AronRa and Zach Moore encourage you to join a Light the Night walk

AronRa is a powerful influence within the skepto-athiosphere. A list of his current accomplishments includes directing the Texas branch of American Atheists, a popular vlog on YouTube, and blogging at Freethought Blogs. So, it is with great pleasure that we bring you a video in support of Light the Night from AronRa and Dr. Zachary Moore, a board member of Foundation Beyond Belief. (Transcript below the video.)
 

 

AronRa: A year or so ago, when I was still someone’s grandfather, there were many good intentioned, well-wishing people who offered to pray for us. As if that would help. But prayer doesn’t get results. Not like actual work, based on accurate knowledge. That’s why the Foundation Beyond Belief is out to raise one million dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And they’re doing it through several different scheduled walks for donations being conducted by skeptical, freethinking, humanist, and atheist groups across the United States and Canada. The group I’m with is the Dallas Fellowship of Freethought. I’m going to be on one of those walks. They’re going to be going from the rest of September through November. And all the donations that you might manage to raise, should you join us, are going to be matched, dollar for dollar, by the Stiefel [Freethought] Foundation, so that we can raise one million dollars, leveraging secular values through the promotion of scientific research.

Now, I’m here to give you more details—anything you need—for how to join up is in the links below. But I’m going to turn you over to Dr. Zachary Moore to fill in some other information.

Zachary Moore: Hi, I’m Zach Moore. I’m the coordinator for the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason and a board member for the Foundation Beyond Belief. I’m incredibly excited to be part of Light the Night, because, like many of you, my life has been touched by the horror of cancer. One of my good friends from high school was struck down by leukemia before he could even graduate. I was there in the hospital room when he got his diagnosis, and I brought him books and movies to pass the time while he received his treatments. Though medical science at the time prolonged his life significantly, although his body eventually succumbed to the disease. The Foundation Beyond Belief, in partnership with the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, wants to do something about cancer. We want to raise a million bucks for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Light the Night walks this fall.

This is going to be big. And it’s going to make news. And it’s going to make a statement. This money will be raised by atheists, agnostics, humanists, and freethinkers who want to make a difference. We don’t want to pray away our problems; we want to do something about them. You need to do something about them. A million bucks is a lot of money, and to get there, we need every single person who sees this video to sign up. I mean it. Every single person. Even you. Especially you. Go to the Foundation Beyond Belief website. Find a team that’s closest to you and sign up. If there isn’t a team near you, well, start one. If you can’t make it to the walk, join a team anyway and raise the money. Just a hundred bucks is all it takes. Five thousand atheists raising one hundred bucks each gets the Stiefel Freethought Foundation to cut a check for five hundred grand. And then you can hold your head up high.

Don’t open your wallet if you don’t have to. Ask your friends, ask your family, ask your coworkers. You know what, guess what. It’s a pretty easy sell. It’s money to cure cancer, and you’re helping.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has given more than eight hundred million dollars to real research that’s helping to cure cancer. Last year they gave almost seventy-seven million dollars and provided support services for cancer patients, their families, and survivors. And what’s more, they’re absolutely thrilled to be working with the happy heathens at the Foundation Beyond Belief. And that’s not always the case with some of these organizations, as some of you may know.

They’re also helping us recognize our honored hero for the 2012 Light the Night walk, Christopher Hitchens. When you join a team, when you collect donations, when you walk this fall, you’re walking in memory of Hitch, mine, and Aron’s, and your lost loved ones, and in support of all of the people fighting cancer right now.

If you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, there are three walks to choose from. Plano, on October 20th, Fort Worth on October 21st, and Dallas on October 28th. Donate, walk, or both. But there are no excuses for not participating. This is an historic event, and you can’t miss out on it.

Thanks for joining us, and thanks for showing that nonbelievers can do good…for its own sake.

AronRa: For those of you in my neck of the woods, please contact the Dallas Fellowship of Freethought and join me on our walk to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Thank you.