April Volunteer Network Roundup!
By GO HumanityTeams in our Food Security Project (FSP) reported 48 events in April, serving 16,169 individual beneficiaries and giving out 20,263 meals!
Additional GO Humanity Service Teams held 17 more service events.
New Food Security Project Team
Fanm Viktim—the woman-focused mutual aid group we’ve been supporting in Haiti—just got upgraded from a GO Team to a Food Security Project team! They’ll now receive monthly grants from us to support their food relief efforts.
New GO Team
In April, we welcomed new volunteer team Collective Arts Development Association in Cameroon, which offers substance abuse and crime prevention programs for youth.
Photo of the Month: MOJELIPH
With support from grants through our Food Security Project and our recent Haiti fundraiser, MOJELIPH helps vulnerable people in Cavaillon, Haiti get food. This shot shows them preparing meals!
In April, GO Humanity donors helped MOJELIPH buy peas, oil, chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, spices, and coal.
Susquehanna Valley Ethical Society (SVES)
10 volunteers from this Pennsylvania team packed 60 boxes of food for local pantries at the Food Hub. Later, they made a big pasta dinner to feed 27 low-income individuals enrolled in Getting Ahead Foundation, which helps families move toward freedom from poverty.
Fanm Viktim
Many women in Haiti are taught that after they marry, their life becomes all about housework. So Fanm Viktim had a meeting with local women promoting relationships based on friendship, sincerity, respect, and physical attraction. They encouraged women to practice sports to maintain self-confidence and attract the love of one’s partner.
Atheists Helping the Homeless Phoenix (AHH Phoenix)
After some setbacks, this team is back in full force doing twice-monthly giveaways of essentials to people without homes. Recently, they partnered with an org called Trevor’s Vision, whose shower truck is a big draw!
CAFE Food Rescue
This team in Summit County, CO distributed 2,101 pounds of food rescued from landfills.
Some of the restaurants in their area close for a few weeks during periods when tourism is slow, so a CAFE Food Rescue organizer attended a restaurant association meeting to encourage these restaurants to clean out food that will go bad. These clean-outs usually result in some nice produce being donated (pictured).
They’re also still working on a new packaging facility in the community center of Frisco, CO and meeting with the Town of Silverthorne about a packaging and distribution location there.
Central Florida Mutual Aid
One of this team’s many activities includes rescuing food from a partner meal service and distributing it in low-income neighborhoods; communities of unhoused neighbors; Title IX schools; and other areas where people experience food insecurity. Volunteers take initiative and spontaneously plan where and to whom to distribute depending on their own relationships and awareness of local needs.
In April, they picked up excess food from Mindful Meals, repackaged it into meals, and distributed it to unhoused neighbors downtown.
Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless (AHH)
Once a month, volunteers from this team hit up various Austin, TX locales to distribute aid to those experiencing homelessness. In April, they packed 280 care bags in their unusually warm storage space and gave it out the next day. Items included hand sanitizer and tuna salad kits, which were requested by the people they serve. They also gave out 10 gallons of ice-cold Kool Aid.
April’s distribution was Easter-themed, with the littlest helpers giving out plastic eggs and candy. Fun themes used to be a staple of Austin AHH’s distributions prior to the pandemic, and it boosted everyone’s spirits to start that up again.
Olouguelemo
This team in Mali helps their community become resilient to drought and food shortages. In April, this meant composting organic manure and building half-moons to catch runoff water and grow grass. The work was carried out over 10 days with the participation of 15 people per day. Each group received food during their workday.
Atheists United
This team held their monthly food giveaway in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown. Groceries were collected, transported, sorted, packed, and distributed as food kits to anyone who needed it.
Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix (HSGP)
Little Free Pantry
HSGP received donations of citrus fruit and an entire pie! Volunteers tending to the pantry cleaned up human waste and stocked the pantry with leftovers from the American Atheists convention, including breakfast bars, soda, and Starbursts! (Not necessarily the nutritional level to which they aspire, but the junk food was appreciated as a treat.) They also got extra water since the weather is heating up and are going through a large donation of V8.
HSGP promoted the pantry at the American Atheists convention, stuffing goodies and flyers about supporting the pantry into tote bags they received from GO Humanity for being a Bronze Level Food Security Project team.
One of their volunteers shared:
“My day started out so well! I was a little later than usual and I was dropping off chocolate milk and other things from Costco. Two girls were running up to the library and pantry. They got chocolate milk and books. I promised them more books this afternoon. Then as I was about to leave, three boys came up and checked the pantry. It is testing week. They all went away with milk and some fruit squeezes. Each one said thank you and said how much they like what is in the pantry. My heart is singing! We are all helping more people than we are aware of.”
Sleeping mats
7 people joined HSGP’s plarn sleeping mat crocheting project, completing two mats during April sessions. One was really thick, taking close to 1,000 bags! The mats will be donated to Human Services Campus for use by unsheltered people.
Blood drive
HSGP hosts the American Red Cross at their community center every three months. In April, they collected 34 units, surpassing their 28 unit goal. Donors received tasty burritos!
Little Free Library
Librarians started tracking the numbers of books given out, and included other fun items in the box like stuffed animals, art and crafts kits, and whimsical art.
Kenya Humanist Alliance
This team in rural Kenya paid school fees and did shopping for orphans in primary and secondary school! They bought the students soaps, sugar, toilet paper, sanitary pads, lotions, pens, and other necessities.
The Food Drive
These volunteers in Melrose, worked with members of the Melrose High School Special Education Department’s Post Graduate program. Students and their coaches volunteered every week during the school year to feed their community!
The students delivered food to ten recipient organizations in seven communities. They used a generously donated gift card to select, buy, and deliver Easter candy to one of The Food Drive’s pantries. “Thanks to their help, all of our guests had an Easter treat in their bags, and we’re so grateful,” said a pantry coordinator.
Without the Food Drive, more than 250 tons of food would have been added to landfills already. Instead it filled the plates of people who needed it! 165 total rescues!
SociologyEats!
SociologyEats! is part of the sociology department at Texas A&M. In April, they distributed $600 in cash to students who requested help with food and living expenses.
They also host a weekly shared meal program to provide hot lunches for students, staff, and faculty. The program is designed to increase food security, social support, and a sense of community. Roughly 20 people ate at each one.
CORMII Community Development Corporation
This team in Rockingham County, North Carolina meets every Thursday to hold a curbside food distribution. In April, they distributed 3,143 pounds of food to 271 individuals in 148 households.
Kasese Humanist School (KHS)
This Food Security Project team in Uganda maintains gardens which feed their community.
The team reported three gardens doing very well in April, with thriving crops including tomatoes, corn, dodo, amaranth, eggplants, garden eggs, sukuma wiki, habanero, cassava, papaya, passion fruit, beans, and sweet potatoes! They distributed several crates of tomatoes, eggplants the families of school staff and orphans.
Humanists of Tallahassee
This Florida team met seven times in April to assemble and distribute snack/hygiene packs consisting of a granola bar, water, applesauce, pudding, peanut butter crackers, Vienna sausages, washcloth, soap, shampoo, deodorant, razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, period products, and socks.
Southeastern Virginia Atheists, Skeptics & Humanists (SEVASH)
SEVASH maintains two Little Free Pantries in the towns of Newport News and Norfolk. In April, 11 known volunteers contributed 564 pounds of food at a cost of $499. With funds from GO Humanity, they were better able to reimburse contributors and increase contribution levels.
Humanists of West Florida
Humanists of West Florida works weekly alongside groups like Food Not Bombs to provide food, clothing, and toiletries. They distributed 166 bags of nutrition, toiletries, medicine, and clothing over the course of three events in April, which saw a big increase in the number of attendees.
Chania Primary School
This team in rural Kenya is responsible for a partner-driven meal program delivering a daily warm meal for every student. They served over 14,000 meals to more than 700 vulnerable kids in April with support from our Food Security Project. They also trained new cooks and broke ground on a new kitchen complete with energy-efficient stoves and clean water!
Data shows school enrollment has increased by 12% and attendance has skyrocketed from 50% to 95% since instituting their program!
One of the head teachers reported: “We feel fully supported by this program to ensure that learners’ health needs are being fully met. It has been challenging to have learners pay attention during the remedial sessions on an empty stomach.”
A mom also shared that “[her] children would sleep in class due to hunger and teachers would frequently call [me] to school to discuss the issue. [I] was too shy to explain [my] predicament to the teachers and never admitted that the children slept in class because they were too hungry to concentrate. Since the School Meals Program was introduced, [my] two children are active in class and [I have] never been called for the same issue.”
Ethical Society of Zambia (ESZ)
This team runs a mutual aid program in which team members prepare and distribute food to the community. Twapia is a lovely small township with many street vendors selling items like sweets, maize, and groundnuts to people travelling through to the suburbs. Several people there can only afford to eat one meal a day, so ESZ is fielding a request by one of its members to prepare a warm meal for several people.
Atheists Helping the Homeless DC
Atheists Helping the Homeless, DC holds monthly distribution events to unsheltered people. At April’s, they gave away 70 tote bags stuffed with items requested by their clients like socks, deodorant, nail clippers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a small flashlight! The tote bags were appreciated because their clients have limited ways to carry items if they don’t have backpacks.
One client wore a religious medallion and gave the team their blessing.
360 Eats
This team in Safety Harbor, FL met with partners five times to serve a total of 500 nutritious meals at a low-income senior site and a food desert.
Blue Trunk Garden Network
This team in central Florida runs community gardens and shares the yields with community members in their network. In April, their “Garden Brigade” supported the setup of a flower bed for what they call Project GAR: Gardening at Arm’s Reach for growing medicinal herbs and edible plants.
Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI)
HAPI has chapters all over the Philippines. Here’s what they were up to in April:
- Helping boys in a shelter watch movies of their choice to which they don’t normally have access while enjoying a spaghetti meal.
- Delivering 8 kilos of meat and several kilos of assorted vegetables to the shelter. This was extra important considering a power outage the shelter was experiencing.
- A book drive for a community lacking public libraries. Approximately 80 individuals got access to 350 books. 80 ice pops were also made and given to kids to relieve heat.
- An educational program teaching kids about recycling and biodegradability. Children turned water bottles into piggy banks where they could save their coins to fund a visit to local historical sites.
- Feeding 40 kids with arroz kaldo, a lugaw made of chicken and rice
- A produce distribution and book drive (pictured) where 30 members of the community received bundles ofpetchay and 150 books.
- An Anti-Human Trafficking educational program for youth. Students were taught practical solutions and formulated their own strategies to combat trafficking.
- Feeding 100 children sopas (chicken macaroni soup).
Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT)
COUNT volunteers worked their ongoing monthly shifts at The Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing and meals for families with sick children. COUNT volunteers have contributed 1,998 hours to RMH since 2013.
COUNT also served dinners and cleaned at the Van Buren Center shelter. 114 volunteers have worked 1,333 hours at 98 events at the Van Buren Center to date.
Central Florida Freethought Community
This team helped the City of Orlando with an Earth Day tree-planting event at a local cemetery!
Click on any of the teams above to sponsor their work!
