Even though the recent surge in COVID cases has resulted in further restrictions and social distancing during the holidays, churches throughout Spokane are finding the means to celebrate Advent and support each other while keeping at a safe distance.

Using connections within Spokane and assistance from the community, The Morning After Grooming Co., a barbershop in Spokane, seeks to help the less fortunate with its nonprofit People Over Profit that goes by the motto, “Let our answer never be no.”

Growing up in a Catholic and Presbyterian household, Flett attended both churches and learned to play music, which would later help serve her in her mission to revitalize Salish and promote spirituality.

Despite the multitude of negative impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the country and Washington state since the lockdown in March, one benefit to come from the lockdown is the impact it has had on the environment and how many are viewing their relationship with nature.

Teams across the U.S., could follow in the footsteps of the Spokane Indians Baseball Club, who collaborated with the Spokane tribe to reshape their team into one that used the tribe’s culture in an accurate way and encouraged people to learn more about it.

Though she may be gone, Spokane tribal elder Pauline Flett’s legacy in preserving the Salish language, which is used by Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, lives on in those who she has inspired throughout her time as a teacher.