BBN teams take the lead in spring community service events

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Foundation Beyond Belief’s Beyond Belief Network is a network of secular humanist groups volunteering in their communities and raising money for FBB’s featured charities and programs. Any group with a public secular humanist or atheist identity is welcome to join, regardless of experience or group size.

Three volunteers from Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless were invited by Dr. Innes Mitchell of St. Edward's University to give a brief presentation to his Perspectives on Atheism class. A good time was had by all and the team was surprised with a generous financial gift for their giveaways!

Ten members of Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry joined about 100 other volunteers to spruce up Colonial Dorchester State Park in Summerville, SC. They cut brush, spread mulch, raked debris, and hauled large fallen branches into piles to be later mulched. This project was one of several organized for Summerville Cares Day of Service, now in its third year. It was founded in large part by the local LDS church.

Six volunteers from Upstate Atheists ran a car wash to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and raise funds for their Light the Night Team. They set up outside of a local Advance Auto store where they washed thirteen cars and made over $100!

Members of Freethought Dayton volunteer weekly at the Foodbank, the primary source of food for the hunger relief network in the Miami Valley. Although the activities vary from week-to-week, some jobs included sorting and packing donated food. They also assembled an entire pallet of "weekend backpacks," which is a supply of nutritious food for food-insecure children to take home from school over the weekend. Members of Freethought Dayton also participated in Five River MetroParks annual "Adopt-a-Park" program. They have participated in this event for three of the past four years. This year, they worked at Wegerzyn Gardens in Dayton, OH picking up trash around community garden beds and along a stream. They also removed invasive honeysuckle from a patch of forest.

Humanist Community of Central Ohio hosted a Red Cross Blood Drive in the conference room of their office building during Week of Action. Four volunteers took the lead planning, recruiting donors, and hosting the event. They had 23 people register and 20 successful donations.

If you are a member of a secular humanist or atheist group and would like to participate in community service projects under the national umbrella of Foundation Beyond Belief, join Beyond Belief Network. We welcome all atheist groups interested in service, from groups with extensive volunteer experience to newly formed groups new to secular service. By aggregating our efforts, we demonstrate that all we really need is charity and goodness to make the world a better place.