September BBN roundup

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Autumn has begun, and you're gonna "fall" for what our BBN teams have been up to!

The Atheist Community of Polk County, in Polk County, Florida held their biweekly cleanups of their adopted stretch of highway this month. At the second cleanup, the deep ditches along the roadway finally dried out and the team was able to get to a bunch of trash that was previously unreachable. They filled 26 bags and removed 2 old tires! 

Atheist Community of Polk County pose with a pile of full trash bags in front of their Adopt-A-Road sign

Humanists Doing Good in Grand Junction, Colorado assisted a senior with disabilities with significant yard cleanup. A roll-off dumpster was provided by Mesa County that made it much easier to remove the large amount of trash and overgrown vegetation from the home, helping to prevent the homeowner from being fined. A great example of a group coming together to help in the community!

 

Humanists Doing Good hauling barrels of trash out of a yard owned by a disabled senior citizen

The Central Florida Freethought Community in Oviedo, Florida held another Park Cleanup event in Kewannee Park this month, removing trash from the park and accompanying areas. Kewannee Park serves as a trailhead to Kewannee Trail, which runs along the north side of the park. After the scare from Hurricane Dorian, it was good for people to work on things at home.

Central Florida Freethought Community poses in front of their adopt-a-park sign

Another busy month for Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT) and Humanist Community of Central Ohio (HCCO)! The teams held their 45th joint shelter event at the Community Shelter Board (CSB) facility on Van Buren Drive in Columbus, Ohio. Some volunteers served dinners while others washed dishes, mopped floors, and cleaned tables. Volunteers wore COUNT/HCCO branded t-shirts or name tags to raise awareness that they are non-theists doing service work. Once the dishes were done, the teams adjourned to the Omnipresent Atheists meetup in progress for dinner, drinks, and conversation. Later in the month, the teams jointly donated eight units of blood at the Carriage Place Red Cross Donor Center in Columbus. The next donation event is planned for the third Thursday in November. 

COUNT also volunteered at Ronald McDonald House Columbus as housewarmers, and three members volunteered as buddy riders for three hours each at a cycling event for Adaptive Sports Connection (ASC). ASC is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA, which helps Central Ohio veterans, children, and adults who need adaptive equipment or instruction to participate in various sports including skiing, kayaking, and cycling. This event was at Heritage Park in Westerville in an effort to explore offering rides in a different part of central Ohio than usual, and featured a potluck following the ride.

Freethought Dayton in Dayton, Ohio held a highway cleanup event for Ohio Department of Transportation at the I-675 & OH-48 interchanges. ODOT hasn't been picking up the bags from prior cleanups at the team’s last ramp, leaving them to get mowed over and shredded into bits. Frustrating, but the team got it done (again)!

The New Orleans Secular Humanist Association (NOSHA) collected 24 pounds of food for the  Second Harvest Food Bank. NOSHA also had a team that fundraised for and walked the annual Walk to End HIV. Eight participants raised $825 for the charity.

New Orleans Secular Humanist Association at the Walk to End HIV

Finally, the Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Lincolnshire, IL held their annual High Holidays collection of requested supplies for A Safe Place, a battered women and children's shelter in their area. The team distributed grocery bags with attached wish lists to their members at Rosh Hashana/New Year's services and asked them to return them full on Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement nine days later. Here's what they got:

Dozens of full bags returned for the Kol Hadash High Holidays collection

Way to keep us inspired this month!