Teams in our Food Security Project (FSP) reported 55 events in February, serving 18,859 individual beneficiaries and giving out 9,453 meals!

Additional GO Humanity Service Teams held 16 more service events.

New Teams

We’re welcoming three new teams: Chania Primary School in Njabini, Kenya; Fanm Viktim in Les Cayes, Haiti; and Neighborhood Fridge in Orlando, Florida, USA!

Team of the Month: Fanm Viktim

This new team has been responding to the crisis in Haiti by building an advocacy network to combat violence and give out cash assistance.

In Haiti, women play an extremely important role in society. Many do informal trade by risking their lives on the back of trucks that transport goods all over the country. Many are raising fatherless children, paying for schooling, and providing food. Many of create a small business at home to ensure the survival of their kids.

Fanm Viktim met five times with groups of women to discuss single motherhood and taking precautions to avoid sexual violence in vulnerable neighborhoods.

Support the team through our fundraiser here.

 

Photo of the Month: CAFE Food Rescue

This food rescue team in Summit County, CO collected 1,576 pounds of food in February. They were pleased to be called upon by their area’s largest food pantry to help them distribute some surplus milk before it expired, delivering it the next day to people who needed it.

MOJELIPH

Mouvement de la Jeunesse pour la Liberte de la Pensee en Haiti (Moleliph) has provided meals to destitute kids since 2010. They’re currently responding to the Haiti crisis by holding twice-monthly giveaways of food and essentials to children in a tent camp in the southern part of the country. (Donate to our fundraiser here.)

The Food Drive

Pictured above is a fantastic team in Melrose, MA that volunteered for a food rescue at a Whole Foods on President’s Day. The Food Drive rescues food every holiday and weekend. Their food donors depend on them to keep good food out of landfills, and people in their community depend on deliveries of that food.

The team writes: “Consistency matters. Especially consistent access to fruits and vegetables for our neighbors. With the current price of groceries and with SNAP benefits ending last week, The Food Drive’s ability to provide fresh perishable food for people, pantries, and programs in our community is vital.”

The Food Drive performed 180 total rescues in February.

Susquehanna Valley Ethical Society (SVES)

Volunteers with this Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania team volunteered for a local food bank, sorting boxes of food, checking donations for freshness and safety, and stocking shelves. 60 food boxes were packed to be delivered to 60 families/individuals. $110 in GO Humanity grant money was used to purchase U-Haul boxes for the deliveries.

Southeastern Virginia Atheists, Skeptics & Humanists (SEVASH)

SEVASH maintains two Little Free Pantries in the towns of Newport News and Norfolk. In February, 11 known volunteers did some small repairs and contributed 529 pounds of food at a cost of $469. With funds from GO Humanity, they were better able to reimburse contributors and increase contribution levels.

CORMII Community Development Corporation

This team in Rockingham County, North Carolina meets every Thursday to hold a curbside food distribution. In February, they distributed 2,840 pounds of food to 223 individuals at 173 households.

SociologyEats!

SociologyEats! is part of the sociology department at Texas A&M University. In February, they distributed $800 in cash assistance to students who requested help with food and living expenses.

They also hosted their first weekly shared meal program to provide a hot lunch for students, staff, and faculty. The program is designed to increase food security, social support, and a sense of community.

Blue Trunk Garden Network

This new team in central Florida runs a greenhouse tradepost where people can get seeds and seedlings to grow their own veggies, fruit, and medicinal herbs!

They’ve been running a “Garden Brigade” program, which met three times in February to do workshops on soil science and to support their community with gardening needs!

Chania Primary School

This new team in Kenya supports student health and works to keep school meal programs sustainable. In February, they provided 5,083 students across their network with support and resources to thrive in school and carve a path out of poverty.

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 homeless. They gave out 267 bags of food and other materials in February, plus 10 gallons of coffee, 8 gallons of hot chocolate, and hundreds of tortillas, cakes, and other goodies.

Branded t-shirts they received from as a perk of being a GO Humanity service started conversations and helped the people they served better remember them.

Phoenix Atheists Helping the Homeless

This team in Arizona usually performs a twice-monthly distribution of toiletries and hygiene items to unsheltered people. At these giveaways, volunteers assist those who attend in “shopping” for their needs.

In February, one of these giveaways was interrupted by the Superbowl being held in the same area.

Atheists United

This team held their monthly giveway in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown, giving out 156 meal kits consisting of 5,123 pounds of groceries plus menstrual products as needed.

Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix (HSGP)

This team in Arizona holds a monthly community meeting, which encourages people in the neighborhood to participate in service. In February, they discussed how to spend upcoming GO Humanity grants; ideas for resources they can provide through their free pantry (such as info about shelters and recovery meetings); and planned an upcoming clothing drive.

Later, they stocked the pantry and their Little Free Library, discovering notes of thanks in the suggestion box.

HSGP volunteers also helped distribute clothing and other items to 150-200 unsheltered adults through Arizona State University’s Project Humanities; completed two plarn sleeping mats for unsheltered people; and collected 12 tubes of toothpaste, 8 deodorants, 20 boxes of tampons, and 25 full-fare bus passes!

To cap it all off, volunteers collected six bags of trash from a local nature trail, getting words of encouragement from passing cyclists!

Humanists of Tallahassee

This Florida team met 11 times in February 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.

Northwest Chicagoland Humanist Crew (NCHC)

NCHC volunteers ran a craft fair over February to raise money for Fill a Heart 4 Kids. Their goal was to sponsor a “Locker Home” where youth escaping abuse can keep themselves and their belongings safe.

Kasese Humanist School

This Food Security Project team in Uganda maintains gardens which feed their community. In February, they harvested and planted lots of tomatoes, eggplants, sukuma, and other crops. They also prepared the land so students can use it for school projects on farming.

Next, they’re going to plant more fruit trees and intensify the production of sweet potatoes, maize, cassava, and peanuts.

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 1,971 hours to RMH since 2013.

COUNT also served dinners and cleaned at the Van Buren Center shelter. 113 volunteers have worked 1,321 hours at 96 events at the Van Buren Center to date.

Humanists of West Florida

Humanists of West Florida works weekly alongside groups like Food Not Bombs to provide food, clothing, and toiletries. They distributed about 48 bags of nutrition, toiletries, medicine, and clothing at each of their four events in February.

Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI)

This team has chapters all over the Philippines. Here’s what they were up to in February:

• Four Reading Room programs where kids participated in activities about ecology and made cards of appreciation for unsheltered people. 95 children received snack packs and juice through the programs.
• A giveaway in Alabang where 50 families received vegetables and feminine hygiene packs.
• A “Love Month” Celebration in Bulacan, where volunteers gave out packs of goodies like oatmeal cookies, macaroons, and chocolate crinkles to 205 residents of Pinagbakahan.
• A collection and distribution of bread in Zambales. Volunteers distributed 50 packs of bread to individuals, and gave 100 more to a learning center for Indigenous people.
• Traveling to meet the Aeta people to see how HAPI can help their learning center/dormitory.
• A distribution of 10 hydroponic kits to the Aeta. Although the community they served already had land to grow vegetables and aquaponics to raise tilapia, they had not been successful in these endeavors. HAPI hopes that starting with smaller hydroponic kits will allow the Aeta to become more accustomed to the process. A total of 150 students will benefit.
• Feeding arrozzkaldo to 100 children.
• Visiting the Dumagat people in a remote community, serving 130 people meals and giving school supplies to 85 children.

360 Eats

This team in Safety Harbor, FL met with partners six times to serve a total of 600 nutritious meals at a low-income senior site and a food desert.

Atheists Helping the Homeless DC

This team in Washington, DC held their monthly distribution event, giving away hygiene kits plus canvas bags (heavy duty bags and small totes), lip balm, and winter clothes.

Kenya Humanist Alliance

This team in Kisimu County, Kenya donated food to orphanages and homes for kids abandoned by their parents. The team writes “Thank you so much GO Humanity for touching hearts of the needy children.”

Central Florida Mutual Aid (CFLMA)

This new team met eight times in February, rescuing food from partner meal services and distributing it wherever needed, including low-income neighborhoods; communities of unhoused neighbors; Title IX schools; and other areas where people experience food insecurity.

Many of their food rescues and distributions are facilitated by autonomous organizing and direct action. Volunteers take initiative and spontaneously plan where and to whom to distribute depending on their own community relationships and awareness of local needs.

Central Florida Freethought Community

This Orlando, FL team cleaned up their adopted stretch of highway!