SpokaneFāVS
This article has been updated
SpokaneFāVS invites you to an Open House on June 22 to come see and learn about FāVS Center, Spokane’s new faith and non-faith community space.
SpokaneFāVS, an online religion news publication, opened the FāVS Center in June 2019, after being gifted a building and 3-acres on Spokane’s South Hill. The SpokaneFāVS board agreed that using the property to foster interfaith dialogue would enhance the organization’s mission to create community engagement opportunities.
No other city in Washington, and perhaps in the U.S., can boast having a non sectarian interfaith community center. We envision the space to be a neutral one where people of all faiths, and non faiths, can gather for a variety of reasons including retreats, classes, forums, prayer, worship, meetings and, of course, for the noted SpokaneFāVS Coffee Talks. This shared sacred space has been made possible through a generous donation from Origin Church, which closed its doors in May. The congregation voted to gift its property and partial operating costs to SpokaneFāVS, so that the people of Spokane, no matter where they are on their faith journey, can gather in a neutral space for worship, classes, retreats, weddings and other events.
The Open House will begin at 4 p.m. at FāVS Center, 5115 S. Freya, with a ribbon cutting and remarks from City Councilors Lori Kinnear and Breean Beggs and State Rep. Marcus Ricelli, as well as FāVS Executive Director Tracy Simmons. The event will then feature an interfaith dedication of the building, including a Christian, Muslim, Baha’i, Buddhist and Jewish blessing. Guests can then take tours of the space and visit, before we break the Sabbath at the conclusion of the event.
Overflow street parking is available on 51st Avenue as well as in the Park Heights Baptist Church parking lot.
A Gofundme site is set up to help raise money for startup costs for FāVS Center.
For information contact Simmons at tracysimmons@spokanefavs.com.
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.
[…] then, Simmons has been trying to get her site into the black. Last week, its supporters celebrated the recent donation of a building for interfaith […]
[…] FāVS Center, gifted to SpokaneFāVS by Origin Church, was officially opened on June 22. It now serves as a place for faith and non-faith groups in the local area to gather for various […]
[…] “Come See FāVS Center — Spokane’s New Interfaith Community Center — At June 22 Open House” by Tracy Simmons […]