🎉 Major Update: Community Recognition
Our Father’s Day 2025 celebration just received a tremendous honor. Gabriel’s Challenge founder Kitara Johnson-Jones has invited SpoFI to merge our celebration with their closing ceremony at Riverfront Park. This partnership recognizes the vital role our fathers play in community healing.
This isn’t just a venue change—it’s community-wide acknowledgment that transformed fathers strengthen entire neighborhoods.
This June 15th, we’re bringing Father’s Day home to where it started.
In the city that created Father's Day 115 years ago, we're celebrating the fathers who prove transformation is possible—and launching our vision to help even more.
The year was 1910. A young woman named Sonora Smart Dodd sat in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon, but her mind wandered to her father. William Jackson Smart had raised six children alone after his wife died in childbirth. He deserved recognition too.
So Sonora convinced Spokane to host the world’s first Father’s Day celebration.
Her vision was simple: honor the fathers who step up when their families need them most.
Why this matters today
One hundred and fifteen years later, that vision lives on through every father who walks through SpoFI’s doors. Men who’ve made mistakes. Dads who’ve been absent. Fathers ready to change.
Since 2018, we’ve watched hundreds of men graduate from our programs. Not perfect men—transformed men. Fathers who learned to show up, communicate better, and break cycles that held their families back.
Our 93% completion rate isn’t just a statistic. It represents children who now have engaged dads. Families that stayed together. Generational patterns that stopped with this generation.
Take Jordan, who struck his daughter in anger and moved out that same night, terrified of what he might do. Through our 24/7 Dad program, he learned to recognize triggers and manage emotions. Today he’s back home, and his daughter trusts him again.
Honoring 115 years with SpoFI 2.0
Right now, we’re at capacity. Fathers wait weeks for our services. We’re teaching in borrowed spaces because our building is full. Men ready to change sit on waiting lists while their families hope for restoration.
We’re raising $115,000—$1,000 for each year since Spokane created Father’s Day. This investment will help us serve twice as many fathers, support more families, and strengthen our entire community.
Because if 750+ transformed fathers can create this much positive change, imagine what 1,500 could do.
What you’ll experience
- Recognition ceremony honoring SpoFI alumni achievements
- Family activities including games for kids of all ages
- Community connection with other families who understand the journey
- SpoFI 2.0 vision presentation about our plans to expand impact
Whether you’re a graduate, family member, donor, or community supporter, you belong at this celebration.
How to join the celebration
Coming full circle
Sonora Smart Dodd believed fathers deserved recognition for stepping up when families needed them most. She convinced Spokane to honor that commitment in 1910.
Today, SpoFI continues that legacy. We help fathers step up. We equip them with tools to succeed. We celebrate their transformation.
This Father’s Day, we’re not just marking 115 years of a holiday. We’re launching the next chapter of what’s possible when a community invests in fathers.
Your presence matters. Your story inspires others. Your family deserves this celebration.
SpoFI Father’s Day picnic 2025 FAQs
When is the SpoFI Father’s Day celebration?
Sunday, June 15 | 1-3 PM
Riverfront Park Lilac Bowl
Part of Gabriel’s Challenge Community Celebration
We’re now part of a much larger celebration that puts SpoFI fathers on the community stage where they belong.
Who can attend the Father’s Day celebration?
SpoFI alumni, their families, current participants, donors, and community supporters are all welcome.
More Questions about the picnic? Contact us at info@spofi.org. Want to support SpoFI 2.0? Learn more about our campaign.
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