Spokane, Washington – The time around the new year is often a time dedicated to change. We promise ourselves that we will be better and kinder, and that we will let bad habits go and good habits grow. We try to make a change for the better as a way to greet the new year.
Here at Local Treasures with Pia, we are also going to make some changes, but before we get to that let’s think of all the places we’ve been together: over the past two years we have traveled from Uniontown to Sandpoint, from Wallace to Chewelah, in search of cool destinations and even cooler people.
We have crisscrossed the back roads looking for fossils and garnets, and we’ve stopped along many of the rivers and lakes that make this area so beautiful.
I will never tire of the view from Schweitzer Mountain or from the top of Steptoe Butte. Or of that drive along the Columbia River, on Highway 25 toward Northport. We live in truly beautiful country here in the Inland Northwest. If you want to revisit some of the locations, you can find them all here myavista.com/connect.
Now, we are not going to stop looking for that beauty, but we are going to change gears a little and feature some of the people and organizations that make this part of the world a remarkable place to live.
Every year, the Avista Foundation gives grants to non-profit organizations big and small around the area, and in the new year we are going to catch up with some of these organizations and tell you about what they do and how they do it.
Volunteers do hard and necessary work every day in the Inland Northwest. They feed the hungry, soothe the scared and care for the elderly. You can count on the greater Spokane-area to show up when there is a need. We are helpful people around here, and sometimes those kind acts of service and dogged perseverance in the face of many challenges gets lost in the daily stream of bad news.
Here at Local Treasures with Pia we are going to try and change some of that in the new year, as we bring you stories of great community organizations and the important work they do to keep the Inland Northwest a beautiful place.
Wishing you a wonderful 2022 – and thank you for reading.