SpokaneFāVS invites you to its monthly Coffee Talk forum today for a timely discussion on “Responding to Hate Crimes.”
Panelists will address recent events, including Black Lives Matter, the Orlando shootings and other issues.
The discussion will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Community Building, 35 W. Main Ave. Attendees who visit Boots Bakery across the street prior to Coffee Talk and say they’re with FāVS will get a free coffee with their pastry.
Panelists this month are Skyler Oberst of the Spokane Interfaith Council, Neal Schindler of Spokane Area Jewish Family Services and Pastor Walter Kendricks of Morning Star Baptist Church.
The next Coffee Talk is slated for Sept. 3 and will be on “Work Ethics.”

Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.