Foundation Beyond Belief (FBB) is proud to announce that we are now a "Special Friend" team partner with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for their Light The Night Walks. We will be the rallying point around which local freethought, atheist, and secular humanist groups will form teams to participate in Light the Night Walks.

Our goals

Our goal is to unite the freethought movement around the world to raise one million U.S. dollars for the fight against cancer in 2012. This would make the FBB team the first team in LLS history to bring in $1,000,000 or more in their first year! In addition, we hope to have at least 100 local FBB teams in our first year.

Why are we doing this?

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in this country and creates enormous suffering for our friends and families. Thankfully, we can help prevent future suffering through working with organizations like LLS.
Because we can! It is time to show the amazing things we are capable of achieving when we unite around our reason-based values. This is a goal we can reach if everyone helps out.
It is time to rally behind something big that reflects what we DO believe in: the healing power of scientific research, education and compassionate patient services.
The Light The Night event, and fundraising efforts beforehand, are a fun opportunity to get to better know the people in your local secular groups and expand our secular communities.
It is time to engage in enjoyable and rewarding outreach opportunities to show our communities that we value many of the same things they do.
Finally, it is time to be visible, and the most positive way to be "out" as a nontheist is by fundraising for a great charity that everyone can support. We may not believe the same things as our neighbors, but we can all unite against cancer.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and leukemia is the leading cause of cancer death in children under the age of 20. Every four minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer; every ten minutes someone dies. That is around 150,000 diagnoses and 50,000 deaths per year in the US alone. To date, LLS has invested more than $814 million in research aimed at treating and curing blood cancer, with $76.7 million in 2011 alone. They also provide direct patient aid for those in need, family support groups, and educational services. 76 cents of every dollar LLS spends goes towards LLS's mission of research and patient services.

About Light The Night (LTN)

Walkers participate in leisurely evening two-three mile walk held in the autumn (the exact date and time depend on the walk location). There are around 200 LTN annual fundraising walks held across the U.S. and Canada, but people from all over the world can participate in the Foundation Beyond Belief team. Funds are raised by asking for donations from friends and family, making online donations ourselves, and holding fundraising events. Each person who registers as a fundraiser with the FBB team receives their own online fundraising page whether they walk in a local LTN event or live on the other side of the world and want to help as a "virtual walker."

Donations will provide lifesaving blood cancer research, free educational materials and events for patients and families, local programs, such as Family Support Groups and the Patti Robinson Kaufmann First Connection program, a peer-to-peer counseling program, and comprehensive, personalized assistance through the LLS Information Resource Center.

How to join the FBB LTN team

Go to the FBB page on the LTN website to start a local team under the FBB banner or to join an existing team. If you are creating a team, be sure to use the name of your group followed by "FBB", for example, "Hitchville Freethinkers - FBB". For more details on how to create or join a team, check out our Registration Quick Start Guide for detailed instructions.

If you are in a U.S. or Canadian local group that is not near an LTN Walk, please contact Breanna Baer (Breanna.Baer@lls.org) and she will assign your group to a walk for which your group will be able to fundraise, but will not need to attend in person.

If you are in an international group outside the U.S/Canada that would like to create a fundraising team, please contact Breanna Baer (Breanna.Baer@lls.org) and she will help you create a team as part of our international "virtual team".

If you are not a part of a local group or live outside of the U.S. and Canada, you can still independently join the FBB team as a "virtual walker." Click here to join the FBB "virtual team".

Photo by Jose Ramirez, Creative Commons license

Another way to help is by donating to our team. You can donate from anywhere in the world. In the U.S. gifts are tax deductible, and may be outside of the U.S as well (you should check the tax laws in your country). Click here to donate to our cause! Remember, even if you cannot afford to donate much, you can still donate your time through walking and fundraising.

Honored Hero 2012: Christopher Hitchens

LLS funds cancer research that has helped develop numerous drugs that treat not only blood cancers, but other cancers as well. With this in mind, we have selected Christopher Hitchens as our 2012 Honored Hero. Hitch did so much for our movement: he published many books, most notably God is Not Great: The Case Against Religion (Warner Twelve), regularly wrote about atheist issues in numerous magazines and newspapers, made frequent radio and television appearances in support of our movement, and devoted much of his life to protect secular values against religious fanaticism; now we will walk and give in honor of him.

Stiefel family to match our fundraising efforts

In addition to serving a great cause, joining as a part of the FBB international team will highlight non-theist giving globally and raise awareness for local secular groups. To support this goal, the Stiefel family has pledged to match the first $500,000 we raise for LLS! Additionally, the Stiefel Freethought Foundation is giving $18,000 to FBB for an incentive program. The top fundraising teams will have the opportunity to direct up to $5,000 in grants with up to half going to a local qualifying freethought nonprofit and the rest to qualifying FBB Allies of their choice. To learn more about the incentive program, click here.