Even as summer ends, BBN teams remain committed to service

Foundation Beyond Belief’s Beyond Belief Network is a network of secular humanist groups volunteering in their communities and raising money for FBB’s featured charities and programs. Any group with a public secular humanist or atheist identity is welcome to join, regardless of experience or group size.

Nine volunteers from Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry teamed up with James Island Pride to remove litter on approximately 1.5 miles of roadway on James Island, SC.

Oak Park Public Library (OPPL) in Oak Park, IL has a huge three-day book sale on the first weekend in August every year, held at the local high school. Volunteers are needed for weeks in advance and nine members of End of the Line Humanists answered the call! Altogether these nine team members volunteered a total of 45 hours. Among their duties, they carried and emptied boxes of books, cut boxes for trays, and sorted and arranged books for the sale.

Members of Freethought Dayton (FD) volunteered at the Foodbank. The Foodbank is committed to relieving hunger through the acquisition and distribution of food to hungry people throughout the Miami Valley in Ohio. FD packed and assembled "weekend backpacks," a supply of nutritious food for food-insecure children to take home from school over the weekend. The Foodbank also recently hosted a new monthly produce distribution event. Two FD members, along with many other volunteers, helped with event set up, directed traffic, and assisted individuals to their cars. They are looking forward to the event growing to serve more people in the future. In addition to their regular service event, Freethought Dayton also promoted a recent event featuring Leo Igwe. Igwe spoke in Dayton, giving his talk, "Fighting for Human Rights in the ''Witch Camps'' of Ghana." FD promoted this event to their members and the public through their website, local paper, and a local radio station's "community calendar." Mr. Igwe's talk informed and inspired all to learn more about this topic and get involved in the global humanist movement. Following his talk, many attendees were eager to ask questions and continue the discussion. The Q&A period lasted longer than the rehearsed part of the presentation!

Pikes Peak Atheists and Pikes Peak Atheist Families recently had their first volunteer day at the Black Forest Animal Sanctuary and they're pleased to report that it was a great success! With 32 volunteers, they accomplished many tasks! They built / repaired 3 fences, reorganized the food and supply warehouse area, mucked out the stalls of horses, ponies, goats, alpaca and assorted fowl. They also socialized with cats, walked all of the dogs, and the kids brushed a new addition to BFS, a pony named Sinatra. Pikes Peak also gave additional donations of dog and cat food, kitty litter and gave a monetary donation of $20. There have also been additional online donations for this cause during the month. Some of the members of Pikes Peak even adopted a cat!

Pikes Peak met lots of new friends – animal and human – and had a very rewarding day overall. They had so many wonderful volunteers come from far and wide! They're planning on volunteering with this charity a few times a year, and hope volunteers can join them again or for the first time during their next event!

Siouxland Freethinkers volunteered as a group at the Great Plains Zoo, helping to move straw and hay to make room in the hay barn for an upcoming delivery. The non-profit Zoo recruits groups from the community to assist in seasonal projects that would be time-prohibitive for the keepers.

Fellowship of Freethought Dallas has a portion of White Rock Lake in Dallas that they clean up on a monthly basis. They do this in cooperation with the For The Love Of The Lake organization, which sponsors these events. They recently collected several large bags of trash. Congratulations to Fellowship of Freethought Dallas for reaching Level Three.

South Jersey Humanists continued their community garden donations! In the last two weeks they have harvested and donated twenty-three pounds of zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey's Southern Division.

Humanist Community of Central Ohio (HCCO) has been busy participating in plenty of recent service events! First, two HCCO members marched in the Columbus Pride Festival. Before the big day, HCCO held a sign making and ice cream social event. They were excited to support their GLBT community and members by getting out the word about humanism. HCCO also tabled for three days at the annual Community Festival. They have tabled every year at this event for the last thirty years to help raise awareness about humanism. Their efforts weren’t wasted as they added an additional 72 people to their email list and made some new friends talking about humanism and all the wonderful opportunities available to secular folks in Columbus. In addition to their advocacy-based service events, HCCO hosted their summer blood drive in conjunction with the Secular Student Alliance East conference on the campus of Ohio State University. They donated twenty-three units. Volunteers and donors received free admission to one night of the SSA conference. HCCO also invited and advertised Leo Igwe’s discussion about Boko Haram and the rise of Islamic Extremism to their larger community in central Ohio. An edited version of it was broadcast on their local community radio station. Some BBN teams may have recently heard Leo Igwe speak at Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanism at Work Conference where he discussed the situation of witchcraft accusations in Africa. As if all of these service events weren’t enough,  HCCO participated in Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless's 50 state challenge. They sent thirty-six mini-deodorants and seventy-two nail clippers to ATXAHH, spending $56.51 of their charity giving budget. It’s no surprise that HCCO has reached Level Two! Congradulations!

Corpus Christi Atheists raised over $800 for supplies for Central American Refugees on the border in South Texas and volunteers assisting the refugees. CCA delivered the supplies and volunteered for three hours at the Rio Grande Valley Food Bank helping to sort clothing, food and supplies for the refugees.

Between June 24 and July 20 of this year, Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless collected items valued at more than $4,100 to distribute to people who are homeless in Austin, Texas. Items included toiletries, clothing, books and other essentials. ATXAHH thanks many of the donors from their 50 States Challenge for making this donation drive a success. In addition to those donations, the ATXAHH Gettin' Knotty Guild made 73 washcloths. More than 25 ATXAHH volunteers later distributed these supplies to 169 people at the team's monthly giveaway. In recognition of National Lollipop Day, the youth volunteers handed out lollipops as a treat.

If you are a member of a secular humanist or atheist group and would like to participate in community service projects under the national umbrella of Foundation Beyond Belief, join Beyond Belief Network. We welcome all atheist groups interested in service, from groups with extensive volunteer experience to newly formed groups new to secular service. By aggregating our efforts, we demonstrate that all we really need is charity and goodness to make the world a better place.