By Norah McLaughlin | FāVS News Reporter
Last month, NAACP Spokane celebrated outstanding members of the community at its 2025 Freedom Fund Gala. This gala is an annual fundraiser for the NAACP. At this dinner they award scholarships, a president award and community champions awards.
The NAACP Spokane honored five Community Champions: Sherry Merritt, Pastor Amos Atkinson, Kerra Bower, Virla Spencer and Anna Franklin. The awards recognize their work in criminal justice reform, small business support, early childhood education and accessible healthcare.
Merritt has been a volunteer for the Airway Heights Correctional Facility’s African-American literacy program for 25 years. She helps the inmates host a Juneteenth Program every year, according to NAACP Spokane President Lisa Gardner.
“I was blown away, not only by the program,” said Gardner. “But by how much they loved and admired Sherry Merritt.”
Atkinson is currently an interim pastor at Calvary Baptist Church. He works for the Carl Maxey Center to help support black-owned small businesses in the community to grow and prosper, according to Gardner.
“It takes someone who is really known in the community, trusted in the community and beloved in the community,” said Gardner. “When he was nominated and suggested … we could not deny the work that Pastor Amos has done.”
Bower founded and recently opened Raze Early Learning & Development Center, an early learning program that centers and celebrates identity, belonging and joy as an essential part of pre-schools, according to the Raze website. Their focus is to break the school-to-prison pipeline from the start, by supporting not only the children but the parents and families as well, according to Gardner.
Spencer is the founder and CEO of The Way to Justice, a nonprofit legal aid organization that helps support people who have been unfairly impacted by the justice system, according to The Way to Justice website. Spencer helps people navigate the judicial and criminal justice system.
“It is someone like Virla who is in the community and, again, is trusted and respected by many,” explained Gardner.
Franklin is the founder of Maji Rising, a Spokane-based organization that makes healthcare affordable and accessible to the community in unique ways. Maji Rising is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a community of holistic care and to empower individuals, according to Franklin.
“Maji Rising does that by bringing healthcare, by bringing resources and trust back to the people through a culturally responsive lens,” said Franklin.
They host community events such as pop-up “block parties” where anyone can receive free medical care, such as dental, vision, mental health and pharmacy. There are also outreach resources for housing, financial help and many more, explained Franklin.
“When I think about Maji Rising and I think about our healthcare pop-ups, I think about how much each of us as human beings deserve the care that sees us, that it understands us and it sees us where we are and not where others think we should be,” said Franklin.
Other recipients include Kitara Johnson-Jones who received the 2025 Humanitarian Award for her organization Gabriel’s Challenge. April Eberhardt and Priya Mhlophe received President’s Awards. Scholarship recipients are Cameron Richardson who received the Michael P. Anderson Scholarship and Gean Lucas Hernandez-Torres who received the Umpqua (Columbia) Bank Scholarship.
The NAACP Spokane continues to accept donations and memberships to fund its community programs. The organization’s committees work to address systemic injustices across multiple sectors, according to Gardner.
“We have committees that really touch a lot of the different sectors where injustices have happened, where we can go in and hopefully make some type of system change,” said Gardner.
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