April Winners! Beyond Belief Network Team of the Month & Photo of the Month

Beyond Belief Network is a collective of over 125 humanist, atheist, and other non-believing organizations putting compassionate humanism into action through community volunteering and charitable fundraising. Each month we round up the previous month's activities and award the top performers. Let's see what teams crushed it in April!

Team of the Month

Humanist Alliance Philippines, International  (HAPI), April’s Beyond Belief Network Team of the Month, has been quite busy supporting their community in getting through the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing seven events responding to seven different needs.

Frontliners have been putting out calls for food and PPE across the Philippines, and HAPI has stepped up to help. HAPI volunteers took food to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, bottled water to East Avenue Medical Center Trauma Center, and alcohol for disinfecting to Las Pinas General Hospital and Trauma Center. They also acquired and distributed masks to people stationed at national road check points and other emergency personnel.

In the wider community, HAPI delivered supplies for their HAPI Central Humanist Day Care Center scholar recipient.  This is part of their plan to help provide basic commodities to a hard-to-access Indigenous community where there has been no government support. They’ve also created a system in the same community for farmers to continue selling their produce during COVID-19 and to ensure people sewing masks are paid, while HAPI supplements them as needed from their stores. 

HAPI, you are making a great difference in the lives of vulnerable people in the Philippines. Keep up the amazing work!

Picture of the Month

April’s Picture of the Month comes from  Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless (Austin AHH), who also stepped up in a big way. Knowing that during COVID-19 people experiencing homelessness have less access to support, Austin AHH made sure to keep their monthly giveaway scheduled while making adjustments for the safety of everyone involved.

Volunteers made sure to have their hands sanitized, gloves and masks on at all times. Instead of giving away individual items in a line as usual, they held a pre-packing event in order to give a single package to each person. Unfortunately, their planned outdoor location was rained out, but they had a backup location that worked out perfectly. 

The focus for this giveaway was much more on food items than usual, since Austin AHH had confirmation that many groups that usually provide food regularly are not functioning for the time being. Along with the usual toiletries, feminine hygiene products, and toilet paper, each bag received a combination of several granola bars, Nutri-Grain bars, Slim Jims, flavored cracker packs, no-refrigeration tuna salad kits, peanuts/peanut bars, applesauce, fruit cups, and fruit snacks.

With clean hands, gloves and masks (provided by an amazing public servant), Austin AHH was able to give away 144 pre-packed bags, and supported even more people by walking around distributing surplus food items after the pre-packed bags were gone.

Thank you for your commitment to supporting people experiencing homelessness in Austin. You’re making a difference! 

BBN is just one of many examples of the work our humanist community does to make a positive impact on the world. The network wouldn't be possible without your support. Please help us continue this work with a contribution to our general fund today.