Teams in our Food Security Project (FSP) reported 28 events in May, serving 12,874 individual beneficiaries and giving out 4,150 meals! Additional GO Humanity Service Teams (GO Teams) held 18 more service events.

Recognitions

Team of the Month goes to Pikes Peak Atheists & Pikes Peak Atheists Families!

For Secular Week of Action, this Colorado team held a donation drive for One Nation Walking Together, which provides essentials for impoverished Native Americans. They collected 9 boxes of household items plus a dozen miscellaneous donations through their Amazon wishlist! Donations included hygiene items, food, towels, shoes, hats, gloves, kids’ clothes, bedding, tools, and more.

Later, they cleaned up trash in their adopted section of creek in the heart of Colorado Springs!

Photo of the Month (above) goes to Humanists of Tallahassee, which was approved to a Little Help Shelf (free food pantry) near an elementary school in their state’s most economically-deprived area. They held a planning meeting with school administrators and two construction parties, all for Secular Week of Action!

Southeastern Virginia Atheists, Skeptics & Humanists (SEVASH)

SEVASH runs a free food pantry in partnership with other local organizations and community members. 13 known volunteers serviced their pantries in Norfolk and Newport News, contributing approximately 457 pounds of food in May.

With funds received from GO Humanity, they were better able to reimburse their contributors and increase contribution levels!

Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix

This Food Security Project team continued an ongoing project crocheting plarn sleeping mats for unsheltered people. It takes 500-700 plastic bags to complete a 6-foot sleeping mat, and in May they finished three!

They also collected donations including 20 bus passes, 27 cooling bandanas, toiletries, period products, sun screen, lotions, and toothpaste!

Humanist Alliance Philippines International

This big Food Security Project team held a few different events in May:

• A giveaway to hospital patients and frontliners in isolation due to COVID-19. Volunteers provided 110 packs of fresh food sponsored by a local bakery.
• Meeting with new potential beneficiaries and distributing face snacks, masks, school supply kits, and toothbrush kits to 55 kids.
• Starting a free community garden supporting families who need free produce! Moms will volunteer to tend to garden and in exchange take all the produce they need from it.

Central Ohio United Non-Theists

This Columbus team worked at the Van Buren Shelter to serve dinners and clean the facility. 112 of their volunteers have worked 1,296 hours at the Van Buren Center to date!

Freethinkers Association of Central Texas (FACT)

FACT weeded the cucumber and watermelon fields at San Antonio Urban Farm, keeping invasive plants from stealing the sunlight from the crops!

Austin Texas Humanists At Work (ATXHAW)

This Food Security Project team met five times in May to give out meals for people experiencing homelessness through the Charlie Center! Volunteers served fruit, lasagna, tacos, spaghetti, cake, and more! Clients also got help finding additional services like medical care.

Volunteers reported quite a few emotional encounters. This included helping people soaked by the rain, one crying, and another who said he and his wife are newly employed and housed, thanks in part to ATXHAW’s help!

North Orlando Oasis

This Food Security Project team held a composting project for their Mutual Aid Garden Club! The club gathers people who are interested in increasing food security, who share food, plants, seeds, supplies, and knowledge. Food-insecure people connect with gardeners who have surplus and volunteers supply shelters with produce.

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 food rescue in Summit County, Colorado operates free food coolers in local Starbucks and at a community clinic. In May, they collected 2,540 pounds of food and worked on an agreement with a kitchen to package donations of bulk prepared foods.

There is much more bulk food available than some of their meal service sites can use, so CAFÉ is also coordinating with their county and a local senior center to use their facilities for packing and storage.

They also got a volunteer certified as a food service manager, and are expecting to get licensed for food manufacture soon!

CORMII Community Development Corporation

This Rockingham County, North Carolina team meets every Thursday for a weekly curbside food distribution. In May, that’s what they did!

The Food Drive

This Melrose, MA team rescues food in 11 communities north of Boston. In May, volunteers brought their kids and grandkids to help deliver healthy produce to local pantries. High school students recovered hundreds of pounds of prepared meals in communities with poverty rates of up to 20%. And neighbors joined together to rescued truckloads of perishable items at Whole Foods. Altogether, they had 124 total food rescues in May!