Please register to attend in person in Renton or Spokane, or put together a watch party for joining the celebration online.
Would you like to be a sponsor? See the details on our event page.
Be in the room where it happens and VOLUNTEER to make the evening special! Email FAN@fanwa.org.
Solidarity With Indigenous Peoples
Last week marked the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, an Indigenous-led grassroots effort to raise awareness of the far-reaching impacts of the boarding school era. Also known as Orange Shirt Day, we honor survivors and remember the children who never returned home, their families, and their communities. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is uplifting Seven Weeks of Action for Seven Generations and offers this toolkit for learning and action to share in your communities.
FAN facilitates the Interfaith Network with/for Indigenous Communities; some of you signed on to our Boarding School Healing statement last year. In response to those efforts, we are heartened that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has begun a listening tour this year with people impacted by boarding schools.
We ask you to call your members of Congress and urge them to move forward the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the U.S. Act (H.R.5444 and S.2907).
We are eager to share with you two upcoming October events that we are co-sponsoring in collaboration with others to learn more about the Christian Doctrine of Discovery and how it continues to impact Native American nations.
October 10, 6:30pm in Olympia and online, please join Interfaith Works and FAN to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in an interactive engagement with author and activist Sarah Augustine. Explore how the Doctrine of Discovery continues to impact Indigenous people today through a case study of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Sarah Augustine is a Pueblo woman who lives with her family in White Swan, WA. She is author of The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery. Share the flyer and Facebook event, rsvp for the Zoom link, or attend in person at The United Churches of Olympia, 110 11th Ave SE, Olympia.
October 13, 6:30pm in Seattle (in-person only): Mark Charles will lead a conversation on his book Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path of healing and conciliation for the nation. More about Mark at his website. This is a free event, books available for purchase. Please share the flyer and the Facebook event. Hosted by Seattle Mennonite Church, 3120 NE 125th St; and co-sponsored by FAN, INIC, JUUstice WA, Seattle University Center for Ecumenical & Interreligious Engagement, and Bothell First Lutheran Church.
Food Week of Action October 10-17
With our national partners at Presbyterian Hunger Program, we are co-sponsoring Food Week of Action during October 10-17. This year’s theme is People and Planet First, prioritizing consumers and family farmers, fishers and others producing in harmony with nature, working towards food sovereignty. This year’s Food Week will highlight groups and initiatives that are building equitable and sustainable food systems, while also tackling the economic and racial drivers of hunger, poverty, and oppression. Visit their website to download resources to share with your communities.
In addition to the events we are co-sponsoring about indigenous rights and the ways the Doctrine of Discovery undermined those, we want to also give you a preview of food policy efforts unfolding in Congress and in Washington state. Plan to join us for a Food Policy in WA briefing on Zoom, Thursday, October 13, 10-11am, featuring a panel speaking to our Anti-Hunger and Nutrition state legislative agenda for 2023, the Farm Bill and Child Nutrition in Congress, the outcomes of last week’s White House conference on Hunger, and Northwest Harvest’s Right to Food campaign. RSVP for the link here
We will update you as plans and responses evolve. Thank you for your faithful witness!
Welcoming New FAN Staff
During the past month, FAN has welcomed new energy and expertise to our staff! We are delighted to introduce you to them here and you can see their faces and read more on our staff page. Blake Alford has joined us as our new full-time Operations Coordinator, just in time to help you register for the Annual Dinner and provide support from our Seattle office! Dana Ahmed is a junior at University of Washington and will represent FAN with the Communities for Our Colleges coalition along with other part-time policy and event work. And Alexia Estrada joins us part-time from Pasco as her home base, doing outreach to Spanish-speaking communities in Central WA and beyond. We are grateful for everything they bring to our statewide teamwork!
Shanah Tovah! Learning from Each Other in the Smita Year
Last week, Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the “Head of the Year” and prepare to celebrate Yom Kippur this week. This new year also marks the end of the Shmita or Sabbatical year which began on Rosh Hashanah in 2021. The Shmita year has wisdom and resonance for earth care, equity and justice. Congregation Beth Shalom, a conservative synagogue and FAN advocating faith community in Seattle, began the Shmita Project Northwest in collaboration with Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light. The goal of the project is to envision a contemporary practice of Shmita and bring this vision to life. Other FAN advocating congregations have joined the project: Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue in Seattle, Congregation Kol Ami in Kirkland, Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, and Temple Beth Or in Everett. Temple de Hirsch Sinai has also shared their forest restoration events with others in the Shmita Project Northwest. (read the full article by Elizabeth Dickinson here)
Opportunity
Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network has launched the Washington Immigrant Relief Fund. Immigrants living in Washington affected by COVID-19 can apply now to receive a payment of at least $1,000 in pandemic relief. Applications are open now until November 14, 2022. Apply here.
Events
Wednesday, October 5 6-7:30 pm, in person, Advancing Racial Equity Series, Pigott Auditorium, 901 12th Avenue, Seattle University, featuring LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, leading a conversation about advocacy, voting rights, and ways to take action towards a just and equitable nation. Find out more here.
Saturday, October 8, in person and virtual, Women’s Marches, hosted by Women’s Wave 2022, will be happening in several places in Washington State as well as Washington D.C. For more information on location and times check out their event page.
Monday, October 10, 6:30-8:30 pm, in person and online, United Churches of Olympia, 110 11th Ave SE, Olympia, WA, Sarah Augustine Book Event – The Land Is Not Empty. Find out more here.
Wednesday, October 12, 10 am, online, The Future of Work. This webinar on racial justice explores how Big Tech’s “digital trade” agenda would shield it from liability from discriminatory algorithms and more. Find out more here.
Thursday, October 13, 10-11 am, online, Food Policy in WA zoom briefing. Find out more here.
Thursday, October 13, 12-1 pm, in person and online, Seattle University, The #BlackLivesMatter Movement: Toward an Intersectional Theology, hosted by the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement, featuring FAN Board Member Dr. Edward Donalson exploring the theology of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in conversation with Black Liberation, Womanist, and Queer Liberation theologies. Find out more here.
Thursday, October 13, 6:30 pm, in person, Seattle Mennonite Church, 3120 NE 125th Street, Seattle, Unsettling Truths Book Event with Mark Charles. Find out more here.
Wednesday, October 19, 9 am-12 pm, online. Budget Matters 2022: Building on progress together hosted by The Washington State Budget & Policy Center. Hear from advocates who have direct experience in building powerful connections and creating policies that will bring Washington state closer to economic justice. Find out more here.
Sunday, October 23, 2-3:30pm, First United Methodist Church, 941 Washington St, Wenatchee, Immigrant Justice & Faith Communities. Join Faith Action Network Regional Organizer Jess Ingman and Wenatchee for Immigrant Justice in a cluster gathering. Learn from immigrant justice leaders and build relationship with one another in order to organize our faith communities for immigrant justice. Share the flyer and register here.
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