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“Framing the debate” has become an important consideration for me over the past year, and I recommend that all of us inject the subject into more conversations. Or, better yet, set the framework for the discussions, yourself. It’s a good way to work toward empowerment and away from discouragement.
The Spokane visit of our illustrious vice president helped bring this matter into focus. As I tried to think of some of the most serious ways Dick Cheney has damaged the state of the union, it occurred to me that this is the guy who has been allowed to frame virtually every national and global discussion of our pathetic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Think of it. Cheney was the senior member of the cabal that laid the groundwork for each major facet of the Bush foreign policy. And the Bush foreign policy, of course, is designed to increase military action and intervention in a way that consolidates control of global energy resources and protects the greedy spiral of international corporate power.
What else is there to talk about? Maybe weather and religion, and Cheney doesn’t seem to have any interest in either one of those topics, so President Bush has more latitude to dismiss global warming or any progressive interpretation of Christian Scripture.
Cheney is glad to let people like Cal Thomas and Sean Hannity (dare I include the new White House spokesperson, Tony Snow?) claim responsibility for introducing ideas into the public forum, but their ilk is unlikely to produce any original concepts. The keys to the empire are safe with them.
But how do we empower ourselves to frame?
I was inspired to take one small step last month. Meeting with Quakers to discuss peace and justice in the context of a fall conference in Spokane, I found it liberating to talk about pacifism without the need for explanations, qualifications, or apologies. It occurred to me that I might be compromising my platform in other settings, allowing apologists for various aspects of violence to limit what solutions or criticisms might be applied. Not the best way to make peace or effect social change. Within the confines of the Friends Meeting, we all had freedom to explore the possibilities and the boundaries of nonviolence without constant challenges from a public which consigns pacifism to the fringe, at best.
An opportunity to present my unvarnished pacifism in a more diverse setting came quickly, as I was scheduled to meet with a Just Faith group. Just Faith participants, across the country, are stepping beyond the comfort levels of their Catholic parishes and examining social justice with a new lens. Many of them have already been exposed to radical ideas, including the pacifist position of Pax Christi. After all, Roman Catholicism, like most large denominations, encompasses a wide range of understandings of social justice. When I told them I was giving up dancing around the issue of pacifism, the participants were not necessarily ready to embrace my position, but they were able to place it in perspective with the glut of emotions and information on their plate. Not unlike most PJALS members, they are trying to put the pieces together in a way that works and makes sense, not just in their faith struggles, but in lives that intersect with family, commercial, and political choices.
My framing the discussion didn’t keep us from learning from each other, although we found way too much to talk about. PJALS and other secular peace and justice organizations can benefit from these folks, just as we do from Quakers and Mennonites.
The danger in sampling faith perspectives in Peacemaking is that we have to recognize the traditions in every religion and acknowledge the distortions and shortcomings in our own. Maintain vulnerability, but don’t let a Dick Cheney or Pat Robertson dictate your approach to spirituality any more than you would let them tell you how to think about human rights or national spending priorities.
You wouldn’t let Cathy McMorris or Phil Harris tell you not to consider any nonmilitary solution to international terrorism, so why should you let John Kerry or Patty Murray? And if we accepted shock and awe in Iraq in order to “support the troops,” why would anyone ask us for a creative solution to Iran’s nuclear program or Spokane County’s crime problems?
On a slightly different issue, look at the controversy around immigration reform. People who want justice find themselves at odds over strategy and goals because the debate has been framed by those who are more interested in preserving cheap labor than in creating a “level playing field.” Though I’m not neutral in the ongoing dialogue, I feel that progress would be assured if the discussion were framed in a way to pursue the best interests of all the people of Mexico and the U.S. and the rest of the world, and not just the fears of the haves against the hopes of the have-nots. It appears likely that our leaders are willing to accept a shabby compromise rather than take a few chances and reach a win-win solution.
At PJALS, we’ll always run into plenty of framing obstacles and opportunities, in addition to those of peacemaking and pacifism. So, let’s work on it. Don’t let nonviolence always be the last resort. With a little creativity and persistence, we can make nonviolent action and win-win solutions part of the framework. -RN
In Spokane, several groups are challenging Wal-Mart’s plans for more space, more intrusive building, and more brutal retailing. All Wal-Mart opposition is endangered by the sheer bulk of the world’s scariest corporation.
Divide and conquer is a strategy that hardly has to be considered when most of the U.S. is divided between Wal-Mart shoppers and people who loathe the biggest retailer on Earth. It is the sub-divisions that become important in a continuing struggle.
In our community, some are ready to take on the behemoth just to keep a huge store from being plopped into their neighborhood.
At
PJALS, we see an urgent need to reign in Wal-Mart all over the world,
to stop its use of sweatshops and exploitation of impoverished workers,
to curb its degradation of the environment, to punish its crimes
regarding immigrants and women, and to hold it accountable for economic
polarization that contributes to spiraling violence in neighborhoods
and among nations.
Writing for AP, Ron Fournier says the campaign
against Wal-Mart, without any ballots, candidates, or an Election Day,
“may be the hottest, highest-stakes political contest in America
today.” He quotes Bob McAdam, vice president of corporate affairs at
Wal-Mart, as saying, "Our opponents have organized the likes of a
political campaign against us. It would be nonsense for us not to
respond in a similar fashion." Notable opponents include a couple of major unions and former high-profile figures in national politics. Wal-Mart Watch, started by the Service Employees International Union, and WakeUpWalMart.com, funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, are having an impact upon the great smiley face that once seemed impervious to criticism. Strategists lining up against Wal-Mart include former operatives from the Howard Dean, John Kerry, and Wesley Clark campaigns, and even a 2004 spokesman for Bush and Cheney, Terry Holt who says, “Wal-Mart is giving capitalism a bad name.”
Among the big guns enlisted by Wal-Mart are Reagan adviser Michael Deaver and two former stars among Democrats, Andrew Young and Henry Cisneros. (Don’t be surprised to find Democrats in the Wal-Mart corner. Hillary Clinton, as Arkansas First Lady, was on the board for six years, but as a potential presidential candidate says she has serious differences with some company practices.) McAdams is a former GOP staffer on Capitol Hill and strategist for the tobacco industry.
PJALS has no choice but to oppose Wal-Mart, regardless of partisans or political consequences. The huge retailer is firmly entrenched as an enemy of economic justice and human rights. The billionaire heirs of Sam Walton have become the largest employer in the country without any more consideration for the health, welfare or security of their employees than they have for competing workers crushed by the sheer bulk of Wal-Mart in small and medium-sized communities.
Wal-Mart can no longer ignore human rights activists. In the wake of Maryland’s demand for Wal-Mart to spend more on workers’ health insurance, the company made some improvements while in the cross-hairs of 30 more states. It also announced plans to help competing local companies survive, sell more environmentally friendly products, and diversify its work force.
We believe we can make a contribution to positive changes at Wal-Mart as part of our economic justice/living wage campaign. With the support of several unions, other Wal-Mart opponents, religious communities, and hundreds of our own members, we will rearrange the welcome mat, which Wal-Mart has painted for itself in Spokane.
We will place an ordinance before the city council that will require
big box stores of a certain size to pay the pilot wage developed by
PJALS through Spokane Citizens for a Living Wage. We had hoped to have
petitions supporting this ordinance in your hands in time for
Bloomsday, but we are consolidating our grassroots support and making
sure it will be worthy of your support and the full support of the
city. We can always use more insightful and grassroots support.
Look for the petitions soon. Along with about 4,000 Spokane voters, PJALS is about to make a big difference. And you are welcome at our living wage and Wal-Mart meetings. See the calendar on page 6.
Things continue to move along in the INWE coalition. We are in the process of supporting Washington Won’t Discriminate, a campaign formed out of Seattle to counter Tim Eyman's attempts to repeal House Bill 2661, and a Spokane group working with them. Eyman has filed Referendum 65, which asks voters whether our state's law that protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation should be approved or rejected. Referendum 65 supporters are gathering signatures and need 112,400 valid signatures from Washington voters by June 7, 2006. If these signatures are collected, the referendum will go on the November ballot.
If Referendum 65 is on the ballot, a vote to APPROVE is a vote to keep
our state's anti-discrimination laws and protect our friends, families,
and neighbors from discrimination.
A vote to reject Referendum 65 will mean that this law is repealed and it will be legal to discriminate against Washington residents on the basis of sexual orientation.
Many proponents of repealing Washington's anti-discrimination laws claim repeal would protect residents from quotas in the workplace and protect marriage. An important thing to remember is that HB 2661 does NOT affect marriage laws, nor does it effect quotas in employment. Inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in our anti-discrimination laws only extends fairness and equal treatment to citizens of our state. Spokane has sexual orientation as a protected class in discrimination. This law merely extends the rights and protections that those in Spokane enjoy.
What can we do, then? Start by talking to people. Neighbors, family members, co-workers – there are many people in Washington who have been mislead by the rhetoric of those standing against fairness in Washington state. Ask these people whether they think that anyone should be discriminated against, be fired or denied housing, for their sexual orientation. Encourage your friends and neighbors to speak out against misleading and harmful explanations of the anti-discrimination law in Washington.
Statewide
Prayer Gathering for Justice and Equality
On May 11th, the Religious Coalition for Equality is
partnering with INWE and the Unitarian Universalist Church in the
statewide day of Prayer for Justice and Equality. We will come together
as people of a variety of faiths to pray for justice equality for all
without regard to sexual orientation or gender expression. Join us at
the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane (4340 W Fort Wright Drive,
Spokane, WA) at 7:30 pm for a service and socializing.Marriage
Equality
INWE is still awaiting the State Supreme Court’s
decision on the Anderson and Castle cases, challenging the
constitutionality of Washington’s Defense of Marriage Act. Although we
don’t know when it will be, it could be any upcoming Thursday. On the
day of the decision, INWE and other partners will rally at the Federal
Courthouse in Spokane to celebrate equality and fairness and demand
equal rights and protections for all of Washington’s couples. Please
keep an eye on your e-mail on Thursdays – the notice will be short, but
the rally will be momentous! Finally, INWE is developing two new campaigns. The “We Are Your Neighbors” block parties will be coming to a neighborhood near you – keep an eye out in community newsletters and an ear out for word of mouth. Bring potluck food and drink and the desire to talk – the beautiful spring days and summer evenings are ripe for a time to come together as a community and show our support for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning, and allied friends, family, and neighbors.
INWE is also developing a voter education campaign that is in its nascent stage. If you are interested in voting history research and voter outreach and education, PLEASE contact INWE to find out what you can do to help.
If you would like to help more, contact INWE at inwe@pjals.net or 509-838-7870 and join in the local efforts to help protect the rights of all people of Washington state to live free of discrimination and bias. You can also join us at our next INWE meeting on April 4 at the Rainbow Regional Community Center at 508 W 2nd at 5:30 pm. - KB
As difficult as it is to compete with the resources of Wall St., Madison Ave., and Wal-Mart, the radical idea of Fair Trade is gaining traction. Locally, we know of Global Folk Art and Ganesh Himal, but we can still be confused by our own comfort with bargain prices and the pretty packaging for so-called Free Trade.
Unless you've been exposed to many workshops, lectures, and books on the topic over the past 10 years, it's hard to be up-to-date on the Fair Trade issue. But here's a handy reference in 34 pages: The Conscious Consumer:
It's actually the 4th edition of a resource from the Fair Trade Resources Network, and includes illustrations, history, definitions and helpful websites. You may contact the PJALS office for information on this booklet, or look for it at our auction or at the World Fair Trade Day Celebration, the following day, May 13, at the Community Building.
Fair Trade Day has become an institution in Spokane. It is celebrated from 10 am to 4 pm and includes entertainment and food along with fair trade merchandise.
Does anybody remember the U.S. Institute of Peace? Ever hear of it?
The other day, there was a discussion on the radio about the proposal from Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Mark Dayton for a U.S. Department of Peace. It’s a good idea, but I’ve always thought it should be pre-empted by the Institute of Peace, surprisingly founded during the Reagan Administration.
Not so surprisingly, the institute has been steered into a think-tank role with all the status of the Commerce Department barber shop. The mandate of the U.S. Institute of Peace is to promote peace and curb violent international conflict, but there is no evidence that President Bush has ever been briefed on its existence.
Bill Niggemeyer, one of the most thoughtful and relentless peacemakers in Spokane, never forgot about that institute, just as he’s never let go of the idea that institutions like Gonzaga University should be teaching peace. His correspondence with Gonzaga and the Institute of Peace has finally resulted in a campus visit that should be of interest to us all.
There’s an open forum with Attorney David J. Smith, Program Officer for Education, U.S. Institute of Peace, Friday, May 5, 3 pm, Room 110, Jundt Art Center at Gonzaga.
The USIP has a budget of $22 million, this year. It budgets $6 million/year for grants and research projects. Do you have a vision for these expenditures in our community? Come and bring your questions.
Bill feels strongly that USIP could be funding or initiating peace studies programs at places like Gonzaga University. PJALS feels that USIP money could do more for peace than billions of Pentagon dollars.
You might wish to get more background at www.usip.org.
Yaneth Perez is dangerous, but it’s too late to stop her. In Portland and Billings and points between, the mother of three has told the truth about Colombia.
In Spokane, she spoke at Whitworth and at Gonzaga, giving a quick, matter-of-fact list of the war crimes and the heroic nonviolent responses that define her life in Arauca, one of the battlefields in Colombia’s 42-year-old civil war.
Dangerous? Neither the U.S. nor any of the three sides of the civil war is anxious for you to hear what she has to say, but if you pay attention to Colombia through our own activists and visiting labor and human rights leaders, you’ll find her compelling story very unsurprising. You will also be unsurprised to know that her life is often in peril because of her courage and truth.
Truth? If truth is the first casualty of war, how are we to judge reports from the longest war in the hemisphere? Again, we find that PJALS members have a template for what we hear about Colombia. And there’s Scott.
Scott Nicholson of the Montana Human Rights Network was Yaneth’s host, tour organizer, driver, and interpreter. Scott’s work, contacts, and journals in Latin America are widely known in the Northwest. Soon, he’ll head south for his sixth straight summer in Colombia. And if you’ve been around 20 years, you may remember Scott’s work at CASA and PJALS while he did graduate work at EWU and found time to be arrested to protest Reagan’s war in Nicaragua Yaneth Perez is President of the Dawn of Women for Arauca, a defender of women’s rights and a foe of domestic violence in a war-torn region. She sees the negative results of $3.8 billion dumped down a hole in her country by Plan Colombia, and the contribution to the cycle of violence by SOA graduates who do the dirtiest work for government and para-military units who are responsible for so many atrocities.
Here’s some of the truth from her Spokane presentations:
“The
School of the Americas
turns soldiers into terror machines.
Domestic violence (in Arauca) has
increased because of the
degradation of the war.”
turns soldiers into terror machines.
Domestic violence (in Arauca) has
increased because of the
degradation of the war.”
[Scott Nicholson
brought a letter addressed to Montana State Sen. Ken Toole, head of the
Mt. Human Rights Network, and to the People of the U.S. Written
by Raquel Castro from Bogota, on behalf of Colombian resistance and
political prisoners, it follows.]
The diabolic smile of the war tightens our
stomach in knots as it turns into a ghostly laugh that kills our sons
and daughters and destroys our peoples.The marvelous, divine creation of the woman’s womb is the symbol of life in praise of that same life. But this universal marvel is beaten down when it comes up against the cruel reality – when the milk and diapers, lined up in strict order in the supermarkets, are beyond reach of the fragile mother who cries in despair at seeing her child trapped in hunger and malnutrition. However, with her love of survival, she fills her heart with courage and searches for a little bit of food.
And where is the father – the one that gave half of his being in this human creation? She responds, with tears of pain and words of sadness, “In the war!” Carried off by social, economic, or ideological circumstances; or in defending his politics and convictions, or those of his people, or those of alien, foreign powers that reward servility to the corporations that take control of a country’s natural resources at the expense of the life of the inhabitants.
We, women, have not only had to weep for our fathers, children, brothers, spouses, or companeros who have been imprisoned, disappeared, exiled or killed. The wars and social conflicts subject our very lives. After giving half of ourselves in the creation, birth, suckling, and raising of our children; we watch them leave with weapons that kill, and die in the hail of bullets. We, ourselves, feel the chill of death that destroys our soul with its violence. We suffer being deprived of our families, imprisoned with sentences that oppress and confine us behind bars – just because we had the anger and courage to defend the rights of our peoples…And, though they trample our dignity, they can never take away or silence the feelings we shout into the winds: “We, women, won’t continue shedding tears for the war – on account of economic power, irrationality, and murderous weapons! We want bread that tenderly nourishes our families in the warmth of our homes. We want the love of our children, women and men – hugging us with fraternal embraces that produce warm human affection. We want the tenderness of our spirits, not the hostile aggression of war.
Hon. Senator and People of the U.S., receive a fraternal greeting from a woman—the teacher and emotional mother of many children and young students in my country. On behalf of the women who struggle for the life and dignity of our peoples, we ask for:
The silencing, once and for all,
of the roar of the weapons.
Moral accompaniment and economic reparations for widows and orphans of the war.
Emotional, psychological, and economic solidarity for the political prisoners and their families.
Sending letters and official communication to the Colombian government and judicial system – asking for the decriminalization of social expression and protest.
Sisterhood among peoples, life with dignity.
Moral accompaniment and economic reparations for widows and orphans of the war.
Emotional, psychological, and economic solidarity for the political prisoners and their families.
Sending letters and official communication to the Colombian government and judicial system – asking for the decriminalization of social expression and protest.
Sisterhood among peoples, life with dignity.
Affectionately, Raquel Castro
PJALS member Rik Wallis has been honored by the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL) for his work in Spokane’s Drug Court.
Rik has been a public defender since 1996. Rik took over the Drug Court Public Defender duties in May, 2002. Rik enjoys the supportive environment that Drug Court clients receive, in sharp contrast to the traditional methods of prosecution. Rik finds Drug Court to be a rewarding professional experience and enjoys working with everyone involved.
WACDL and PJALS have a long acquaintance, particularly in our opposition to capital punishment and issues of basic rights for defendants.
Sometimes confused, now, with the Center for Justice, PJALS has no legal staff but maintains an active interest in criminal justice and human rights within our courts and law enforcement systems. It is coincidental that we currently have, for the first time, two attorneys on the PJALS steering committee.
Rik Wallis is another good reason for us to appreciate lawyers.
[Years ago, Coffin
visited Spokane and impressed me with his interest and listening as
much as his storied speaking ability, but his influence on peace and
justice movements all over the country demands that we remember him.
I’ve adapted a memorial from Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners and
author of God’s Politics. – ed.]
Bill Coffin has died. Rev. William Sloane Coffin was likely the most influential liberal Protestant clergyman and leader of his generation. Among the first white men to be arrested in the civil rights movement, one of the first church leaders to oppose the Vietnam War, one of the first moral voices against the nuclear arms race, Bill was a prophetic voice of Christian conscience to church and state for decades.
Bill died at home in Vermont of congestive heart failure but, as many have testified, his heart never failed a generation committed to putting their faith into action. Unafraid of death, Bill Coffin defied it to the very end. Seemingly on the edge of death, Bill kept publishing new books, giving new speeches, founding new organizations, hosting a legion of pilgrims saying last goodbyes and being ministered to again by the prophet-pastor, and somehow finding time to encourage countless friends in the struggle for justice and peace - including regular calls to our home to cheer me on during my book tour.
I remember a special dinner for Bill, hosted by Marian Wright Edelman and Episcopal Bishop John Chane. It was Bill Coffin's last visit to D.C., and a host of interesting people turned up. Dan Rather, then-CBS anchor, testified to the consistent moral voice Coffin offered to journalists. Joe Hough, President of Union Seminary, named him a genuine prophet for our time. Marian spoke of how impressed a young generation of civil rights activists was with the active support of a northern white clergyman.
And in an extraordinary story, Bill Moyers described an interview with the Religion News Service while he was press secretary for President Johnson. The religion reporter kept challenging the administration's arguments for the Vietnam War, citing anti-war points made by a young chaplain at Yale - Rev. William Sloane Coffin. For Moyers' rebuttals, the reporter came back with Coffin's clear theological and political objections. After the interview, a frustrated Moyers instructed an aide to "find out who this guy Coffin is" and to get his arguments against the war. The encounter with Coffin's prophetic critique was the beginning of Moyers’ own change of heart. Coffin’s influence on Moyers was stunning to all of us in the room.
I helped Bill to the podium for his response to the tributes (strokes had diminished his mobility, slurred his words but not the sharpness of his mind or the warmth of his heart). Introducing Bill, I described how this young evangelical with a growing social conscience had failed to find many in his own contemporary faith tradition to learn from, but had discovered this liberal chaplain at Yale and senior minister at The Riverside Church who was more faithful to the gospel at the point of its social and political implications. I gave Bill a big smile and tearfully testified that, "On the biblical matters of justice and peace, Bill Coffin was one of the most evangelical Christians of our time."
At Bill Coffin's memorial service in New York, many testified to his prophetic courage, indomitable spirit, great humor, and pastoral care. And many, like me, are just grateful to have been one of his many friends.
"The one true freedom in life is to come to terms with death, and as early as possible, for death is an event that embraces all our lives. And the only way to have a good death is to lead a good life.... The more we do God's will, the less unfinished business we leave behind when we die." -Wm. Sloane Coffin, 1924-2006
Readers of the Handful of Salt are among millions of Americans trapped by the pattern of petroleum consumption. Although many of us have made lifestyle adjustments to mitigate our use of fossil fuels, we vacillate between outrage at our indenture to big oil companies and the feeling that gasoline should be taxed mercilessly to help force the U.S. into a sustainable energy structure.
Environmentalists had to hope that reports of windfall profits, especially for Exxon-Mobil, after last year’s record fuel prices would have every consumer taking pains to buy as little gas and diesel as possible. It seemed reasonable to expect a surge in carpooling, cycling, hitch-hiking and use of public transportation, along with increased demand for small and hybrid vehicles.
What we got, instead, was the usual corporate-speak excuses about international oil prices and refining capacity and hurricane damage, implying that no one suffered more than your kind, old Uncle Big Oil. We also got prices rolled back for the so-called lower demand time so we would feel some relief and expect there would always be a couple of gallons out there when we really need it. It was such a relief that many of us forgot we were paying twice as much per gallon as two or three years before, or that GM and Ford still base their profitability upon production of guzzlers like Navigators and Hummers. You may be especially baffled if you took the diesel option to get better fuel economy and produce less harmful emissions, because less refining has not kept diesel prices from zooming past the highest octane gasoline. Rationalize that with the corporate messages.
Here comes summer, and here we go, again. Are you ready for $3.50/gallon?
Even with the nonsense being spewed by the White House and various spin doctors, there is a nonviolent solution, even if no one actually thinks of it or implements it. Here’s an idea that made some rounds last year but fell a little short, though it may have actually mitigated the frightening rise in fuel prices. It’s a simple idea, and many of you, no doubt, took up the call.
Call it a boycott if you will, but stay away from Exxon-Mobil. Continue to conserve and plan for alternative energy, but when you must buy fossil fuels, buy from anybody else. Email your friends, even if they’ve seen this idea before. Bring it up in casual conversation, and never leave it out of discussions about high gas prices.
In March, I paid $2.17.9/gallon in Salt Lake City. On April 24, regular at the filling station nearest my home jumped 11 cents/gal. My most convenient source for Venezuelan oil products recently closed. Gas runs about 30 cents/gal. less in North Idaho than in Spokane. I haven’t patronized Exxon or Mobil in years, but I want to do more, and I can if I can get three or four people to spread the word in the interest of economic justice.
There is a resistance, but we must raise the profile and up the ante. Exxon-Mobil is the biggest, the richest, and most influential petroleum company there is. In fact, last year it became the most profitable company in history with a profit of $36 billion, and the CEO is retiring after averaging over $50 million/year in that position. Even so, if it loses substantial business, it will have to lower prices, or at least reduce the rate of increases. As Exxon-Mobil goes, so goes the industry. There is no way around it. If we reach Exxon-Mobil, we make a difference.
It’s said this plan was originally emailed by a retired Coca Cola executive, inspired by a retired Halliburton engineer. With strong feelings about some of the crimes of Coke and Halliburton, I’d say we’re starting with a broad based constituency. And if you know anyone who doesn’t mind paying $3.50+, ask them to apply consumer pressure to this huge, greedy corporation just for you, and because it’s the right thing to do. - RN
Great items are still coming in for the annual PJALS auction, but time is running out. Make your plans now to attend to have fun and support our largest regular fund-raising event.
We’ve gone through some changes in our planning, but are very pleased to be set for
May 12, at the
Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, 4340 W. Ft. Wright Dr.
Our finger-food potluck and social begins at 6 pm, the silent auction at 6:30, and the live auction, with author Terry Trueman returning as the outrageous auctioneer for the lively, vocal sale at 7:00.
In addition to the popular therapeutic massages, dinners, and weekend getaways, there will also be services from Tom Angell, one of the most progressive architects in the Northwest, services and merchandise from a wide variety of justice-supporting sources.
Remember there’s no admission charge so you can bring guests and make an occasional extravagant bid along with your efforts to grab a few bargains. There’s no obligation to bid, but be warned, there will be items to entice you.
If you haven’t seen the auction flyer you got in the mail, find it and plan early for your bidding. At the auction, you’ll be given a list of items and a bidding number. If your time is demanded elsewhere, you may be able to negotiate an earlier time for an auction item. Through an arrangement with Global Folk Art, PJALS will be able to accept Visa and Mastercard payments. We also gladly accept checks and cash, with all proceeds benefiting PJALS.
Auction planners have volunteers lined up for set up and clean up, but if you find yourself available Friday afternoon or after the auction, your help will be appreciated.
PJALS | ISSUES | HISTORY | CONTACT | HANDFUL | CALENDAR | SUPPORT | MEMBERSHIP