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October 2026 Newsbriefs

The Fig Tree Board offers $7,625 to match donations

The Fig Tree Board of Directors is providing $7,625 in matching funds to double donations up to that amount, given for the Fall Fund Drive goal of $27,000.

"We provide The Fig Tree and Resource Directory for free, but they are not free to produce," said editor Mary Stamp. "Along with advertisers and directory partners, we primarily rely on sponsors to make The Fig Tree possible.

"As costs of printing, mailing and production rise, we need to keep up, because print draws more advertisers," she explained. "We are considering the impact of increasing ad rates and other income sources, but we need to accompany such sources with increasing the number of sponsors, the number of renewals and the amount they give."

The Fig Tree remains a unique source of news from an ecumenical, interfaith, nonprofit perspective applying peace journalism and solutions journalism that break through the normal infotainment controlled by those in power to keep people divided, fearful, anxious and suspicious.

"We foster conversation, connection and community that bring realistic hope and motivation to act based on learning the stories of others who are engaging in their neighborhoods, communities, regions, nations and the world to—as we always say—make a difference in people's lives," Mary said.

"Our 2026 Spring Benefit theme said it well, 'Persist Together: Inspire Miracles'—reflecting the hard and ongoing effort required to bring unexpected results from loving people, organizing people and empowering people," she clarified. "Every story can inform, inspire and involve people."

For information on supporting The Fig Tree, call 535-1813, visit thefigtree.org/donate.html or mail a check to The Fig Tree, 1323 S. Perry St., Spokane, WA 99202.

Churches propose economy of peace

Peace cannot be built on an economy that runs on war, said a theological communique released by the World Council of Churches and five partner communions that met Aug. 26 to 28 in Panama City. It asks governments to redirect military spending toward poverty and climate, and it asks churches to move their own money first.

They work within the churches' campaign for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA): for a financial system oriented toward justice rather than profit.

The communique includes what the churches see, affirm and commit to do. 

• They see a war economy designed to extract "to produce profits for the already-powerful and losses for the already-vulnerable." Military expenditures reached $2.887 trillion in 2025, the 11th consecutive year of growth and the highest on record, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Military activity creates up to 6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Conflict and Environment Observatory.

Theologically, the text reports that "fossil fueled, financialized capitalism is not a neutral economic arrangement but an ethical, moral and theological problem," Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, argued. Peace cannot be secured without "a just transition away from the extractive economy"—moving off fossil fuels in a way that is fair to workers, poor people and climate-vulnerable communities.

The statement calls for awareness about use of minerals. Metals for solar panels and batteries also build missiles, drones and artificial intelligence. The digital economy is neither clean nor immaterial. Data centers take energy, water and land, including Indigenous land.

Participants see the economic instruments as weapons. Dora Arce, a Presbyterian-Reformed Church pastor in Cuba, said that since the fuel blockade, she has never seen so many hungry people in the streets of Havana.

Humberto Shikiya, of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina and the WCC Peacebuilding in Colombia Project, said, land and peace can't be separated. Redistribution is required.

Near the Panama Canal where the document was written, the canal was dug by Black Caribbean workers in a segregated labor system that colonial history tried to erase.

 • What do they affirm? The Guna people of Panama name the Earth Nabguana. The communique affirms Earth's dignity and agency, "It's kin rather than commodity." Balu Wala is the balance between living beings, and of the economy of permission. No territory is entered without informed, prior consent of the Indigenous people. It wants is a just peace "built from the ground up rather than imposed from above."

• What must churches do?

Andrew Suderman of Mennonite World Conference described the churches' part. "We ought to live out and proclaim how society can be transformed into a world of justice and peace, seeing and offering glimpses of alternative ways of being.

Churches are to move their money out of the war economy and into renewable energy and community-rooted vehicles—local currencies, community banks and debt-for-social-investment swaps.

Churches are to press for a global 2 percent tax on billionaires, a 25 percent minimum corporate tax, debt cancellation and living or peace wages. Governments are to stop financing weapons and wars, regulate the trade in fossil fuels and critical minerals, and end embargoes as a weapon of war.

The document concludes that neutrality is not an option.

The consultation is part of the Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034). Two upcoming events are the UN Biodiversity Conference in Yerevan, Armenia, Oct. 19 to 30, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye, from Nov. 9 to 20.

Fig Tree receives grants to reprint directories

The Fig Tree 2026-27 Resource Directory has received a boost of $6,700 from Rotary Club of Spokane 21, Innovia Foundation, United Healthcare, Spokane Parks Foundation, Jasmin Group, Spokane Independent Metro Business Association and Kiwanis Club of Downtown Spokane towards $8,000 to print 2,000 additional copies to replace those handed out in the fire response.

The Fig Tree distributed 2,500 print copies to evacuees in shelters, stores, agencies, congregations and other centers in fire-affected areas and by providers at Disaster Assistance Centers, such as at Mead and Nine Mile Falls School Districts and Shadle Park High School.

"We had the new directories available for the Spokane Complex Fires and fires on the Spokane and Colville Confederated reservations, and we updated an eight-page Short-Term Fire Response pdf we had used for the Gray and Oregon Fires in 2023," said Malcolm Haworth, Resource Directory editor.

"People impacted and agencies serving them were grateful for the print copies because they served areas with limited or no internet access. With directories in hand, they connected people with services immediately rather than waiting for cell, power and internet restoration," he said.

The Short-Term Fire Response PDF included a check list on what survivors need to know and do after a wildfire. It has been shared widely in the region, as a free self-help tool.

Donations can be made at thefigtree.org/donate.html and the updated directory and short-term list are at thefigtree.org/directory.html.

Faith Action Network celebrates its 15 years

Faith Action Network (FAN) Annual Dinner Fundraiser, "15 Years: Many Faiths Fighting for Justice," will be held at 5 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8, at Gonzaga's Hemmingson Center.

This year, FAN is holding separate events in Seattle and Spokane. On Nov. 8, FAN board and staff, fellow FAN members, faith communities and individuals of faith and conscience will celebrate the collective power of multifaith voices rooted in Spokane with an all-local program.

Spokane supporters will join in celebrating 15 years of multifaith advocacy and public action, a milestone, and invest in FAN's mission and vision of a strong multifaith voice across the state.

In 2011, the Washington Association of Churches and Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington merged to form the Faith Action Network as a partnership for the common good. Three members of each organization became members of the FAN governing board, which also included one member each from the Jewish, African American and Hispanic communities. A 30-member advisory council included diverse faiths.

FAN is a statewide, multifaith partnership striving for just, compassionate sustainable communities through courageous advocacy and public action.

The Seattle fundraising dinner is Monday, Oct. 18, in Campion Ballroom at Seattle University.

For information, visit fanwa.ejoinme.org/15YearsSpokane.

Spokane Alliance builds consensus to learn

When the Spokane Alliance met Sept. 15 for their Community Assembly at Covenant United Methodist Church, there was time for reflection about the fires that affected the area.

There was consensus that there is more to learn about what the fires revealed about the community. The conversation then was a first step. The next step invited participants to return to congregations, unions and member organizations to learn about their experiences and what they want for Spokane in the future.

People shared about the unequal impact of the fires on manufactured home residents, international students, unhoused neighbors and immigrants.

Participants responded to several questions: 1) What did they see, read or hear about the fires that affected them the most? 2) How do they see disaster differently now? 3) What should the Spokane Alliance pay attention to as an institution?"

They drew responses both for the alliance and each institution.

For information, visit spokanealliance.org

Church builds temple in Coeur d'Alene

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Temple on Saturday, Aug. 29, with Elder Hutch Fale, of the U.S. West Area Presidency, presiding.

Idaho is home to more than 480,000 Latter-day Saints who meet in more than 1,300 congregations. There are six temples in Idaho, two under construction and three announced. Idaho has three missions.

Latter-day Saints consider temples the "house of the Lord" and the most sacred places of worship. Temples differ from meeting houses, also called chapels that are open for anyone to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities. Temples are where members participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages and proxy baptisms.

For information, call 270-4950 or email jennifer.hicks509@yahoo.com.

Human rights awards will be presented

The 2026 Eva Lassman "Take Action Against Hate" awards will be presented at the Human Rights Awards Banquet, sponsored by Human Rights Spokane, on Thursday, Nov. 12, to Nighat Dad, a Pakistani lawyer who founded Digital Rights Foundation, and to the nonprofit organization, Eradicate Hate.

"Take Action Against Hate" awards, sponsored by Gonzaga University Center for the Study of Hate, are presented to an individual and an organization that challenge hate and change their communities, following the footsteps of Holocaust survivor and anti-hate advocate Eva Lassman.

"The awards committee considers how nominees engage in action and awareness-building," said Gonzaga's Aaron Danowski, chair. "We focus on efforts that demonstrate impact."

Nighat Dad was born in Karachi and moved to Lahore, where she earned bachelor's and law degrees at the University of the Punjab. As a young lawyer, she represented herself in divorce court, securing her freedom and the custody of her infant son.

That experience shaped her practice in criminal and family law, and her work with women facing abuse and surveillance.

In 2012, she founded the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), a non-governmental organization (NGO) to provide "safe online spaces" for women in Pakistan, South Asia and beyond. DRF counters cyber harassment, promotes data protection and achieves online freedom of expression for women and other gender minorities by preventing technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

In 2016, it launched the region's first helpline for online violence, the Digital Security Helpline. It has handled more than 23,000 cases, providing free legal advice, digital security support and psychological counseling.

Nighat was appointed to the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and to Meta's Oversight Board, which reviews the company's content moderation and issues binding rulings and policy recommendations.

Nighat has shifted the conversation from blaming women to demanding that platforms and institutions have more responsible content.

The second awardee, Eradicate Hate—founded after the October 2018 massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history—believes everyone can play a role in reducing hate-fueled violence.

It organizes the annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit, an international, multidisciplinary conference to prevent hate-fueled violence.

Since its launch, more than 3,500 participants have gathered from around the world—survivors, researchers, educators, policymakers and professionals—to partner and develop practical solutions to keep communities safe.

Eradicate Hate has also organized working groups, the Prevention Practitioners Network and educational initiatives that have equipped thousands of people with skills to spot domestic abuse and confront and prevent hate-fueled violence.

For information, call 313-5811 or visit humanrightsspokane.org.

People Who Care Luncheon will be on Oct. 1

The program for Transitions' People Who Care Luncheon at 12 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, in The Davenport Grand, 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. emphasizes that "each individual is a work in progress—worthy of dignity and the opportunity to grow toward wholeness," said Sara Lickfold, executive director of Transitions.

Attendees will hear about journeys of women working toward stability, financial independence, emotional healing and renewed hope, and be invited to donate.

"When one woman grows toward wholeness, the impact extends into her families, workplaces and the community. Growth is possible. Together, we can make it sustainable," Sara said.

For information, call 328-6702 or visit transitions.givecloud.co/people-who-care-2026-mni91txnc.

FAN plans its Autumn Regional Meeting

The Faith Action Network (FAN) Spokane Area Autumn Regional Meeting from 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Spokane Friends, 1612 W. Dalke, is a time for local members and advocates to meet other justice-focused people of faith and conscience.

They will discuss 1) federal attempts to limit voting and how faith communities can help by encouraging early voting and providing reliable information, 2) state ballot initiatives and 3) priorities for Eastern Washington.

For information, visit fanwa.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=339

Cathedral of St. John hosts two exhibits

St John's Cathedral is hosting the exhibit, "Unto the Ends of the Earth, The Legacy of the Great Commission in the Inland Northwest," from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays to Saturdays until Nov. 14, or by appointment at 127 E. 12th.

It includes artwork, photography, historic church furnishings, folk art, artifacts and new historical research, inviting visitors to consider how Christianity took root and spread across the world to the Inland Northwest, and to examine the complicated history that accompanied that expansion.

From 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays, Oct. 10 and Nov.7, at St. John's, the Garry Bible Collection will be available to view, on loan from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The collection includes research on five historic books Spokane tribal member Chief Garry owned.

For information, visit stjohns-cathedral.org.

Fall Folk Festival includes music, dance, story

On Nov. 14 and 15, the 31st Spokane Fall Folk Festival will fill six stages at Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St., with musicians, dancers, storytellers and kids' crafts. Performances are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday. The free festival, the premier multicultural performance event in the Inland Northwest, was voted third place in the Inlander Best Arts and Cultural Event Contest in 2026.

At the first Fall Folk Festival in 1996, about 350 people listened to 12 performing groups at the Unitarian Universalist Church. Now more than 100 groups perform for 6,000 attendees. The Spokane Folklore Society, which sponsors the festival, was founded in 1977 to promote cultural and folk art.

For information, call 828-3683 or email director@spokanefolkfestival.org or visit spokanefolkfestival.org.

Spoken River invites stories to speak for river

Spoken River is the Spokane Riverkeeper's annual community celebration and fundraiser, a night centered on storytelling, reflection and the shared work of protecting the Spokane River.

Each year, Spokane Riverkeeper invites the community to gather around the river's stories, history, beauty and responsibilities of caring for it.

They invite writers, poets and artists to contribute short work—up to 750 words—to celebrate the Spokane River and communities it sustains.

This year's theme, "We Are Listening," is rooted in the river's language: "Some days it murmurs over stones. In some seasons, it roars. In others, it drifts quietly beneath cottonwood shade. Whatever its voice, the river settles into us," said Katie Thompson, managing director.

"We especially welcome perspectives from Indigenous people, youth and underrepresented voices whose relationships with the river are essential," she invited.

Selected contributors receive two tickets and will share their work live on Thursday, Nov. 12. Submissions are due Oct. 7.

October events include the "Witches and Warlocks BYO-Boat Paddle" for folks dressing in witchy attire to share spooky stories about toxics, the local ecosystem and river history from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 3, at the SIERR Building Launch, 820 E. Spokane Falls Blvd.

The Fall 2026 Spokane River Roll from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Harvard Road Trailhead in Liberty Lake is an educational 10-mile roll along the river by bike, roller skates, scooter or other human-powered wheels with Spokane Riverkeeper and 350 Spokane.

For information, call 464-7614 or visit spokaneriverkeeper.org.

Rotary gives fire relief funds

After the Spokane Complex Fires, Downtown Spokane Rotary 21 established a Fire Disaster Relief Taskforce/Spokane County Wildfire Fund in the nonprofit Rotary Community Service Inc. At a club and district level, they are focusing on housing, food security, debris removal, replanting trees and vocational support for kids in school.

Julie Kelsey, district coordinator for the Disaster Assistance Committee, said that "when the fires happened in Medical Lake and Elk, we responded, partnering with Disaster Aid USA, a nonprofit Rotary project started in Maryland in response to hurricanes. In the West, it responds primarily to fires."

"Some members of local Rotary Clubs in Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, Colville and as far as San Diego and Chicago Disaster Aid USA are coming with friends and colleagues," she said.

Rotary volunteers go to properties after the EPA has done asbestos testing and passed homes for clean-up. They help sort through debris, clear out metal and cut down smaller trees to prepare for excavation and rebuilding. Utilities and arborists clear out big trees. Rotary volunteers remove metal—appliances, filing cabinets and water heaters—from homes.

"Other clubs help. Our district received $100,000. Our local club received more than $30,000 from two Rotary Clubs in California, three in Washington and our sister city in Japan," Julie said.

Rotary 21 has quickly granted funds, including $3,000 to The Fig Tree to reprint 2,000 copies of the 2026-27 Resource Directory after The Fig Tree distributed 2,500 copies to fire assistance efforts, shelters and organizations in affected areas.

It awarded a $3,000 grant to Spokane Helpers Network for providing food to families.

"Because Rotary is global, the local club shares resources with agencies we know," Julie said. "Our district is Eastern Washington to Walla Walla, North Idaho and British Columbia, so when the fires hit Stephens, Ferry and Spokane counties, there was an outpouring of support."

For information, call 435-1511 or visit rotaryspokane.com.

Climate institute adjusts to funding cuts

For the Gonzaga Institute of Climate, Environment and Water, the 2025 to 2026 academic year was a year of trial and transition, as well as stabilization and celebration—of its fifth anniversary.

In addition to the federal government ending its $19.9 million grant to advance community resilience in Spokane, there were cuts at the state level, forcing the institute to eliminate three full-time positions. However, the combination of cost cutting, new grants and generous supporters has helped stabilize the center to function with fewer staff even as its work has grown.

"We continue to host an annual lecture series for people across the globe, as we reach hundreds of young people with climate education and prepare dozens of students for careers in climate research, organizing and education," said Brian Henning, founder and director.

The Climate Institute is the Inland Northwest's leader in community-engaged climate research. In addition, it is creating a regional network of resilience hubs and developing the region's first in-depth resilience plans.

"We are also collaborating with Gonzaga Law School's new Environmental and Climate Law Clinic to support new laws that bring the systemic change we need," said Brian.

The institute builds capacity to address challenges humanity faces, knowing that if the work is successful, it will continue across generations.

"We are grateful to lay the cornerstones that will serve as the foundation of this multi-generational endeavor," said Brian.

For information, call 313-4665 or visit gonzaga.edu/climate-institute.

Extreme Team improves kitchen at Meals on Wheels

KXLY Extreme Team has renovated the Meals on Wheels of Greater Spokane County (MOWGSC) kitchen, creating a larger, more efficient space for it to provide nutritious meals and meaningful connections to older adults in the county.

"I loved this one, I didn't know much about it, but I saw it's potential to help," said Mark Peterson, KXLY, of the project.

MOWGSC, which provides about 230,000 meals each year to more than 1,000 individuals partners with Aging & Long Term Care of Eastern Washington (ALTCEW) in serving older adults, adults with disabilities and their families to support independence, health, safety and quality of life.

Lynn Kimball, executive director of ALTCEW, said the renovation shows what can happen when the community comes together around a shared goal to help people as they age or navigate disability with their long-term care needs."

For information, visit mowgsc.org

 

 

 

 

 

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