2018 Human Rights Day Celebration & Fundraiser

December 10, 2018 @ 6:30PM — 9:30PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Featuring Steffani Powell, US Immigration & Naturalization Lawyer

2018 Human Rights Day Celebration & Fundraiser image

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Join the Rachel Corrie Foundation for our Sixth Annual Human Rights Day Celebration & Fundraiser on Monday, December 10th, 2018 at 6:30 pm at Dillinger's Cocktails and Kitchen inside The Security Building in downtown Olympia to celebrate efforts to realize human rights for all, connect with our community, and financially support RCF work.

Celebrate with Community

The early years of RCF consisted of endless nights spent at kitchen tables with invested community members, piles of papers, and copious amounts of coffee. RCF has since transitioned to formal office space, although the community members, papers, and coffee are still present. We've called The Security Building home since 2006, and this year, we thought it would be special to invite our community into our home to celebrate, meet the neighbors, and share a connection to place.

The event will be held downstairs from our office at Dillinger's, a prohibition themed craft bar and restaurant that pays homage to the beautiful historical building we all call home. Our guest speaker is Steffani Powell, a U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Lawyer, and our next-door office neighbor.

The menu, inspired by our work in Palestine, Steffani's work with immigrants, and Dillinger's commitment to local ingredients, will consist of delicious Latin and Middle Eastern inspired dishes paired with complimentary cocktails/mocktails.

We're excited to celebrate, but more importantly, we're honored to host an evening with our neighbors for our friends and supporters that will feel like coming home. Will you join us?


IMPORTANT: Please note, this event is being held in a bar/restaurant. Individuals under the age of 21 are NOT legally permitted to attend, and will be turned away (with a full ticket refund if purchased). The venue is accessible to people with wheelchairs or service animals and includes gender neutral restrooms. Noise levels can be high. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance to guarantee admission and meal/drink. Please contact RCF with any questions or concerns about accessibility at (360) 754-3998.


Our Guest Speaker

Immigration Attorney Steffani Powell graduated from University of Louisville, School of Law, in Louisville, Kentucky in 1992. Prior to moving to Washington State, she worked with the Russell Immigration Law Firm in Louisville following her departure from Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services where she was Director of the Office of Immigration Services for over 12 years.


In 2000 and 2001 she worked in London, England as an immigration attorney. Steffani has focused her legal career on Asylum, Consular Processing, Deportation Defense, Family Immigration, General Immigration, Business Immigration and Naturalization cases. She represents clients before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Executive Offices of the Immigration Court [EOIR], and U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide. She is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Strengthening Sanctuary of Olympia.


What is Human Rights Day, and why are we celebrating?


Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As an organization, one of our key guiding principles is that we believe injustice must be challenged and that human rights and resistance to oppression must be included in the way we define ourselves as a community. We commit to this principle through our events, programming, policy work, and relationship building.

Hosting a Human Rights Day Celebration & Fundraiser has become an annual RCF tradition of reflecting on the year and rooting ourselves in our guiding principles while fostering strength and solidarity in our community and asking for financial investment to sustain our work.

What can I expect to learn from this event?

This year, we are honoring the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the understanding that:
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all.
  • Human rights are relevant to all of us, every day.
  • Our shared humanity is rooted in these universal values.
  • Equality, justice and freedom prevent violence and sustain peace.
  • Whenever and wherever humanity's values are abandoned, we all are at greater risk.
  • We need to stand up for our rights and those of others.

To reflect on this momentous anniversary, we have invited Steffani Powell, a U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Lawyer, to speak on the immigrant story and the current language used to dehumanize immigrant-beings for political purposes.


Next, we will reflect on our work in Palestine and draw parallels between the dehumanization of immigrants in the United States and the dehumanization of Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation and reeling from their own 70th anniversary, the 1948 Nakba, which expelled 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homeland and has thus created one of the largest refugee populations in existence.


Finally, we will reflect on our own community and efforts to challenge injustice and commit to human rights. We will celebrate the past, present, and future commitment of our community while holding space in a building that was built before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was even written. We will ask for a tangible financial commitment from our guests to keep our work sustainable and toast to a progressive future realizing human rights for all.