November BBN roundup

We’re thankful for our Beyond Belief Network Teams and the work they do in their local communities! Let's see what everyone got up to during gratitude month.

The New Orleans Secular Humanist Association (NOSHA) in New Orleans, Louisiana collected donations for their popular semi-annual Second Harvest Food Bank several times this year, and this month they sorted and packed food.

Brevard Area Atheists in Melbourne, Florida held a road cleanup this month; six people picked up nine bags of trash, a total of 61 pounds! We're so grateful for the work they’re doing!

Our November Team of the Month, Center for Inquiry-Michigan in Grand Rapids, Michigan, joined other community members to help build, repair and re-naturalize trail sections at Seidman Park, a Kent County Park near Grand Rapids. A workshop and training were included to learn how to support ecologically sustainable trails, followed by work changing the route of a trail into a more scenic, maintainable, and sustainable path. They learned to evaluate "where is the water going to go," considering the slope of hills and lay of the land. The team then put what they learned into action by re-routing a trail from a soggy area to dryer land, while moving part of it to a more scenic location near a pond. It was an awesome experience! 

Four volunteers from Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT) in Columbus, Ohio worked as housewarmers for a total of almost 18 hours at the Columbus Ohio Ronald McDonald House (RMH). RMH provides housing and meals to families with children being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and other area hospitals. Housewarmers work with guests to provide a home-like environment. COUNT volunteers have contributed over 1,500 hours from the start of their involvement with RMH in 2013.

COUNT members also continued their work with The Adaptive Sports Connection this month, attending “dry land” Winter Sports Volunteer Training, which included orientation about working with and assessing students with disabilities, as well as an overview about teaching skiing and snowboarding. We’re looking forward to seeing more of their work with ASC! 

COUNT joined the Humanist Community of Central Ohio (HCCO; also located in Columbus, Ohio) working as servers at the Community Shelter Board (CSB) facility on Van Buren Drive in Columbus, Ohio. Volunteers wear COUNT/HCCO branded t-shirts or name tags to raise awareness that they are non-theists doing service work. Once the dishes are done, the teams adjourn to the Omnipresent Atheists meetup in progress for dinner, drinks and conversation. 

The two Columbus teams paired up again for the final Columbus Coalition of Reason Bleed-N-Feed event of 2019, spending a total of 16 hours donating 14 units at the Carriage Place Red Cross Donor Center in Columbus, Ohio. In 2019 alone, 13 Columbus CoR members spent 60 hours donating 58 units for Bleed-N-Feed events. 22 Columbus CoR members spent 149 hours donating 136 units for Bleed-N-Feed events since January 2017. In 2020, events are planned for third Thursdays in January, March, May, July, September and November. We’re excited to see more from these teams in the new year!

Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless in Austin, Texas, held their November Giveaway for those experiencing homelessness. They had over 20 volunteers give out supplies to 200 individuals. Five gallons of coffee was gone in the fastest time the team has seen yet— so much that they are considering grabbing an extra gallon or two for next time. There were so many large donations of socks that the volunteers were able to give two pairs to each person coming though, which is both rare and awesome.

Finally, the Atheist Community of Polk County, in Polk County, Florida held their regular cleanup of their adopted stretch of highway this month in partnership with Keep Polk County Beautiful. Six volunteers worked for over 16 hours total collecting trash!

Beyond Belief Network is a collective of over 125 humanist, atheist, and other non-believing organizations putting compassionate humanism into action through community volunteering and charitable fundraising. Its just one of many examples of the work our humanist community does to make a positive impact on the world. The network wouldn't be possible without your support. Please help us contiue this work with a contriution to our Annual Appeal campaign today.