Local Charitable Work

Secular Humanists of Santa Cruz County
Dennis Etler, President
 (831) 338-2314
deetler@cabrillo.edu

Hasn’t performed any charitable work yet but is interested in a local “adopt a beach” program and maybe some other activities down the line.

Greater Worcester Humanists
David Niose, facilitator
 (978) 582-0148
dniose@americanhumanist.org

Members of Greater Worcester Humanists regularly help out at a local food pantry, which is run out of the UU Church of Worcester.  The pantry provides food and other essential items for needy individuals and families in the Worcester, Massachusetts, area.

GWH is also sponsoring a major drive to provide school supplies to needy children in the Worcester area.  This drive was prompted by a request from the Worcester Food Bank, which told us they had a need for backpacks, notebooks, and lots of other school supplies among poor families and students in the Worcester area.

Humanist Society of New Mexico *
Fred March, president
1023 Tramway Lane, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87122
505-323-6784
FMarch@thinkwellassociates.com

The Humanist Society of New Mexico has an annual food drive, and donates to local charities.

Humanist Society of Santa Barbara
Roger Schlueter, President
 (805) 963-8508
president@santabarbarahumanists.org

The Humanist Society of Santa Barbara used to collect non-perishable food and donate it to the local woman’s shelter.  That program faded so in July, they are meeting with a representative of the local food bank to see how they could volunteer there.

On the national level, they were one of the first groups to become an organizational life member of the FFRF and have continued to donate to their efforts.

 Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix
Susan Sackett, president
 (602) 426-1313
humanist@hsgp.org

The Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix has a charity that they support called HomeBase.  (http://www.hbys.com/) They have donated thousands of dollars of goods-in-kind, such as crew socks, clothing, toiletries, etc.  They have had drives following disasters, such as Katrina and the Asian tsunami, in which they collected and donated thousands of dollars to the American Red Cross.

Humanist Community of Central Ohio
Sharon Moss, president
P.O. Box 141373
Columbus, OH  43214-6373
614-470-0811
mosssm@gmail.com

For the past 20 years, HCCO has taken donations of food/cash for the Clintonville Community Resource Center at every meeting. For the past two years, they have done adopt-a-highway cleanup and have also occasionally done a group blood donation (trip to a blood donation center) and worked in a soup kitchen. They have both of these events scheduled for July.

HCCO has also participated in AIDS Walk with Students for Freethought.

HCCO has photos from AIDS Walk, highway cleanup, and a previous blood drive and will have photos of the soup kitchen and next blood drive at the end of July. They also have donated (as a group) to Camp Quest and have been sponsoring Science Friday on our local NPR station for the last 10 years. They also have adopted a bonobo at our local zoo for the last 2 years.

Secular Humanists of the Low Country
P.O. Box 32256
Charleston, SC, 29417
Contact: Nancy Worley/Herb Silverman
silvermanh@cofc.edu
 (843) 953-5728

I thought I would briefly describe our activities over the past several years and you could judge if any of them are interesting enough to become part of an article.  As you know, among the guiding principles of secular humanism are compassion, altruism and unselfishness so we take volunteering on projects that help to improve our community very seriously and work diligently at these projects.

This summer we are started on a new endeavor. We are working with Fields To Families, an organization that serves as a link between local farms and community organizations that feed the hungry. When farmers have fruits and vegetables that they can spare, either because they can’t harvest them in time or because they simply can’t use them , they contact Fields to Families. Volunteers for Fields to Families then go to the farm and glean the unwanted produce. The fruits and vegetables are then taken to Lowcountry organizations that feed the hungry. Other organizations where we have volunteered include:
Windwood Farm-a residential facility for troubled youth located on a large working farm in Awendaw. SHL volunteers have helped with the maintenance of the farm.

Charleston Youth Development Center (CYDC) – a residential facility for children who have suffered from abuse, neglect, abandonment and emotional disturbances. Children are housed in cottages according to age and sex on a large campus in North Charleston. SHL worked at the Preparation for Adult Living  (PAL) cottage with young women between the ages of 17-21. We painted rooms and sewed curtains for the girls rooms, hung blinds, made small repairs, upholstered dining room chairs, and painted the director’s office. 

Charleston Clean Cities Sweep- SHL joined with one of Charleston's Neighborhood Association in picking up trash during Earth Day activities in April. 

The Teacher’s  Supply Closet (TSC)- The mission of the TSC is to serve the educational and creative needs of children in low income schools in the Lowcountry by supplying free learning materials for teachers to use in their classrooms. SHL members bring supplies  (notebooks, glue sticks, crayons, etc.)  to SHL monthly meetings. The supplies are then delivered to the Teacher’s Supply Closet office.
  
Adopt –A-Highway. SHL had adopted a  portion  of  Harborview Road on James Island and once a month, SHL volunteers clean up the litter along that stretch of  road.

Food Bank-  SHL has participated in volunteer days at the Food Bank by sorting donations, and cleaning and sweeping the warehouse.
 
In addition to volunteer activities, for several years the SHL Board has selected local charities for which to raise money. We collect monetary donations from SHL members and friends over a three month period, then donate the sum to an organization. Over the last several years, we have raised several thousands of dollars for such organizations as: Charleston Youth Development Center, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Planned Parenthood, Windwood Farm, Charleston County Adult Drug Court, My Sister's House, and Operation Home."

If you have any questions, I can be reached at 843-763-4044 or by e-mail at worleyn@bellsouth.net.  The President of SHL is Jonathan Lamb and he can be reached at  469-0654 or by e-mail at weatherfeller@gmail.com.

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