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Meet the Pathfinders

Submitted by FBB on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 05:48

Pathfinders Project

  

We're excited to announce Pathfinders Project, a humanist service and research trip. Pathfinders Project is our small-grant beneficiary for the second quarter of 2013. Click here to learn how you can help support the project and fund their international service trip.

Project: Pathfinders Project
Project Leader: Conor Robinson
Sponsor: Foundation Beyond Belief
Full project budget: $108,000

Pathfinders Project is a yearlong international service and research trip sponsored by Foundation Beyond Belief. From July 2013 to July 2014, four humanists will complete clean water, education, and human rights projects in collaboration with local nonprofits and NGOs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As they complete these projects, the Pathfinders will collect data on each country and partner organization with the ultimate goal of evaluating sites for the forthcoming Humanist Service Corps.

Our Pathfinders
  Conor Robinson is an elementary special education teacher in Los Angeles. He graduated from Yale University in 2010, after founding the Yale Humanist Society, majoring in English, and minoring in intramural sports. A lifelong vegetarian and six-year vegan, Conor is looking forward to the culinary exploration that will go hand in hand with his cultural exchange.
 
  Ben Blanchard is a biomedical major at St. Cloud State University, serving as president of SSA-SCSU as well as VNC for the UpperMidWest Network for the National SSA. Ben aspires to create plastic-eating bacteria, then become a pediatric oncologist. In his free time, he enjoys absorbing knowledge, friendly debates, doing science, and amassing nerd-cred.
 
  Claire Cooper is from Albany, NY, and is a graduate of Brandeis University. Claire has worked with various programs exposing youth to international travel, cultural immersion, and foreign language learning, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. She loves exploring, reading, trying bizarre foods, meeting new people, and doing service work!
 
  Wendy Webber is a graduate student at Yale Divinity School, where she is a founding member of an atheist, agnostic, and multifaith community that fosters interbelief dialogues and initiatives. Wendy is a published author who plays tennis, takes photos, and enjoys offbeat museums like the chamber pot museum and surgical instruments museum.

 

Pathfinders Project Itinerary
July 2013   Trenton, New Jersey: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), Poverty Beneficiary Q4 2010

August 2013

  

EDUCATION PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
Siem Reap, Cambodia: Bridge of Life School

While in Cambodia, the Pathfinders will work as English teachers at the main school in Siem Reap. They will also help construct a floating latrine for the Bridge of Life School in the laketop village of Kampong Kleang.
September and October 2013   Kasese, Uganda: Kasese Humanist Primary School, Education Beneficiary Q3 2012
October and November 2013   Central Uganda: Uganda Humanist Schools Trust, Education Beneficiary Q3 2011 and 2010
November and December 2013   Northern Ghana: Leo Igwe Research Project, Small Grants Beneficiary Q3 2012
January 2014   Pedernales, Dominican Republic: Children of the Border

February 2014

  

CLEAN WATER PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
Muisne, Ecuador: Water Ecuador

While in Ecuador, the Pathfinders will work to dig wells, install water purification systems, and educate about clean water, hygiene, and sanitation.
March 2014   La Guajira, Colombia: Aguayuda
April 2014   Guatemala City, Guatemala: Safe Passage
May-June 2014   Guatemala City, Guatemala: Avivara, Small Grant Beneficiary Q4 2012


Pathfinders Project and the Humanist Service Corps will enable humanists to put their values into action, thereby demonstrating those values to the world. Pathfinders Project has been described by Hemant Mehta as "the ultimate service project for Humanists" and by James Croft as "a life-changing opportunity." Certainly, Pathfinders Project will have a meaningful impact on each of the communities visited and a profound effect on each of the Pathfinders. Furthermore, Pathfinders Project will shape the humanist movement for years to come. In taking the first step toward launching the Humanist Service Corps, the Pathfinders are building the structure of a flagship program not just for Foundation Beyond Belief, but for the entire humanist movement.
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