November Team of the Month: Atheist Community of San Jose

​Congratulations to Beyond Belief Network’s November Team of the Month: Atheist Community of San Jose (ACSJ)! This Level 2 team is located in San Jose, CA. ACSJ was chosen for this honor because of their partnerships with local organizations and their regular service event schedule.

ACSJ members regularly volunteer to sort donated food at Second Harvest Food Bank. In September, they worked for two hours sorting 15,000 lbs. of donated food. Team members also donate blood at Stanford Blood Center in Mountain View, CA. In October, ten members each donated one pint of whole blood.    

ACSJ also works with organizations in their area. One of these is Downtown Streets Team, an organization that reaches out to the homeless throughout San Jose. In July, four team members volunteered with Downtown Streets Team at their "Apply-a-thon" Job Application Marathon. Each member engaged one-on-one with at-risk-homeless clients to help fill out job applications and resumes. In another event with Downtown Streets Team, five ACSJ members worked with clients whose job it was to clean-up the remains of a homeless encampment. Together, they picked up 40 bags of trash along a local creek. In August, Atheist Community of San Jose assembled 86 undergarment kits into labeled 1-gallon baggies for Downtown Streets Team. The team also assembled dozens of toiletry kits.

ACSJ also work with the non-profit organization, Save The Bay. In October, the team joined Save The Bay to cleanup the area surrounding Coyote Creek in Watson Park located in San Jose, CA. Team members worked closely with twenty other volunteers for three hours, picking up plastic waste, cigarette butts, styrofoam pieces and more. One of the team members won a prize for removing the most Styrofoam.

Beyond Belief Network is proud to support Atheist Community of San Jose and wishes them continued success in their endeavors.

Team of the Month recognition is a benefit provided by Foundation Beyond Belief to our Beyond Belief Network teams. In order to be considered, your group must be a Level One Beyond Belief Network team and you must submit at least one event report during the month. Team of the Month selection is based on the number, length, variety, and documentation (e.g., submitted pictures, blog posts, videos, etc.) of events.

Teams can only be Team of the Month once per calendar year. If your local group does great service work, but isn’t a member of BBN, you can join anytime! In addition to recognition, your team can qualify for free t-shirts and grants. If your local humanist group doesn’t volunteer, but you’d like to start, we’d love to help! For teams new to secular service, we offer tons of ideas, event guides, and advice.