Teams in our Food Security Project (FSP) reported 49 events in December, serving 14,613 individual beneficiaries and giving out 5,632 meals!

 Additional GO Humanity Service Teams held 12 more service events.

This brings our final stats for 2022 to…

• • Total events held: 800
  • Total volunteer hours donated: 15,591 (equivalent of $466,960)
  • Total volunteers: 3,844
  • Total meals/kits distributed: 58,995
  • Total pounds of food harvested: 37,715
  • Total pounds of food distributed: 330,887
  • Total individual beneficiaries served: 161,502

New Team

Please welcome new Food Security Project team Blue Trunk Gardening Network in St. Cloud, Florida!

Blue Trunk has a mutual aid garden that shares produce and gardening support to food insecure people. They also help elders and other vulnerable community members prepare for predictable disasters and deploy volunteer brigades to help with rebuilding and cleanup projects.

Photo of the Month

Our favorite pic for December comes from Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless, showing volunteers sorting boxes of toiletries and food to assemble into packs for people experiencing homelessness!

Team of the Month

Team of the Month goes to our new FSP team MOJELIPH in Haiti! They fed over 60 people identified as the most vulnerable in their community at three different events—mostly children in the Cavaillon region who received chicken, rice, and veggies.

 

Central Florida Mutual Aid

This Florida team delivered 200 meals worth of food to Harbor House domestic violence shelter, and collected 150 more from food rescue partners!

Central Florida Freethought Community

This team met for their Annual Solstice Gathering and STEaM toy drive, for which they collected 105 gift items!

 

Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix (HSGP)

This FSP team joined Arizona State University’s Project Humanities program to distribute clothing and other items to about 100 people. One client said he had been on the streets for years all over the US, and he had never seen anything like this service before! Another needed very specific clothing because she just got a job as a store manager—and they had what she needed!

HSGP maintained their Little Free Pantry and community refrigerator, with six members stopping by throughout the week to keep the pantry stocked and manage donations. This month, they added plastic bags so folks could carry food. The demand has been high, so they’re considering adding a larger fridge.

They also took care of their Little Free Library, repairing its glass door after some vandalism.

Southeastern Virginia Atheists, Skeptics & Humanists (SEVASH)

SEVASH maintains two Little Free Pantries in the towns of Newport News and Norfolk. In December, 11 known volunteers contributed 539 pounds of food at a cost of $483. With funds from GO Humanity, they were better able to reimburse contributors and increase contribution levels.

Humanists of Tallahassee

This Florida team met twice a week to assemble and distribute snack and 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.

Atheists United

This team held their monthly giveaway in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown. They gave out 144 meal kits to 143 households consisting of 473 household members.

They also made lunches for Bridge to Home, cleaned up their adopted stretch of highway, and their “Street Pirates” removed religious signs hung illegally on public property.

Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless (AHH)

Volunteers from this team hit up various Austin, TX locales to distribute supplies and assistance to those experiencing homeless. They had a huge donation of shoes and clothing that filled several tables, making recipients very happy. They also had big donations of hand warmers, winter hats, and oranges.

Austin AHH also had a major victory: along with several other local advocates, they convinced Capital Metro (the local transit authority) to work on a permanent solution to provide free transit access to low-income and unsheltered people! While the transit authority researches the method that will be used (hopefully in place by the summer 2023), the groups were given bus passes to distribute every month for the next 6 months at no charge.

Austin AHH picked up 1,200, 31-day passes—almost $50,000 worth—and distributed the first 200 in December!  This is one of the most significant, positive changes to the Travis County Continuum of Care in quite a while, making tons of behind-the-scenes meetings with officials worth it.

Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI)

This large team has chapters all over the Philippines. Their activities in December included feeding, gift-giving, literacy, and creative expression programs for 240 children!

SociologyEats!

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

 

Pikes Peak Atheists and Pikes Peak Atheist Families (PPA)

This Colorado team participated in the TESSA Holiday Shoppe Gift Drive. TESSA empowers victims of partner and sexual violence to take back their lives. Their Holiday Shoppe helps more than 100 families annually, providing the opportunity for adults and children to exchange gifts. Four PPA members donated 119 items, bringing their 9 year total to just over 1,600!

Kasese Humanist School

This Ugandan Food Security Project team feeds their community from a garden on their campus. In December, they harvested 13 sacks of corn, 3 bags of peanuts, 12 crates of eggplants, 15 crates of garden eggs, 600 cabbages, 6 sacks of beans, plus several crates of tomatoes, bamiyas, and more.

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 1,957 hours from the start of their involvement with RMH in 2013.

COUNT also volunteered at the Van Buren Center shelter, serving dinners and cleaning up on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. 113 team members have worked 1,314 hours at 94 events at the Van Buren Center to date.

Susquehanna Valley Ethical Society (SVES)

Twelve SVES volunteers worked at The Food Hub in Lewisburg, PA, which collects and delivers food to local pantries! Volunteers sorted boxes of food, checked donations for safety, and stocked shelves. 40 meal boxes were packed for delivery to 40 families. They also presented the director of The Food Hub with $350 in grocery store gift cards (purchased with GO Humanity grants), which will be given directly to individuals experiencing a food emergency.

Humanists of Polk County

This Florida team met for “Weekends Without Hunger” events, where volunteers pack weekend food supplies to elementary school students experiencing food insecurity!

Kenya Humanist Alliance

This group in rural Kenya maintains a farm funded by GO Humanity grants. The farm enables them to generate income for their organization and to distribute fresh organic vegetables and cereals to impoverished people. In December, they planted and harvested cassava, sweet potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peas, kale, onions, sugarcane, watermelon, and other traditional vegetables.

They’re also achieving success with a chicken farm that supplies eggs for orphans, and distributed used clothes to people living in poverty.

Humanists of West Florida

Humanists of West Florida works beside other groups on a weekly basis to provide food, clothing, toiletries to people in need. They distributed about 48 bags of nutrition at each of their four events in December, plus 12 blankets. Reporters from two outlets interviewed volunteers for news stories about homelessness and food insecurity.

Atheists Helping the Homeless DC (AHH DC)

AHH DC assembled and distributed hygiene kits consisting of items like socks, nonperishable food, nail clippers, deodorant, feminine hygiene items, toothpicks, floss, bandages, and mini flashlights. One volunteer was a high school student who received a class credit for participating. Another long-distance volunteer knitted 15 winter hats, and they also got a donation of string backpacks from a printing company as part of a $500 donation.

Food Rescue Alliance Teams

Four of affiliates of our major grantee Food Rescue Alliance are among the volunteer teams receiving grants in the Food Security Project. Here’s what they’ve been up to:

CAFE Food Rescue

This team in Summit County, CO rescued 3,536 pounds of food, bringing their total for the year 32,525 pounds!

Since some of their programs were closed for the holidays and community dinners didn’t want to handle extra food they couldn’t give out before it expired, one of CAFE’s board members alerted people on social media about two distributions at a neighborhood community center. They distributed 1,750 pounds of milk, mandarins, onions, grapefruit, carrots, and celery in just two hours over two evenings!

CAFE also had some big achievements: they got their 501(c)3 determination, received $3,000 from Summit County Senior Citizens, and will receive grants from the towns of Frisco, Breckenridge, and Silverthorne in January… plus funding from the Rotary Club and a resort development company!

They’re also submitting a proposal for COVID community relief funding as well before the end of January. Whew!

360 Eats

This team in Safety Harbor, FL served 800 nutritious meals to food insecure people in partnership with The Mattie Williams Neighborhood Family Center, Harbor Pointe ALF, Oldsmar Cares, and Pinellas Hope.

CORMII Community Development Corporation

This team in Rockingham County, North Carolina meets every Thursday to hold a curbside food distribution. In December, they served 116 families with 1,191 meals—that’s 2,024 pounds of food!

The Food Drive

The Food Drive performed 155 food rescues in December, passing the milestone of 450,000 total pounds rescued! One volunteer brought her two-year old daughter so she sees from an early age that good food has no business in landfills. When they delivered some treats to a local school, they got this message in return:

“Thank you again for the wonderful treats you bring us all year long, it’s so appreciated!! You would think each staff member was given a million dollars when they come down to get their donuts. I was just told ‘I love the donut fairy!’