FāVS News News and Commentary about Religion and Ethics in Eastern Washington and North Idaho
The Union Gospel Mission announced this week the hiring of JoAnn Zajicek (Zi-check) as director and Debi Pauletto as community relations director for the new UGM Center for Women and Children in Coeur d'Alene.
Zajicek has a master's degree in public administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has more than 30 years of workforce experience.
“I grew up in a tumultuous home, where fighting, drug and alcohol addiction and family dysfunction were the norm,” she said in a press release.
Her own brother was homeless for a time. “I have realized that many individuals are not capable of walking in freedom because they do not have a true revelation of God’s character, love and mercy.”
Pauletto has spent the last three years in relationship development with UGM's champions and for the last two years has focused the majority of her time in Kootenai County.
A dedication for the new Kootenai County facility is slated for August 1.
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.
