Caregiver Appreciation

CISC salutes the untiring efforts of our family caregivers. Caring for a loved one 24/7 is a labor of love, but also a major stressor for those without outside support. CISC's Family Caregiver Program helps provide some of this support through education (like how to move someone safely from bed to wheelchair, how to ensure med compliance), respite services, and counseling.

CISC also provides social outlets like last week's appreciation party for caregivers who are all too often tied to the home, with no opportunity to engage with others. Exercise groups, peer support, and just plain socializing helps ease the stress of a full time, unpaid job done out of love.

Food doesn't hurt either.

1st Thanksgiving

CISC Pre-K kids getting their first taste of turkey. In fact, none of them had ever SEEN a turkey before.

WARNING:  CUTE KIDS!

Not only bilingual (Mandarin/English) instruction to prepare kids for success in kindergarten, CISC focuses on bicultural identity development as well.

November is Family Caregiver Month

CISC will be celebrating National Family Caregiver Month at the International Family Center-Seattle on Wednesday, November 16 with a thank you for all our unpaid caregivers. A special sharing session will be followed by lunch, and terrific raffle prizes as a small way of showing our appreciation for all the hard work our family caregivers put in throughout the year.

Did you know that in addition to providing emotional and physical support, 40% of family caregivers reduce their work hours or quit their jobs to care for their loved ones? Plus, they spend an average of $5,500.00 of their own money to help provide the care they give.

CISC's Family Caregiver Program has more information and resources for you. Contact Theresa Lam at theresal@cisc-seattle or 206-624-5633 x 4137

Karaoke Party!

Last Sunday a group of supporters from the International Family Center-Kent organized a karaoke/dance party at Tea Palace to raise funds for the center. Over 200 people were treated to the wonderful singing and dancing talents in our community and raised $7,000 for the IFC-Kent!

Trick or Treat

Yesterday, kids from our bilingual Pre-K program dressed up and went trick or treating around CISC. For most of them, this was the first time they had experienced Halloween. The looks on their faces when they realized that all they had to do was say, "trick or treat" and people would give them candy... priceless!

As part of our efforts to connect the generations, the kids ended up their trick or treating at Sunshine Garden. The seniors there had already prepared for the event with their own Halloween celebration, arts and crafts. They exchanged candies with the kids for beautiful autumn leaves that they took home to decorate with.

All in all, it was a fun morning. Even when we overheard one girl telling her friend how she didn't know if she could carry any more candy her bag was so heavy!

Bridging the generations - Sunshine Garden seniors and Pre-K children celebrate Halloween together

National Immigrant Integration Conference

Last week, CISC's senior management participated in a 3 day conference on immigrant integration. There were over 700 attendees from 38 states and 7 countries talking about all aspects of immigrant integration:  active citizenship, English language learning, workforce development, health, rights, youth and education, and engaging receiving communities.

We all came away with terrific ideas, great resources, and new friends who will support us in the work we do - and vice versa. Stay tuned to see how we begin to implement these ideas to create even more opportunities for immigrants and their families to succeed in their new community!

Wii Bowling

Not to be outdone by CISC staff, who held their first Wii bowling tournament last month, Sunshine Garden Seniors decided that it was time for THEM to learn how to do this virtual bowling thing too.

It took a little bit of practice, but soon we had seniors making strikes and spares galore. Not only were they happy to have a new form of entertainment, they also liked the physical activity involved as well.

Now it's bowling, next time, who knows? Maybe it'll be hula hoops - or skeet shooting!

Ardent Supporters

Some pics of some of our biggest supporters who turned out last week at the home of Dennis and Millie Su. Thank you all for your very generous and continued support of CISC!



Good food, drinks, and great company!

Community Health Fair Sponsored by NW Kidney Center

Last Saturday, CISC's International Family Center-Seattle partnered with ICHS and 21 other organizations to present the 2011 Community Health Fair. The nearly 300 attendees took part in free medical screenings, educational workshops, and outreach navigation to help access health care resources.



They were also treated to samples of healthy soy sauce, kitchen tools, and items to promote physical activity in kids and adults. Everyone enjoyed visiting with NW Kidney Centers' Sidney (the kidney), and practiced dental hygiene on a giant tooth with help from the Tooth Fairy.

A big thanks to all our partners for making this year's Community Health Fair a huge success!

Office Depot Foundation

Once again, as part of its National Backpack program, Office Depot has donated a number of new sackpacks to help our kids get off to a good start in school.

We'll be giving these new sackpacks in 5 cool designs to families at our International Family Centers in Seattle, and as part of our mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebration on September 10 in Kent. Come join the fun and pick up a bag for your child too!

Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center

Kudos to the CISC after school program and incredible staff!

"The CISC volunteer site is a great learning experience for me because it allowed me to apply the skills I learned

internally within the classroom walls to the external world. Also, I had a really fun time as a tutor since I got to

engage with a lot of children.

From the latest report out of the Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center

Community Health Fair 2011

Our International Family Center's annual Community Health Fair is coming up - 10am-2pm on Saturday, September 17 at CISC. Take advantage of health screenings and professional advice from the 20 organizations that will be attending. Chinese and Vietnamese interpreters will be available, and a light lunch will be served at noon. Thanks to Northwest Kidney Center for sponsoring the event, and Washington State Hepatitis B Coalition for providing lunch.

For more information, please contact Mabel Kwong at mabelk@cisc-seattle.org or 206-624-5633 x 4151.

Video Project: Adobe Youth Voices

Staff member Karia recently obtained a technology grant from Adobe to teach students to design and produce videos. This grant enabled immigrant youths to express and voice their opinions of critical topics through media production. While the initial stages and coming up with video themes were difficult, Karia was soon amazed by the creativity and dedication the students showed in their work. As a result, three of the videos were shared at the Adobe event on May 17th. Here are links to the three videos:

• Don't Waste Food: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-youth-voices/dont-waste-food/
• Shattered Dreams:  http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-youth-voices/shattered-dreams/
• Encouragement: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-youth-voices/encouragement/
  
  

39th Annual Friendship Dinner and Auction

Over 350 guests and supporters attended CISC's 39th Annual Friendship Dinner and Auction held at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue on June 4. Guests enjoyed a plated dinner while participating in both live and silent auctions throughout the night. Through generous donations and gifts, we raised nearly $140,000 during the event for CISC programs! Thanks to everyone who came out and supported CISC, making this a very successful night for us.

Photographs courtesy of Dave Greer, Kevin Simans, and Hut Kwan. 

Tech Health Day in September - volunteer commitments needed!

We need your help to make our 1st Chinatown/International Tech Health Day a success! We need to have a rough headcount of volunteers before we complete our proposal and apply for funding. Time commitment is below:

1st Preparation Meeting:    September 03, 2011 from 10:00am to 12:00pm
2nd Preparation Meeting:   September 10, 2011 from 10:00am to 12:00pm
1st Tech Health Day:          September 17, 2011 from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

While a lot of people are enjoying the benefits of improving information technology, there are still people who are not due to lack of exposure, limited access, language barriers, and other reasons. CISC is working on a proposal to host a tech health day for Chinese immigrants. The goals of the 1st Chinatown/ International Tech Health Day are to promote technological awareness and encourage safe adoption of technology among the Chinese community.

There will be demonstrations of various uses of technology such as interactive video consoles, cell phones and smart phones, digital entertainment, and iPads. There will be educational/informational booths and workshops for families as well as individual users. Topics include Cyber Safety for Children, Internet Safety, Online Job Search & Application, Online Shopping Tips, Resources on Government Websites, and Online Translation Tools.

To sign up, or for questions and more information, please contact Karia Wong at (206) 624-5633 x 4119 or at kariaw@cisc-seattle.org.

Bridges to Success

Bellevue Councilmember John Chelminiak has been selected by as the 2011 recipient of the Bridges to Success Award.  The award honors one individual’s commendable work that helps create bridges to success for immigrants and immigrant communities.   

 This year’s award specifically highlights the Councilmember’s dedication and passion towards human services and serving local communities.  Mr. Chelmniniak will be presented with the award at CISC’s 39^th Annual Friendship Dinner and Auction on June 4, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.  

Register online before May 20 for discount pricing! 

Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros

Crossroads Bellevue celebrated Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros on Saturday and CISC was there.

Hundreds of kids and their parents were treated to free entertainment on the Main Stage, lots of prizes and activities focusing on literacy, and information on community resources.
















CISC's Cultural Navigator Program used the opportunity to outreach to our Latino neighbors and inform them about services available through CISC.

We also held a raffle for Dora the Explorer books courtesy of our friends at Community Health Plan of Washington.  Congrats to the lucky winners!

Center for Ethical Leadership

CISC's Executive Director Alaric Bien was honored at this year's Legacy Event for the Center for Ethical Leadership. Chosen for his efforts in significantly advancing social, environmental, and economic justice, he shared the evening with fellow awardees Paola Maranan and Judy Pigott.

Listen to why he is so passionate about CISC.
Alaric Bien--2011 Legacy Award winner from Center for Ethical Leadership on Vimeo.

Seattle University Volunteer Outreach

On March 29^th, CISC’s Jennifer Jan, along with representatives from other local organizations, was invited to an Asian Studies class at Seattle University to speak to Service-Learning students about volunteer opportunities.  Although her pitch was short, 5 eager students signed up to become tutors in the After-School Program – not bad for a class of 12!  Jennifer says that this will hopefully be the beginning of a long-term relationship with Seattle University.  Currently, CISC has already established a strong relationship with the University of Washington – many of our volunteers have been or are current UW students. 

The new quarter has just started, and the number of volunteers for this quarter has increased tremendously –there are now 18 volunteer tutors!  If you would like to volunteer to become a tutor, please call Jennifer Jan at (206)624-5633 x4155 or email her at jenniferj@cisc-seattle.org. 

Family Night: Not Just Dinner and an Awards Show

Every quarter, the After-School Program hosts a Family Night for kids that brings together their families and tutors.  The most recent Family Night was hosted on April 1st (after the end of winter quarter) to recognize outstanding students and to host a potluck dinner.  After the dinner, parents were treated to a proactive parenting class hosted by Michael Chang that taught them how to be more involved with their children’s teachers and education.  They were given lessons in how to ask questions during parent-teacher conferences and how to be more involved with their children’s education through accessing emails and the Source.  Parents were also given information on upcoming computer classes focusing on email set-up and login instructions for the Source.

For more information on how to become more involved with your child’s education, you can reach Jennifer Jan (Chinese or English) at (206)624-5633 x4155.