BBN teams reported more than 20 events and over 600 hours of service in July!
Message from the BBN Coordinator
A South Jersey Humanist volunteer delivers produce from the group's garden to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey
Picking the Picture of the Month and Team of the Month is always a wonderfully difficult decision. Day in and day out, Beyond Belief Network (BBN) teams put their humanist values into action in creative and inspiring ways. South Texas Atheists for Reason (STAR) is our July Team of the Month after submitting a staggering nine events. See below for pictures and details about how they are collaborating with other local groups to reach thousands of people with their service. Artistry was behind the July Picture of the Month prize for Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT), but they are just as reliable for regularly submitting great service events! See below for the prize-winning photo and information about what COUNT volunteers are doing.

Of course, STAR and COUNT are just two of the many amazing BBN teams having a positive impact in their communities - BBN teams reported more than 20 service events and over 600 volunteering hours in July, and those are just the events our BBN teams told us about! Team leaders, remember to report your events to us so your team can level up for more rewards and we can recognize your efforts. We know you don't do it for the fame, but be sure to tell us what you're doing so we can celebrate your team.
 
If you are interested in learning more about having your team join BBN or joining a team in your area, visit our website .
July Team of the Month: South Texas Atheists for Reason (STAR)

Since March 27th, South Texas Atheists for Reason have coordinated a regular event with the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) that provides humanist chaplains to support the trainees at Lackland Air Force Base whose needs are not met by the Christian, Muslim, or Jewish chaplains present at the base. The first event drew 328 trainees. Each subsequent event has drawn more and more, with 733 trainees attending the event on July 31st. These rising attendance numbers show that STAR and MAAF are providing a much-needed service.

And that's not all! In addition to the five events at Lackland Air Force Base in July, STAR volunteers worked with the Texas Ramp Project to increase home accessibility  for a person in a wheelchair, handed out hygiene supplies and weather-appropriate clothing as part of their monthly "Helping the Homeless" event, helped prepare garden plots for the San Antonio Food Bank, and did some trail maintenance and environmental conservation with the Watershed Wise Warriors program of the San Antonio River Authority.
July Picture of the Month: Central Ohio United Non-Theists

In this photo, a COUNT volunteer captures video of a speaker at the Secular Student Alliance 2016 Conference. COUNT helped with media and transportation for the third straight year. 

COUNT also volunteered at the local Ronald McDonald House and alongside the Humanist Community of Central Ohio (HCCO) at Community Shelter Board in July.
Corpus Christi Atheists

On July 9th, 16 Corpus Christi Atheists got together to clean up their adopted mile of Texas coastline. Look at that haul!
Minnesota Atheists

In addition to running their fifth annual Mr. Paul Aints minor league baseball event in July (featured in the last newsletter), Minnesota Atheists packed food at the Food Group warehouse.



Humanists of Houston

Humanists of Houston volunteered with Stop Hunger Now to commemorate Mandela Day. Volunteers set up and took down packaging stations and equipment, filled bins with raw ingredients, scooped ingredients into meal bags, weighed and sealed the bags, boxed and stacked them on pallets, and loaded the pallets and equipment onto a truck.
Press Release about social justice partnership between FBB and AHA

Foundation Beyond Belief and the American Humanist Association are pleased to announce a national partnership to promote social justice and racial equality through Foundation Beyond Belief's Beyond Belief Network (BBN) program. The program encourages humanists and other nontheists to take part in community volunteering and charitable giving to dispel the myth that nonreligious individuals are less generous than their religious counterparts.

Foundation Beyond Belief's Beyond Belief Network program and the American Humanist Association, along with its social justice adjuncts, the Black Humanist Alliance, the LGBTQ Humanist Alliance and the Feminist Humanist Alliance, are urging their members to take part in social justice activism. Both organizations are currently encouraging their members and volunteers to become active in Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network organizing white people for racial justice. The American Humanist Association recently became an official partner with SURJ.

"With its emphasis on the inherent dignity of all people, the humanist movement is a natural ally in the fight for racial justice," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "To fully live our humanism, we must take action to support people of color as we work together toward equality for all."

"We are proud to partner with Foundation Beyond Belief to promote the work that SURJ is doing to involve white people in the struggle for racial justice and to promote the humanist values of justice for all people," said Sincere Kirabo, social justice coordinator of the American Humanist Association. "By taking part in social justice work, we can better reveal our humanist values through action, foster diversity within the humanist movement and advance social progress." 

"Humanists are eager to join the fight for racial justice, and Foundation Beyond Belief exists to help them put their values into action," said Noelle George, FBB executive director. "Through this partnership with the AHA and SURJ, FBB will help humanist groups and individuals take concrete steps to promote equality in their communities and support organizing efforts led by people of color."

Said FBB's Beyond Belief Network Coordinator Conor Robinson, "What's exciting about this partnership is that it will make the fight for racial justice more tangible for individuals and groups who want to help but don't know how.  By offering resources and coordinating volunteering opportunities for hundreds of local service organizations, FBB, the AHA and SURJ will mobilize thousands of humanists who are ready to support one of the most pressing social justice issues of our time."

Foundation Beyond Belief and American Humanist Association members are currently being encouraged to take part in SURJ's August phone bank . Phone bank volunteers will connect with people about racial justice activism, recruit new volunteers to SURJ's network and raise resources to support local organizing by people of color. Humanists who are interested in becoming involved should contact Sincere Kirabo at [email protected] for more information.
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