clients to make their own decisions. MAIFS case workers are available 24/7 to answer calls on the Hotline.




 
Integrity, Trust and Confidentiality is our Strength! 
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