Partnering for Progress plans virtual auction
The Partnering for Progress "Into Africa" Auction will be a virtual auction this year, with bidding from 9 a.m., Monday, Sept. 28 to 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 2.
Attendees will bid on live and silent items and join a livestreaming program from their own homes. The auction catalog viewing began Aug. 24 at https://partneringforprogress.org/virtual-into-africa-auction
The livestream event with professional auctioneer Rose Backs and special guests will be held from 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1.
P4P is a nonprofit, Spokane-based organization that facilitates health, education, sanitation and economic development programs in rural Kenya.
For information, call 720-8408 or visit www.partneringforprogress.org.
Disability Action Center awarded grant
The Disability Action Center Northwest in Moscow has been awarded $94,458 as part of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation National Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) 2020 Expanded Impact grants program.
The grant will allow the center to expand its current Ramp Up Project in its service area that includes counties of Northern Idaho plus Garfield, Asotin, Whitman and Spokane Counties in Washington.
This project increases the independence of people with paralysis by purchasing aluminum modular ramps for temporary loan, while a permanent solution can be developed.
The Ramp Up Project works with its partner organizations to install and remove the ramps. They also work with the consumer to find permanent options, so the ramp can be used by someone else.
For information, call 208-883-0523, email dac@dacnw.org or visit dacnw.org.
IHRC becomes quarantine medical facility
As COVID-19 negatively impacted Catholic parishes and institutions in the Spokane Diocese, Immaculate Heart Retreat Center (IHRC) had to cancel its programs at least through the end of the calendar year.
Deacon John Ruscheinsky, IHRC executive director, engaged groups to strategize on IHRC's future. Then Bob Lutz, clinical director of the Spokane Regional Health District, asked Catholic Charities to help his office identify and staff a quarantine medical facility for individuals with COVID.
Catholic Charities suggested IHRC. Beginning Aug. 1, IHRC became legally licensed as a COVID-19 quarantine facility, with a contract through Dec. 31, renewable monthly.
Catholic Charities will provide social support services, sanitizing and maintenance. IHRC staff will continue to work from home.
This development gives IHRC staff time to reconfigure programs for spiritual enrichment COVID when limitations are lifted.
For information, call 448-1224 or visit ihrc.net.
Faith Leaders will hold a virtual fall vigil
Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience (FLLC) will hold a virtual vigil for its fall "Healing of the Earth" event beginning at 5 p.m., Sunday, October 4.
"Look What's Being Done" will be the theme, with agencies showcasing what is being done even in the midst of a pandemic to heal the Earth.
FLLC will read an opening statement on "Hearing the Wisdom of the Earth," followed by readings from faith and non-faith texts, said FLLC facilitator Gen Heywood.
Franciscan Sr. Pat Millen OSF will do a virtual Blessing of the Animals.
There will be three-minute videos from sponsoring groups, sharing what they are doing to heal the Earth, and a virtual visit to their display tables.
Participants will go to chat on Zoom to sign up volunteers.
FLLC has continued to hold Truthful Tuesday Vigils through the summer, with three focused on COVID-19, including one on vaccines.
The Poor People's Campaign has events planned, said Gen, who has been involved with Moral Monday call ins. Information is at https://www.breachrepairers.org. For information, call 408-593-9556.
PJALS plans virtual benefit
Ingrid Sub Cuc, who is Indigenous Maya Kaqchikel and Q'eqchi from Guatemala, is the featured speaker for the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane's Virtual Benefit from noon to 12:45 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16, on Zoom.
The theme, "Believing in the Yet to Be: This Is the Moment, Building a Movement," will focus on a world that is free of the racist, sexist and exclusionary obstacles and challenges.
Members, donors and new friends will share in an opportunity to be part of a movement for peace and justice, hearing how to expose and transform systems of hate, violence, exclusion and oppression through a just, nonviolent world and a culture of love and belonging.
Ingrid, who moved to the United States at the age of 12, is a graduate student at the University of Washington, where she continues to pursue her passion for indigenous rights and public health.
She is a passionate advocate for issues effecting indigenous peoples around the world, specifically focusing on indigenous identity, language, immigration, health and environmental issues. Raised in a Kaqchikel-speaking household with her grandmother and mother, she has since learned Spanish and English to pursue her studies, but remains an active student of her ancestral language.
Ingrid has participated in and presented at events such as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA), PeaceJam UK and at various universities across Washington.
Her goal is to be an active member of her community as she continues to evaluate and develop her role as an indigenous woman in academia in the United States. Her work focuses on how to constructively and collaboratively advocate for local and global Indigenous initiatives.
Other speakers are Larry Valadez, who runs Azteca Investigations and Interpreting; Liz Moore, PJALS director; Duaa-Rahemaah Williams, a community advocate; Fernanda Mazcot, a social work student at Whitworth and advocate for health care and immigration; Sarah Hegde, in PJALS Young Activist Leaders Program, and Naghmana Ahmed-Sherazi, who is active in the Spokane Islamic Center, Spokane Women Together, Muslims for Community Action and Support, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition – Spokane.
PJALS seeks table hosts, guests and sponsors.
For information, email slichty@pjals.org or visit pjals.org/2020virtualbenefit.
CELP honors UW Law Center director
The Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) will mark their 25th anniversary with a live Facebook presentation and its annual fundraiser, "Celebrate Water," from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 17.
They will present Robert Anderson, professor and director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law, with the Ralph W. Johnson Water Hero Award to honor his career at the center and his work protecting natural resources and tribal interests. He is also Oneida Indian Nation visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School.
Robert teaches American Indian law, water law, natural resources law and property law.
Funds raised will help CELP accomplish more victories for waters. One supporter will match up to $5,000.
CELP became an independent nonprofit in 1995 with the mission to protect Washington's waters. It was founded in 1993 by Ralph Johnson, University of Washington Law School professor, to serve as a voice for the public interest water resource management and preservation to improve water laws and protect rivers and streams. He also established the Native American Law Center and Asian Law Center.
CELP has established standing for citizen challenges to state water right decisions, won recognition of the interrelationship of ground and surface waters, and convinced the Department of Ecology to meter water rights critical to salmon watersheds.
In addition, it helped win recognition of counties' responsibilities to protect instream flows, required Spokane county's new waste water treatment plant to limit new discharges of PCBs into the Spokane River, organized U.S.-Canada alliance to support modernizing the Columbia River Treaty, and built relationships with community members, recreation business owners and Native American Tribes to protect watersheds.
For information, call 260-829-8299 or visit https://celp.org/celebrate-water-2020/ or https://www.facebook.com/CELPwater/
YWCA's luncheon is a virtual event Oct. 1
YWCA Spokane named eight women its 2020 Women of Achievement Award Honorees. They will be honored throughout September and at the new Women of Achievement Spotlight virtual fundraising event, at 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, in place of YWCA's annual awards luncheon.
Over 38 years, YWCA Spokane has celebrated 255 women in the community for their achievements and contributions in making Spokane a better place to live.
Women are recognized for embodying the YWCA Spokane's mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
The 2020 Women of Achievement Awards are: Karli Ingersoll, Arts & Culture Award; Latisha Hill, Business & Industry Award; Nicole Jenkins-Rosenkrantz, Carl Maxey Racial & Social Justice Award; Bonnie Bush, Community Enhancement Award; Jan Swanson, Education Award; Maria Cullooyah, Government and Public Service Award; Debbie Brinker, Science, Technology & Environment Award, and Gabby Dansereau, Young Woman of Achievement Award.
Information on the awardees is at ywcaspokane.org/woa2020honorees.
Proceeds will support YWCA Spokane's services for domestic violence victims and their children, including emergency shelter, counseling, legal services, job readiness, child care, and Pre-K programs for low income children.
For information, visit ywcaspokane.org.
The Northwest Alliance for Responsible Media (NWARM), Fix Democracy First, the Northwest Center for Media Literacy and the Media Literacy Clearinghouse are hosting a virtual panel discussion on "Media and Democracy: A Time for a Reset" from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 24.
The discussion will explore the role of media in democracy and how democracy needs media. Questions include how did society come to the point it is, what pro-democracy media look like, what people can do to bring about change in the system.
Panelists are
• John Caputo, professor emeritus, is founder of the master's program in communication and leadership studies at Gonzaga University and founder of NWARM.
• Denis Muller, a journalist 27 years, is a commentator on media issues for the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
• Carolyn Cunningham, associate professor of communication and leadership studies at Gonzaga and co-director of Gonzaga's media literacy center (NWARM).
• Sandra Williams, an activist, lecturer, filmmaker, entrepreneur and publisher of The Black Lens, has extensive background in addressing discrimination, equity and social justice.
• Frank Baker, a media literacy education trainer and 2019 recipient of the UNESCO Global Media & Information Literacy Award, operates the Media Literacy Clearinghouse resource website.
To register, tickets, us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JXDX3ITIQe-_rbw91JXHzw.
