July BBN roundup

A new group registered as a BBN Team this month: the Atheist Community of Polk County, and they’ve already held their first event! Volunteers came out to clean up the two mile roadway the team has adopted through Keep Polk County Beautiful. Eight volunteers collected thirteen bags of trash from the roadside in three hours! Great turnout for their first event! 

A Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT) volunteer worked for seven hours at a soft drink booth at the July 3rd Red, White and Boom fireworks display to benefit the Columbus Ohio Ronald McDonald House, and four volunteers worked as Housewarmers for a total of over twenty-six hours a few days later. COUNT members volunteered again this month with Adaptive Sports Connection (ASC) events, helping Central Ohio veterans, children, and adults who need adaptive equipment or instruction to participate in various sports including skiing, kayaking, and cycling. Ten COUNT members have participated in thirty-two ASC Cycling, Winter Sports, Kayaking, and/or Sailing events, contributing 204.5 hours since they started working with ASC in August 2018. Way to go COUNT on breaking 200 hours volunteered with ASC in your first year working together!

COUNT and Humanist Community of Central Ohio (HCCO) partnered up again this month, volunteering as servers at the Community Shelter Board (CSB) facility on Van Buren Drive in Columbus, Ohio. The teams also held their regular Bleed-N-Feed event at the Carriage Place Red Cross Donor Center, giving a total of eleven units of whole blood and platelets before heading over a nearby restaurant to replenish.  

Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI), held a Nutritioncamp, a collaborative effort with NUGEN Entrepreneurs— a group of entrepreneurs who want to participate in community development events— to feed the poor and underweight children of Alabang, Muntinlupa City in the Philippines. These children belong to HAPI’s adopted community, where they usually hold their community events. The team distributed assorted school supplies in loot bags to students with individually packed food supplements to help curb the incidence of malnutrition in the community.  It was the team’s first time collaborating with NUGEN and the program went well. 

BE Orlando held a Recovering from Religion Peer Discussion Group, providing humanist community support for those doubting or questioning beliefs, facing challenges related to secular identity or supporting secular people in their lives. Eleven members attended. 

The Family & Friends Humanist Crew in Mundelein, IL volunteered at Bernie's Book Bank in Lake Bluff. Bernie's Book Bank collects donated books to distribute to underprivileged children. The team sorted through books to categorize them for which age group they'd be best. Some members couldn't make it due to schedule conflicts, but they had new people join and the event went great! Everyone had a lot of fun volunteering at Bernie's Book Bank again!

We’re really excited for the great work the teams are doing! Keep it up!