Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams
“We Combat Natural Disasters With Acts of God” 10 Years Later: Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Failure
A few years ago the Salvation Army ran a full-page advertisement in popular magazines announcing, “We Combat Natural Disasters With Acts of God” A play on the centuries-old claim of disasters as “Acts of God,” this line surely makes many a relief worker and recovery volunteer cringe. Disasters are the result of nature interacting with…
Read MoreHDR Team Development Coordinator to speak at Gateway to Reason
This weekend is the three-day Gateway to Reason conference in St. Louis! Included in the amazing list of speakers is Foundation Beyond Belief's own Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams Development Coordinator Rebecca Vitsmun. Many remember Rebecca coming out of her atheist closet on live national television after saving her and her son’s lives from a tornado…
Read MoreHDRT Development Coordinator to speak in OK
Our Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams Development Coordinator, Rebecca Vitsmun, will be speaking tomorrow, June 20, at the 2015 Oklahoma Freethought Convention at the Tulsa Convention Center. Her speech is scheduled to begin at 2:15 pm. In addition to Rebecca, the convention features other speakers such as Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist and Matt Dillahunty, current…
Read MoreHDRT Development Coordinator to speak in Seattle
Our Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams Development Coordinator, Rebecca Vitsmun, will be speaking tomorrow night, May 26, at Town Hall Seattle. Rebecca first came to the attention of many in the nation back in 2013 when an EF5 tornado destroyed her Moore, OK home and left Rebecca and her son, Anders, running for their lives. Shorty…
Read MoreNational Trauma Survivors Day aims to create a voice of compassion
Today is National Trauma Survivors Day, a day created to support those who have experienced a traumatic injury and their caregivers. The American Trauma Society is encouraging everyone to add a message to social media today to "create an unprecedented voice of compassion and solidarity." If you are interested in taking part in the social media…
Read MoreThe Role of Nonprofits Post-Disaster
This monthly blog series will explore the world of disasters and how Foundation Beyond Belief is creating evidence-based programs to mobilize the secular humanist community to respond. Post-disaster, survivors are faced with a long and complex recovery process. Survivors seek aid from three sources. When faced with recovery, survivors first utilize their own resources. They…
Read MoreHumanist Disaster Recovery Year in Review
This year, Foundation Beyond Belief revamped and grew its very successful Crisis Response program. Following four major disaster drives last year, Foundation Beyond Belief took time to reflect on our disaster programming. We asked ourselves two questions: 1) How can we be more effective? and 2) How can we help more survivors? The answers to…
Read MoreA sneak peek inside our newest program, Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams
2015 will witness the launch of Foundation Beyond Belief's Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams (HDR Teams), the first humanist disaster recovery volunteer program created to provide nontheists an avenue to assist impacted communities when disaster strikes. Many have seen tornado survivor Rebecca Vitsmun speaking about this program over the last year, as she utilizes her background…
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