Just a few images from our dinner in Renton. See more photos by Mark White mjwhitephotos.com at our Facebook album.
With Gratitude for All
Our hearts are full of gratitude for all of you who attended in-person and online, sponsored, supported, volunteered, invited others, and helped make our first hybrid Annual Dinner a success! We experienced so much solidarity as we celebrated together and helped keep FAN moving forward into a new year of advocacy and organizing for justice. It felt good just to BE together in-person again, with 320+ guests filling rooms in Renton and Spokane, warmly greeting each other and catching up. And we felt the connection to over 150 people participating online when the selfie slideshow came across our screens! So great to see people gathered across our state as we learn hybrid ways of building community.
FAN Policy Engagement Director Kristin Ang served as emcee for the evening and FAN Board Member Rabbi Jason Levine of Temple Beth Am offered a blessing for our gathering. The Northwest African American Museum Cultural Ensemble/ACE gospel choir added incredible harmonies and a joyful noise, reminding us to Put a Little Love in Your Heart and Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. FAN Board Member Jim CastroLang and organizers Jeff DeBray and Eric Don Anderson hosted the Spokane gathering and shared messages via livestream. Executive Director Elise DeGooyer shared thoughts about the theme Pathways of Solidarity and living into our statewide vision. Rick Steves joined us via video as he expressed his faithful support for FAN and offered a generous $50,000 matching gift to keep our advocacy strong–with your help, we reached that! FAN Board Member Aneelah Afzali of MAPS-AMEN raised the energy in the room with her passion for solidarity as faith in action! And many, many hands behind the scenes made the logistics and technology possible for such an event. We give thanks for all! You can still enjoy the program archived at our YouTube page (program begins at the 30 minute mark) and view some photos on our Facebook page.
We are nearing $140,000 in contributions toward our $150,000 goal, with some unexpected gifts still arriving. If you haven’t donated yet, you can still help us reach our goal at the Donate link on our website, by sending a check, or informing us of a donor-advised gift.
We are deeply grateful for the generosity of our network and look forward to continuing the work of advocacy with you in the months ahead. For now, with full hearts and gratitude, we send warm wishes for your Thanksgiving time!
In Solidarity and Hope,
Elise DeGooyer
FAN Executive Director, on behalf of FAN Staff and Governing Board
We always post the E-News to our website each week at fanwa.org/news/.
Stay connected with our emails! Please be sure to list fan@fanwa.org as a safe sender by adding us to your contacts.
Faith Action Network 3720 Airport Way S Seattle, WA 98134 United States