The refugee agency Thrive Spokane is celebrating three years of helping people from other nations assimilate here.

Thrive began by helping people who fled the war in Ukraine. But it has helped people from more than a dozen nations, some of whom were present Friday at a celebration at the agency’s downtown hotel near Interstate 90. It was a back-to-school event for immigration and refugee families. Thrive supporters handed out shoes and other supplies. At a table in the shade, people sifted through backpacks and clothes. Children took turns touring a city fire engine.

Thrive executive director Mark Finney remembered the wave of Ukrainian refugees who came in 2022.

Mark Finney: “We opened this hotel, and in a period of a month, we ended up moving in about 80 families just right away beca

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