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Meet our new team of interns for spring 2014! We’re excited to have Elizabeth, Liz, Matt, and Samantha join the team.

Matt De Stasio, a chronic skeptic and Unitarian Universalist by birth, has been living a secular life in Wisconsin for decades. Having earned his bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University in philosophy and religious studies, he has found a passion for studying religious belief and its impact on action in the public sphere. Currently residing in Washington, DC, Matt hopes to impact public policy and help to represent humanist values on a national scale. In his spare time, he enjoys fencing and swing dancing interspersed with books of science fiction and good Italian cooking.

Matt will be serving as our Humanist Giving program intern. You can reach him at humanistgiving@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

A native Pittsburgher, Liz Moody completed her BA in international studies at The Ohio State University. Her pursuit of the eccentric brought her to Moscow, Russia, where she currently lives and works. An avid follower of the atheist blogosphere since she had a computer, Liz is excited to be taking a more active role in the nonbelievers’ community as an FBB intern. When not working or studying, she enjoys reading, writing, aimless wandering (or “adventuring”), cooking experiments, lively discussions with cab drivers, and anything nautical.

Liz will serve as our communications and marketing intern. You can reach her at communications@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Elizabeth Minutello is a recent graduate of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she earned both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in creative writing. She is passionate about volunteering and is thrilled to be working with Foundation Beyond Belief. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, watching movies, and reading.

Elizabeth will be our Beyond Belief Network intern. You can reach her at volunteers@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Samantha Montano has been an atheist since around the time she found out Santa Claus wasn’t real. Since then she has developed into a FreethinkingSecularHumanistAtheist (because, nuance). As an 18-year resident of Maine (she has never ridden a moose but did work in a lighthouse), she is wicked sarcastic and loves the ocean. She attended Loyola University in New Orleans, where she majored in psychology. She worked for a myriad of nonprofits on post-Katrina rebuilding and environmental activism following the BP disaster, leading to the realization of an unwavering passion (or obsession) for disasters. Currently she is finishing her master’s in emergency management at North Dakota State University. In the coming months, her primary focus is to survive the remainder of her stint in Fargo without acquiring frostbite.

Samantha will serve as our crisis response intern. You can reach her at crisisresponse@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Please join us in welcoming our newest FBB interns!

Meet our new team of interns for fall 2013! We’re excited to have Elizabeth, David, Ashlyn, Sarah, and Micah join the team.

Elizabeth Dorssom is a first-year graduate student of public administration at California State University, Northridge. She previously earned her bachelor’s degree from Chatham College for Women in Pennsylvania. Elizabeth loves to take road trips and has a goal of visiting all the Presidential Libraries in the United States. (She has already visited four!) In her spare time, Elizabeth likes to watch Real Time with Bill Maher, write articles for Yahoo News, and read books on her Kindle. Elizabeth’s interests include feminism, women’s studies, politics, history, freethought, and atheism.

Elizabeth will be our Beyond Belief Network intern. You can reach her at volunteers@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

David Viviano, a lifelong nonbeliever, grew up in upstate New York before later moving to Jacksonville, Florida, for work, where he currently resides. Living there inspired him to establish a secular community—he recently formed the North Florida Atheists, who work to normalize the word “atheist,” encourage social interaction with like-minded individuals, and also lend a helping hand to the community we live in. He is team captain for the North Florida Atheists Light The Night Walk team as well. David enjoys spending time with his two daughters, a good laugh, sports, movies, social media, and helping out others.

David will be serving as our Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Light The Night International Team intern. You can reach him at partners@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Currently living in Manitoba, Canada, with her two partners and four cats, Ashlyn Noble is a recent graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a degree in biology. She currently heads up the Winnipeg Skeptics and is involved with their podcast “Life, the Universe, and Everything Else.” She is passionate about improving the world through humanism, science, and reason. In her spare time, Ashlyn sings with The Rainbow Harmony Project, recreates the Middle Ages with the Society for Creative Anachronism, and learns any craft she can get supplies for.

Ashlyn will be our special projects intern, working to support the Pathfinders Project and our Humanist Crisis Response program. You can reach her at crisisresponse@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Sarah Henry is a high school senior in Southern Indiana and is currently applying to colleges all over the nation. Sarah is very involved in the freethought community now, and is always looking to get more involved! She has been a camper at Camp Quest Ohio for six years, and this year became a counselor at Camp Quest Ohio and Chesapeake. She also co-founded the Secular Student Alliance at her high school and is a member of the Louisville Area Freethinkers. At her school, Sarah leads the National Art Honor Society and the Secular Student Alliance, and she sits on the Executive Board of Dance Marathon, a nonprofit that supports Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sarah is thrilled to start work at Foundation Beyond Belief and can’t wait to learn more about the mechanics of a national nonprofit organization.

Sarah will serve as our communications intern. You can reach her at communications@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Micah Weiss is an aspiring teacher finishing graduate degrees in mathematics and teaching. Raised in Reform Judaism, his involvement in secular activism began with street comedy on the campus of Missouri State University. Now a Humanistic Jew, Micah has served as an organizer for Skepticon in 2012 and 2013.

Micah will be serving as our Humanist Giving program intern. You can reach him at humanistgiving@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Please join us in welcoming our newest FBB interns!

By Noelle George

It’s a new year, and we’re ringing it in with five new interns here at Foundation Beyond Belief! For the next five months, these wonderful people will be supervising programs, writing for the blog, and working with our volunteers. Competition was stiff, and the candidates were outstanding. Take a moment to get to know our new interns! No need to say farewell to our winter interns just yet—they will still be with us until January 31.

Ashley Kirsner has been passionate about atheist giving ever since she mentioned to her high school teacher that she was an atheist and her teacher responded, “But you’re so nice!” She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University with a BA in psychology. After conducting research at various Harvard psychology labs after college, Ashley began a website called PsychUpYourLife.com, where she shares life-improvement tips based in psychological research. She lives in Cambridge, MA, where she is an active member of the Harvard Humanist Community. In her spare time, she enjoys watching dystopian movies, walking her dog, editing other people’s essays, discovering local vegetarian-friendly restaurants, and watching way too much Doctor Who. Ashley’s focus area will be membership and marketing, and you can reach her at members@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Kelley Freeman is a senior at the University of South Carolina pursuing a degree in Russian language and literature, which she has no plans to use, but at least it’s cool. She has been active in the freethought movement for several years and in numerous roles, including as a member and officer of the Secular Student Alliance at the University of South Carolina, a board member for Camp Quest South Carolina, a former intern for the Secular Student Alliance, and as a contributor for Friendly Atheist. While not doing productive atheist things, Kelley crochets (often blasphemously), reads, pets cats, and is active in her campus service sorority. She is also the founder of the Forward Progressive Alliance at USC and a volunteer network coordinator for the Southeastern Region of the Secular Student Alliance. Kelley will be focusing on our Volunteers Beyond Belief program. You can reach her at volunteers@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Stephanie Jackson Ali will finish her masters of social work this May with an emphasis in community empowerment and policy development and a certificate in nonprofit management. Stephanie has experience as a consumer rights advocate and lobbyist, and currently works as a public and policy advocate for a coalition of refugee agencies and as a retention specialist at an Atlanta-area HIV clinic. Steph spent the past summer in two Camp Quest locations, teaching the campers about respectful dialogue and acceptance of others. When she is not working, Steph is fueling her growing obsession with all things pop culture, lounging with her two dogs, and spending a bit of quality time with her husband. Stephanie will be working with the humanist giving program, and you can reach her at humanistgiving@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Phyllis Stolc has a master’s degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University and in social work from Florida State University. Her interests include genocide and atrocity prevention, social and economic development, effective programming, and trauma informed care. She hopes to build her career around inspiring others to believe in humanity’s capacity to solve even the most intractable problems. Phyllis lives in Florida with her husband, dog, and four cats. Phyllis will be our general administration and special projects intern. You can reach her at technology@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Dan Michels was born and raised in Los Angeles but escaped quickly to the mountains of Colorado. He did his undergrad at Naropa University in religion and psychology and got his MA from Denver University in international human rights. Dan’s passion is rock climbing, and he has traveled the world in pursuit of this endeavor. He currently lives in Alexandria, VA, and misses the Colorado mountains very much. Dan’s focus area will be communications, and you can reach him at communications@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

Noelle George, Foundation Beyond Belief’s operations manager, shares her personal reasons for joining her local Light the Night walk to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The knowledge that this life is our only life has been the single most motivating factor in my choice to dedicate most of my free time to the freethought movement. The thought of whittling away my short consciousness with distractions like television and movies is unbearable. When you ask most people to make a list of what’s most important to them—relationships, family, friends, and taking care of each other—people are consistently at the top of the list. This is my expression of humanism: advocating for equality for all human beings, and taking care of each other (in times of need).

Foundation Beyond Belief’s partnership with Stiefel Freethought Society and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise $1 million to fight cancer in 2012 is our chance to do that in a way that is consistent with our values, as a community, together. As FBB’s recently appointed operations manager, it seems obvious that I would support this unprecedented effort to mobilize nonbelievers for a very good cause, one that is consistent with the values of scientific research, humanism, and relying upon each other for help instead of a mythical god. But fighting cancer is also a deeply personal cause for me.

My father’s side of our family has been hit especially hard by cancer. Both of his parents suffered from cancer: My grandmother Lenore died in 1982 at age 57 of brain cancer, and my grandfather Evan died in 2006 of complications from prostate cancer. My only memory of Grandma Lenore was of her in a wheelchair, after her body had suffered some difficult setbacks from the disease.

Grandpa Evan and I had the same birthday, March 5, and although he was almost 60 years older than me, I always felt a special connection to him for that reason. He was a quiet, serious man who had four children. He served in World War II and he was a civil engineer, starting an engineering tradition in our family that continued with my father’s electrical engineering degree, and also with my graduation from the University of Washington with a degree in chemical engineering.

My grandpa’s death was the first in my immediate family after I became an adult and was very difficult for me to process, especially without the comforting thoughts of his essence existing somewhere else. As an atheist and a skeptic, thoughts of heaven or an everlasting life are no comfort, since I can’t make myself believe what doesn’t make sense. Every time a loved one dies, it is a reminder that life is so short, so valuable, and we never know how much longer we have to make a difference, and to impact the memories our loved ones have of us. Each moment is precious, and beautiful moments like the birth of my daughter even more miraculous because of the improbability of our existence.

I joined my local FBB team in Houston because I want to do something positive with a community of people who do it because we want to help others. I want to be a part of the largest organized atheist charity effort in history, and I do believe that we can make a huge difference by working together, with the two hands that we have. We are so good at talking, at debating, at debunking, at writing, at reading, and at discussing issues that are important. We can also be good at doing: doing something to make this world, this life, a better place for ourselves and others is a very worthy use of our time.

Please join me and others on the 120+ FBB Light the Night teams to raise money for cancer research, and consider joining a team in your local area. If you don’t have one, consider starting one, or joining the Foundation Beyond Belief virtual team. If you aren’t able for whatever reason to join a team, please consider donating to your local team in support of this community effort to make a positive difference in the world. Your donation will be split evenly between all the current members of the team.

AronRa is a powerful influence within the skepto-athiosphere. A list of his current accomplishments includes directing the Texas branch of American Atheists, a popular vlog on YouTube, and blogging at Freethought Blogs. So, it is with great pleasure that we bring you a video in support of Light the Night from AronRa and Dr. Zachary Moore, a board member of Foundation Beyond Belief. (Transcript below the video.)