Handful of Salt
Issue L, Volume 3 – Fall 2026
Included in this issue:
PJALS’ 11th Annual Benefit Dinner
Young Activist Leaders Program
Peacekeeper Updates
Coming Up!
Support the Spokane 3
PJALS’ 11th Annual Benefit Dinner
by Shar Lichty, Development Director
PJALS 11th Annual Benefit Dinner
We are excited to announce our 11th Annual Benefit on Wednesday, October 14th 6-7pm. This year we are moving the event to the evening for increased accessibility. This year’s theme is People Power: Shaping Our Future Together.
Our Annual Benefit is our largest fundraiser of the year, where we increase the capacity of friends and funds to sustain our work. There is no cost to attend – guests will have the opportunity to donate to PJALS.
PJALS 11th Annual Benefit Dinner (in-person)
– Wednesday, October 14th 6-7pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
– The Venue (formerly Spokane Valley Event Center), 10514 E. Sprague Ave
At the Peace and Justice Action League’s (PJALS) 11th Annual Benefit members, donors, and new friends will get the opportunity to be part of this movement for peace and justice. Guests will hear firsthand how PJALS expands the number of people confident to lead more people into strategic action to expose and transform systems of hate, violence, exclusion, and oppression to build a just future for all of us.
Reserve your table or seat(s) today!
A Young Activist Summer
by YALP Youth Organizers
This summer, Youth Organizers decided to bridge the gap between YALP semesters with a new program: the Young Activist Summer Club! A few YALP participants had voiced feeling a lack of connection in the summer and we did our part to tackle that with a weekly drop-in summer club where the activities are decided by the participants. Past YALP graduates and greater Spokane youth 14-22 were encouraged to join. Around five participants joined us as we embarked on field trips, shared book recommendations, watched a documentary and even had the chance to collect in depth feedback and suggestions for YALP. As we continue to listen to what programs Spokane youth want in their city, we’ll be expanding our Young Activist Summer Club next year!
In early August, Youth Organizers also collaborated with the Spokane facilitators of AVP-USA to host a workshop for youth centered around creative conflict resolution. The Alternatives to Violence Project explores just that, alternatives to violence, its values built on “affirmation, respect for all, community, cooperation and trust.” AVP covers a range of topics from asking what violence truly is, to exploring the value of anger, to finally realizing what it takes to transform power and resolve conflict without violence. This was a three-day paid workshop opportunity offered to youth across Spokane, and we were joined by 8 participants!
Youth organizers Fenrir and Wyk facilitated a de-escalation training for Asian Youth for Collective Liberation’s fellowship at their Summer Summit in August. The two organizers blended information from PJALS’ peacekeeper training with material from the Alternatives to Violence workshop they attended a few weeks prior. The new cohort of fellows were given an opportunity to practice through roleplay scenarios how they would de-escalate a variety of situations. The cohort was also provided skills and tactics on emotional regulation and effective conflict management. The youth organizers were delighted to have another opportunity to work with ACL, and are looking forward to further collaboration in the near future.
As our fall Young Activist Leadership Program is quickly approaching, we’re very excited to be working with No Hate in WA State this semester to oppose two dangerous ballot initiatives that directly impact Washington students. Participants will have the opportunity to contact voters and share their unique perspectives on these matters via phone banking, text banking and even canvassing! As we learn about these ballot measures we’ll also be exploring the voting process, campaign building, de-escalation skills and so much more. This semester, we’re opening up more leadership opportunities for our returning YALP participants, and we’re holding a pre-YALP paid training for those interested. Taking this involved role means one would act as both a YALP participant and co-facilitator. Exciting!! As always, YALP is open to any Spokane (& greater Eastern Washington!) youth 14-22, with a $250 stipend offered upon completion of the program and lots of food every session!
Peacekeeping in the Summer
by Joe Stussi, Peacekeeping Coordinator
This Summer, Spokane has been filled with joyful resistance, celebrations of identity, and courageous acts of direct aid to our neighbors in times of need. In the wake of the complex fires, networks of safety emerged, and this incredible group of volunteers used our platform to share aid information and check-in with one another. I am grateful to every member of the peacekeepers for their courage, consistency, and hard work in meeting the varied safety needs of the community.
In the past three months, twelve different local organizers reached out to PJALS with requests for Peacekeepers at 21 events. Looking back at this list, it’s clear these local leaders understand one key thing: resistance and rejuvenation go hand-in-hand. Whether it is a direct aid festival, a grassroots meet-and-greet with local leaders, or a celebration of cultural heritage, all successful community events require planning. Groups responsible for events with thousands of attendees have reached out to us weeks in advance to include us in their safety planning process. This foresight allows PJALS to share lessons learned from across the broader activist community and recruit ample numbers of volunteers. When we operate merely as individuals, decisions around safety seem to be rooted in fear. Shifting toward longer-term planning, coordination, and cooperation has brought us all closer to holistic community resilience in Spokane.
The sum threat to our collective rights is not a challenge that we can wait out. I am grateful to the activists and organizers who inspire this community with their direct aid and demonstration of imagination. Many individual peacekeepers have taken time more than once a week this Summer to support the street actions of local groups who share PJALS’ values. This repeated practice in non-violence in action has brought us all closer and illuminated the most impactful ways that we can support one another: not as heroes, but as friends.
Coming Up!
by PJALS Staff
Understanding how race and class shape life in the U.S. is essential to meeting this moment. We cannot effectively organize against the MAGA regime and its billionaire backers without understanding the historical and present-day realities of racism and classism, including how these forces are used to divide everyday people.
In this five-part workshop and canvass series, participants will deepen their race-class analysis, reflect on their own identities and experiences, learn the fundamentals of effective canvassing, and practice having meaningful conversations across differences. Through two full-day workshops using curriculum from Eastern Washington University Professor of Sociology Pui-Yan Lam, we’ll build the analysis and skills needed to organize across race and class. Then, we’ll put those skills into action together through three community canvasses to encourage voters to oppose two transphobic ballot initiatives and block an appeal of the millionaire’s tax.
BRCS Part 1: Saturday, September 12, 9am–5pm
BRCS Part 2: Saturday, September 19, 9am–5pm
Canvass #1: Saturday, October 3, 1–5pm
Canvass #2: Thursday, October 15, 5:30-7:30pm
Canvass #3: Saturday, October 24, 1–5pm
After completing the workshops, participants will join our first BRCS cohort and put their skills into practice through canvassing.
If you’re ready to deepen your commitment to resisting fascism, building solidarity across race and class, and creating a just and nonviolent world, BRCS is for you. Together, we’ll build the skills, analysis, and relationships we need to resist division, organize our communities, and build a just future.
People power happens when we come together with fire in the belly, authentic relationships, shared values, creativity, a plan to win, and the know-how to mobilize! Now, as our country and our communities face a fascist power grab to benefit billionaires, we must learn and use powerful tools of collective noncompliance and mass noncooperation based on tried and true tactics used by movements from around the world defying authoritarianism. Individuals, groups, and communities can refuse to cooperate with official policies and actions nonviolently. When we take away our acquiescence at a massive scale, anti-democracy actors can be stopped in their tracks.
Join us! This highly interactive workshop will share key strategies and ways to take action.
Join us for our Fall Connecting for Community! 🍂
Come connect, learn, and build with us as we gather to share more about the work happening across our community and the future we’re working toward together.
This evening will feature guests from various community organizations who will lead small-group roundtable discussions where you can learn more about their work, discover ways to get involved, and find out how to stay connected.
As always, you can expect great company, delicious food, meaningful conversations, and opportunities to take action in alignment with the future we want to build.
Come connect. Come learn. Come find your place in the work.
We hope to see you there!
Support the Spokane 3
by Trévis Ray, Digital Organizer
Spokane 3 Update
The Spokane 3 defendants have submitted their Rule 29 motions to the judge. Prosecutors have requested an extension until September 26 to respond.
As we await the judge’s decision, visit pjals.org/spokane3 to learn more and support the Spokane 3.