Cindy Hval

Jim Lippold calls Holy Family Adult Day Centers "a best-kept secret kind of thing." The executive director of the 31-year-old program is eager to spill the beans. The nonprofit organization, affiliated with Providence Health Care, operates in two locations in north and south Spokane. The centers provide a secure daytime environment for elderly and impaired adults. They offer rehabilitation, socialization and skilled nursing care.

Tucked into a corner of the bustling Emergency Room at Holy Family Hospital is a device that's improving the lives for the deaf and hard of hearing. The Sorenson Video Relay Service, commonly referred to as a video phone, allows deaf individuals to place calls to family, friends and businesses. Elaine Navratil is the case manager for Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She explained through an interpreter, "You can call any number, and the call goes to a video relay system." A real-time translator is standing by and interprets the call for the user.

Most young adults are on a quest for individuality. Some express nonconformity by getting tattoos or multiple body piercings, while others explore alternative religions. Twenty-one-year-old Travis Miller chose to express his distinctiveness in another way. He joined the Sons of the American Revolution. "No one else my age is joining," he said. "I like to be unique."

Everybody has one – that hard-to-buy-for person on their Christmas list. The one who has everything and needs nothing. I was thinking about my hard-to-buy-for folks a few weeks ago when I got a phone call from a friend. She said, "I went to a dinner party last night. A guest went to the restroom and was gone quite awhile. When she returned, she said, 'You guys have to come see this toilet!' "

Every Tuesday night, April Muhs drives into Spokane from Kellogg with her friend Ann Curry. They are keeping a New Year's resolution made five years ago to stay vibrant. Going over Fourth of July Pass on frosty winter nights each week has added excitement to their lives, Muhs admitted with a laugh. But it's their destination that makes the weekly trip so worthwhile. Each week they attend the rehearsal of New Horizons Orchestra at Holy Names Music Center located on the Mukogawa Fort Wright Campus. New Horizons is a national program founded to encourage adults to experience the joys of music. The premise is it's never too late to learn.

Every Tuesday night April Muhs drives into Spokane from Kellogg, Idaho, with her friend Ann Curry. They are keeping a New Year's resolution made five years ago to stay vibrant. Going over Fourth of July Pass on frosty winter nights each week has added excitement to their lives, Muhs admitted with a laugh. But it's their destination that makes the weekly trip so worthwhile. Each week they attend the rehearsal of New Horizons Orchestra at Holy Names Music Center located on the Mukogawa Fort Wright Campus. New Horizons is a national program founded to encourage adults to experience the joys of music. The premise is it's never too late to learn.

A few weeks ago on a chilly autumn evening, my 15-year-old son and I mixed huge bowls of green salad in the basement of Central United Methodist Church in downtown Spokane. By 4 p.m. a long line of hungry folks waited outside the church doors. Since 1994 Shalom Ministries has been feeding the homeless and low-income residents of our city's core. A small group of churches works together to provide funds and volunteers.