July Beyond Belief Network Roundup!
By GO HumanityWe just finished rounding up reports of what teams in our volunteer network did for their communities in July!
Here’s a by-the-numbers rundown on what teams reported:
Teams receiving grants as part of our Food Security Project reported:
- Total food security events held: 17
- Total volunteer hours given: 301
- Total individual beneficiaries served: 829
- Total families/households: 2,114
Teams from the network at large also reported:
- Total events held: 5
- Total volunteer hours: 40
- Total individual beneficiaries served: 118
Recognitions
July’s Beyond Belief Network Team of the Month is Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT)! COUNT had four events in July. Since COVID started, they have maintained their quarterly blood drive event, and this month members donated latelets and whole blood. They also held their regular monthly event preparing and serving food at the Van Buren Center shelter that supports people and families experiencing homelessness. Twice they went kayaking with Adaptive Sports Connection (ASC), a chapter of Move United that helps Central Ohio veterans, children, and adults who need adaptive equipment or instruction to participate in various sports.
Picture of the Month (above) comes from Food Security Project team Austin Humanists at Work, depicting their monthly giveaway to people experiencing homelessness. Items distributed included food, personal care items, underwear, books, bedding, and warmth items. Among the 82 people they served this month was a man who was walking around with no shoes. After the giveaway, one of the group’s leaders went to Walmart and bought the man new footwear!
This group also kept up with a regular weekly giveaway, wherein volunteers hand out 15 pound shelf-stable food bags and gallons of water, plus do whatever they can to bridge the gaps in services for their clients.
Atheists United (AU)
This Food Security Project team held their own monthly food giveaway, serving groceries out of their parking lot in Los Angeles’s historic Filipinotown. This month they provided 114 households with over 29 pounds of groceries plus pet food!
AU also kept up with a monthly commitment for Audio Information Network of Colorado (AIN). Each week, volunteers read discount store ads for an AIN podcast serving people with reading disabilities. Volunteers read, edited, and upload mp3s three times in July—about 7.5 hours of work altogether.
Humanist Society for Greater Phoenix (HSGP)
10 volunteers from this Food Security Project team joined up with 50 others on an assembly line at Mary’s Food Bank. The whole crew packed 2,000 boxes of food in just under two hours!
HSGP also grew their monthly meetup in which volunteers make sleeping mats out of plarn: a durable, comfortable material crafted from of plastic bags. Finished mats—consisting of about 500-700 bags each—are given away to people experiencing homelessness.
Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless
This Food Security Project team had 8 volunteers show up to pack about 300 care bags, each containing three meals plus toiletries for their clients. 263 of these bags were given out the next day, totaling 789 donated meals.
While out on the street, they got info from clients sitting on the sidewalk that residents like them are having their belongings seized and removed—the result of the city’s recent camping ban. Portable toilets had also been cleared from a site the team frequents. Volunteers were saddened at these developments, which this highlight the urgency of our Austin teams’ work.
Atheist Community of Polk County
This rock star Food Security Project team met seven times in July to work with Street Warriors: a community service program feeding people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers also gave out hygiene kits and dry socks—the latter being deeply appreciated by people who have been getting drenched sleeping on the streets.
Northwest Chicagoland Humanist Crew
All month, this team made and collected 118 items for troops through Operation Gratitude, including scarfs, neck gaiters, paracord bracelets, thank you notes, and Beanie Babies!
We can’t wait to see what these and other dedicated teams in the network do next!
