It’s Bowl-a-Thon Season

This year marks ten years (!!) of Bowl-A-Thon and we can’t wait to celebrate with you! We’re proud to have four great events taking place across the state this year; check them out here! If you haven’t yet put together your Bowl-A-Thon team or set up your fundraising page, now is the perfect time to do so.

We are planning a great bowler engagement event in the near future–keep your eyes out for information coming soon, because we’re excited to make this one of our best bowling seasons yet!

If you’re really fired up and ready to bowl, or want to do more to support abortion access this spring, we’d LOVE for you to join us as a volunteer! Volunteers help promote the event, support bowlers in their fundraising, outreach to local sponsors, and keep the final events running smoothly. If you’re interested in in joining us as a volunteer, please email bowlathon@nyaaf.org for more information on how to get involved.

Start your engines, invite your peeps, and get ready to bowl for abortion access! What are you waiting for?


In solidarity,
The NYAAF Board of Directors

Call for Board Members: Deadline extended to December 21, 2018!!

In early 2019, we are looking forward to bringing on a new Treasurer, Volunteer Manager, Communications Manager, and Upstate Co-Manager. Full descriptions of each of these roles and a link to the application are available here.

Joining the NYAAF Board of Directors is a fantastic opportunity to galvanize your commitment to reproductive justice, build and flex valuable skills, and expand your professional and personal networks. The NYAAF Board prides itself on sustaining a culture of inclusion, compassion, respect, and shared decision-making. We also strive to center the perspectives and priorities of those most impacted by restrictions to abortion access. No prior board experience or minimum financial contribution is required.

Please share this notice widely across your networks! We especially encourage members of our NYAAF family – case managers, volunteers, and supporters – to consider applying!

Here is what we’re looking for in a board member:

  • We seek vision and leadership (and leadership potential!).
  • We seek diversity in identity, perspective, and experience, including diversity in ethnicity, race, age, economic status, educational experience, status as a parent, ability, sexuality, gender identity, national origin, religious perspective, professional and career experience, and experience in accessing healthcare.
  • We strongly encourage women of color, trans and gender nonconforming people, and those who have experienced difficulty accessing necessary healthcare to apply.
  • We strongly encourage people who have had an abortion or have experience with abortion services to apply.
  • Board members are asked to serve for at least two years. When considering applying, please keep this time commitment in mind.

Applications are due December 21st!

Please direct any questions to kaitlyn@nyaaf.org To receive a response, inquiries must have “Inquiry: Call for Board Members” in the subject line.

Call for NYAAF Board of Directors

***UPDATED APPLICATION DEADLINE: JUNE 15TH***

Call for NYAAF Board of Directors:  Fundraising Events Manager and Development Manager

Exciting news! The New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) seeks two new Members for its Board of Directors. NYAAF’s Board Members are all volunteers operating together as a collective. The Board is responsible for all areas of NYAAF’s development, operations, and compliance.

ABOUT NYAAF

NYAAF believes every individual should be able to determine their own reproductive destiny and have access to the resources, rights, and the respect to be able to do so. NYAAF’s mission is rooted in this belief: We support anyone who is unable to pay fully for an abortion and is living in or traveling to New York State by providing financial assistance and connections to other resources. NYAAF strives to conduct our work as part of the greater reproductive justice movement ensuring the full rights of all people, especially those who have traditionally struggled to access reproductive healthcare, including low-income people, people of color, immigrants, and LGBT and gender nonconforming people.  

The Board’s operations primarily consist of working directly with callers to pledge funds toward the cost of their abortion, fundraising, and managing our growing organization’s development.

BOARD MEMBER QUALIFICATIONS

Generally, we seek Board Members who can contribute to our Board with skills, passion, and dedication to NYAAF’s mission. Consider addressing any of the following as you shape your application:

  • We seek vision and leadership (and leadership potential!).
  • We seek diversity in identity, perspective, and experience, including diversity in ethnicity, race, age, economic status, educational experience, status as a parent, ability, sexuality, gender identity, national origin, religious perspective, professional and career experience, and experience in accessing healthcare.
  • We strongly encourage women of color, trans and gender nonconforming people, and those who have experienced difficulty accessing necessary healthcare to apply.
  • We strongly encourage people who have had an abortion or have experience with abortion services to apply.
  • A two-year commitment to serving as a Board Member is encouraged.

OPEN POSITIONS

We seek to build our fundraising and intake teams and fill the following positions:

Fundraising Events Manager:

Responsibilities for this position include:

  • Set up online donation pages for fundraising events
  • Lead the coordination of fundraising events such as Bowl-a-Thon and NYAAF’s annual fundraising gala to establish and cultivate donor relationships, with the support of a planning committee, board members, and volunteers
  • Generate ideas for new major donor or institutional events
  • Organize volunteer-hosted fundraising events, including the development and implementation of home-hosting kits for individuals interested in hosting a NYAAF fundraiser
  • Plan out a calendar of yearly fundraising events in conjunction with the fundraising team (including the Fundraising Committee)
  • Coordinate external fundraising events

Intake Co-Manager:

Responsibilities for this position include:

  • Work with Intake Co-Manager to ensure that Intake lines are staffed with four volunteers weekly and and the Board of Directors is equipped with the knowledge needed to make informed approvals for over-budget requests on the hotline
  • Lead Intake Committee (comprised of board members and experienced case managers) to collaboratively move projects forward that support our work on the hotline and maintain a pipeline of informed and engaged volunteer case managers
  • Coordinate 1-2 annual case manager appreciation events
  • Maintain and update intake guidelines and policies
  • Update Salesforce clinic records and other funding resources used by case managers and our Intake Support team
  • Coordinate with Intake Co-Manager on 2-3 case manager trainings per year, and organize supplemental case manager continuing education events
  • Serve as point-person for case manager-board communications

APPLICATION PROCESS

Please fill out our application and upload your resume via Google Forms.   

We will be in touch with strong applicants for a casual interview and to discuss what serving on the Board might look like for you. We view this as a two-way process. Not only do we hope to find applicants who contribute to our needs, values, and mission, but we hope to be a good fit for your goals as a member of our Board of Directors.

We will be accepting applications through June 15th! To ensure time for careful review of all applications, please expect to hear from us with a final decision by July 15, 2018.

QUESTIONS?

Please direct any questions to elena@nyaaf.org. To receive a response, inquiries must have “Inquiry: Call for Board Members” in the subject line.  

It’s The 9 Annual NYAAF Bowl-a-Thon!

We enthusiastically invite you to join us in our biggest, most fun, and most fabulous annual events: ?The Bowl-a-Thon!?

For eight years, NYAAF supporters like you have gotten together to form teams, raise money, and bowl like the amazing champions of abortion access they are. In 2017, over 500 NYAAF supporters helped us smash national records by raising over $250,000 for abortion access.

This year, in addition to our Bowl-a-Thon events in New York City and Buffalo, we’ll be expanding our festivities to Albany and Rochester to welcome even more of our upstate supporters into the fun! We’ve raised our 2018 fundraising goal to $300,000, and we want YOU to help us reach it!

State and federal governments continue to propose new restrictions on abortion access; the Bowl-a-Thon is a way to build and celebrate our collective power to fight those restrictions and continue to support the hundreds of individuals who call NYAAF each year.

So invite your friends, colleagues, and families to join you for music, food, prizes, community-building, and of course, some top-notch bowling! NYAAF will support bowlers with fundraising tips and tools leading up to the event. What are you waiting for? Register today!

?New York City
Sunday, April 22 from 11:00am – 4:00pm
Bowlmor Lanes
Register here!

?Buffalo
Saturday, April 28th at 2pm
Delmar Lanes
Register here!

?Albany
Sunday, April 29th, from 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Classic Lanes
Register here!

?Rochester
Thursday, April 26th from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Classic Lanes
Register here!

Thankful for your support this season!

Here at the New York Abortion Access Fund, this holiday season is full of gratitude. We’re so thankful for your support, which has allowed us to serve more people and pledge more funds in 2017 than ever before. We could not have achieved this without you!

We have raised $34,024 to our year-end goal of $75,000 — can you help us reach it by Sunday December 31? 

For many people, the holidays are a time of increased financial hardship, which can make abortion particularly difficult to access. This holiday season, you can help ensure that people don’t have to choose between paying their rent and getting medical care. Your gift to NYAAF means that our callers don’t have to.

Now, more than ever, your support serves as an important statement. With your donation to NYAAF, you are affirming that abortion should be accessible to all, and that reproductive freedom is a fundamental right.

Please make a year-end gift today. Multiply your impact by talking to family and friends about abortion this holiday season and encouraging them to make a gift, too.

Wishing you Happy Holidays!
With love and gratitude, The NYAAF Board of Directors

OTHER WAYS TO DONATE

Send a check payable to the New York Abortion Access Fund to FDR Station, Box 7569, New York, NY 10150.

At no cost to you, choose NYAAF as your charitable organization of choice on Amazon Smile

NYAAF stands with DREAMers

We are outraged and disheartened by the Trump Administration’s announcement to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This decision is a continuation of the Administration’s harmful immigration agenda that is poised to have disastrous consequences for hundreds of thousands of families. To those in our communities directly impacted by this announcement, know that NYAAF proudly and firmly stands with you and the 800,000 DREAMers.

A person’s worth is not measured by their immigration status or the country in which they were born. We hold steadfast to our conviction that each of us has the right to an education, a living wage, health care, and the right to make our own reproductive health decisions. We all deserve the opportunity to thrive in our lives without fear. In these uncertain and dangerous times, NYAAFcontinues our commitment to ensuring ALL individuals have the rights and resources to access the safe abortion care they need. As always, we continue to welcome and serve clients regardless of immigration status, and respect our clients’ privacy and autonomy by not requiring that they disclose it.  

No human being is illegal. DREAMers and all immigrants living in this country are our fellow Americans, regardless of the documentation they hold. NYAAF will continue to organize, mobilize, and fight for justice for all. We hope you join us in the streets as we protest, and in our communities as we build collective power to defend DACA, DREAMers, and undocumented immigrants. Please visit weareheretostay.org for resources and opportunities to take action.

You broke records again! Thank you bowlers and supporters!

The New York Abortion Access Fund has set a new organizational and national record for the most successful Bowl-a-Thon ever. With more than 500 bowlers and more than $250,000 raised, you can count on even more education, advocacy, and abortions funded in New York in the year to come.

We’d like to sincerely thank all our bowlers for going the extra mile in their Bowl-a-Thon fundraising we hope you had as great of a time as we did celebrating your success on Sunday! Special thanks to and Barbara Kass and Knock Down the Pinheads, who earned the top bowler and top fundraising team spotlights. Extra shout-outs to Bodega Plan B and The Ovary Actors for bringing incredible spirit to the event with their team flair! Finally, we want to acknowledge the small army of incredible volunteers who made the event possible.

The Bowl-a-Thon is not just our biggest fundraiser of the year, but also a time to build and enjoy  our activist community. This year’s success is a powerful statement about the support for abortion access that exists in New York, and the commitment we share to stand up against harmful restrictions on access with compassion and action.

We’re thrilled to have expanded our presence in Western New York, where we’ll be hosting the first ever NYAAF Buffalo Bowl-a-Thon this Saturday. As politicians roll back abortion access across the country, it’s vital that NYAAF is able support those who travel to all parts of New York for the care they need. It’s not too late to join the Buffalo event, or support the team or fundraiser of your choice!

We’re so thankful to have you with us on this journey, and can’t wait to see you again!  

In gratitude and solidarity,

The NYAAF Board of Directors

It’s Bowl-a-Thon Season!

It’s time to make history. When we look back at 2017, let’s make sure it was a year when we all persisted, resisted… and bowled!

Join us for NYAAF’s 8th Annual Bowl-a-Thon!
Sunday, April 23, 2017
11 AM – 4 PM
Bowlmor Chelsea Piers (Pier 60)
New York, NY

This April, be a part of the movement for reproductive justice, as abortion funds all over the country host bowling extravaganzas to raise money to ensure abortion access for all who need it.

Right now, the fight for safe and equitable abortion access is more important than ever, so we’re not just going to break records this year, we’re going to SHATTER them.

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But we can’t do it without you. Get your friends, families, colleagues, classmates, or community groups together, form a team, and register to bowl with us! Got some extra team spirit? Register as a team captain! No team? No problem! Sign up as an individual and we’ll match you up with other awesome bowlers. Once you register, we’ll share lots of tools to help you meet your fundraising goals!

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REGISTER HERE!


We can’t wait to get out there with you and strike down barriers to abortion access!Last year NYAAF’s Bowl-a-Thon was a HUGE success! This year, we’ve made some changes to make this the biggest and BEST Bowl-a-Thon yet, like having morning and afternoon time slots to accommodate even more spirited bowlers. We’ll be posting more details on the registration siteour website, and the Facebook event page, so check back often.

In Solidarity,

Sara, Lanai, Kaitlyn, Caitlin, Brittany, Anisha and the rest of the 2017 NYAAF Bowl-a-thon Planning Committee

 

Tye’s Story — a Client’s Experience with NYAAF

Grassroots donors like you are at the very core of abortion funding — as are our clients. So, as we close out 2016, we want to tell you about Tye, one of the hundreds of clients we worked with this year, who generously shared her story with us. Tye’s words underscore how important our supporters are, and how much of a difference your contributions make in the lives of each of our clients.  As you read about her experience, please consider making that difference today with a donation to NYAAF.

Tye’s experience with NYAAF:

I’m originally from New York, and I currently reside in Georgia. As a 40-year-old proud mother of three going through a divorce, when I missed my period, the furthest thing from my mind was pregnancy. I’d been with my husband for seven years, and nothing had happened outside of our daughter. Since I was turning 40, I honestly thought I was going through menopause. I’d never been 40 before, so there’s no blueprint!

I’d started working out and doing 5 miles a day, joined a boot camp, and could see my body slimming down, except this one area, which I could never get right. Overall, I was still trying to mentally grab my hands around the fact that what used to be my life was no longer my life.

But I laid down here one day and I just felt something. I thought it was gas. And at that point, the light bulb went on. I guess I was in denial for quite a bit, and I’m just saying to myself, “No this can’t be, there’s just no way. Scientifically, it doesn’t make sense.” So I decided to go to the doctor. Sure enough, the furthest thing from my head, was it: I was pregnant.

A lot of things were going through my mind, of course. In the situation I was in, there was just no way. No time is ever the right time, but this time was really the wrong time. Still, I wasn’t exactly worried. I knew I was paying for top-of-the-line insurance. Coming from New York, I know that women are allowed to have a termination up to 24 weeks. I just assumed that was what it was throughout the country. Perhaps that was rather ignorant, but that’s just what I thought.

I called Kaiser, my health insurance, to get the authorization for me to go to the nearest facility. Everything was going as planned, until they did the sonogram. It turns out I was past the state limitation in Georgia. Immediately I was very sick. They gave me a list: Maryland, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, or something like that. All places I’ve never been. I was 21 weeks, not what I was expecting at all. If anything, I was counting back from maybe 3 or 4 weeks.

So again, yes, I’m thinking of all kinds of things. It’s a very emotional thing. This is very traumatizing for a person because you’re beating yourself up, “What did I do?” You’re literally googling things on how to miscarry on your own—you’re just thinking of ways of how you can correct this. I have no family here, and there’s no way I’m going to go to New Mexico or Colorado or any of these places; where would I be going?

So I said, “OK, I’m going to go New York. I work every day, I have insurance, I should be ok. I have this money that comes out of my salary so that I’m well taken care of when I need it the most.” I called the insurance company and they said I do not have coverage outside of Georgia. But Georgia regulations say I can’t do it in Georgia. Considering the state regulations, you would think that if I needed to go to another state it would still be covered, but no, that wasn’t the case, no was no. There was no compromise, there was no human interpretation.  

Then the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) was recommended to me. I was going to fly to New York from Georgia, on the next flight. When I was going to New York, the price I was given was just for 21 weeks. Each additional day was an additional charge. I was given a price of $3000, of which I was going to cover $800, and I was approved with NYAAF for the balance.

So I went to the facility, and I was told it went from $3000 to about $6000—I think it doubled. I got sick again, because this was it, I had no other resources. When I had gotten the first approval, I immediately started crying tears of joy because I did not have any other options. So when I found out this was doubled, I just knew there was no way I could cover this excess amount.

I spoke to my case manager, Ryan, again, and he said he’d talk to NYAAF’s Board of Directors to see what could happen. So I basically left the facility not knowing what was going to happen. At that point, I had my mind set, like I guess this is it; I’m going to have to tell my family what’s going on and this is what it’s going to be. I was basically forced to have this child.

Ryan called me in the middle of the night, and told me he got the new approval. I started crying again. I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. This organization I knew nothing about actually saved my life.

There was no lengthy process, no paperwork that needed to be filled out. I guess I just couldn’t believe that it existed. And to be quite honest, I’m still in awe. I’m never ever going to forget this. I am definitely indebted for life to NYAAF, so I needed to share my story.

I don’t think many people understand how traumatizing the whole experience can be. They say, “How could you not know you were pregnant?” There are some cases where you really just don’t know, innocently, because there’s no way I could put myself through all that I went through, when I could have resolved everything sooner, without having to pay for airfare and hotel lodging, and everything else that it took for me to make this happen.

To me, it was a life or death scenario, that’s how serious it was. So when Ryan called and told me that I got the approval, I broke down and cried on the phone, because it was a life or death situation.

I worked with [NYAAF Volunteer Case Managers] Rachel and Ryan, and they were both sensitive to my needs and heartfelt. They worked quickly, and were very attentive. I was left thinking, “This person is actually going to try to help.” And again, I had no other place to turn—all of my trust was basically on this other person who was on the other end of the phone who I knew nothing about. It just saddens me that more women do not know that NYAAF exists. Not to take advantage of it, but just to know that there are organizations out there to really help you when there is no one else—when you feel like you’re forced to have a baby because of insurance and state regulations.

My life depended on whatever NYAAF could do for me. And that’s how I felt. And they came through.

Words just don’t express the amount of gratitude that I have for the donors that actually take the time out to think about others and donate to the organization. There are people that are very grateful. I’m one of them. Wholeheartedly grateful. Thank you. Thank you very much is all I can say. If I could do more, I would, because they need to know that they do save people’s lives. I don’t know how many people are grateful for what you all do collectively, but the statement that you’ve made in my life is definitely profound; it’s unforgettable. Unforgettable. That’s really my story.

Click Here to Donate to NYAAF

A note from the frontlines of the New York Abortion Access Fund

Two years ago, I found myself looking for a volunteer opportunity with an organization that was truly effecting change around reproductive justice. I was excited to find exactly what I was looking for in the New York Abortion Access Fund, whose mission is to support anyone in New York State who is unable to pay fully for an abortion. As someone who works outside reproductive health and politics, but who knows the very real ways that lack of access to reproductive health services can shape one’s life, I was eager to get involved in an organization that makes a direct impact on people’s lives.

unnamedAs a NYAAF intake volunteer, I respond to those who call or email us in need of assistance with the cost of their abortion. I work primarily with clients who only speak Spanish. Many of these clients are undocumented; I can hear their voices tremble when they leave a message on an unknown telephone number for an organization that claims it can help. Imagine being in that position, and having to trust that the person on the other end isn’t trying to scam or hurt you. It’s an anxiety that no one should have to feel while simply exercising their right to obtain a safe abortion. NYAAF trains its volunteers to work compassionately with clients, so that instead of being another barrier, we are a partner working alongside them to meet their needs. Since many of you will not hear their gratitude firsthand, I am here to tell you that it is profound and immeasurable.

We could not do this work without the support of our donors, and that is why I am writing to you. Like our clients, I hope you will put your trust in the work that we do, and that you will donate to NYAAF today. Your tax-deductible gift will make an immense difference in the lives of our callers, who deserve to access the healthcare they need with dignity and respect.

This year NYAAF had a record-breaking year; we pledged over $140,000 on behalf of over 400 clients with the help of donors like you. It is truly inspiring, and I feel honored to be part of the NYAAF family. We have raised nearly $17,000 towards our $60,000 end-of-year goal- can you help us support even more callers in 2017?

On behalf of all of us at NYAAF and our clients, THANK YOU for your commitment to making safe abortion accessible for everyone.

With warm wishes,
Karla Salguero
NYAAF Intake Volunteer

Click Here to Donate to NYAAF