ASHS Roundup
News from the Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies

by Jo Ann Mooney

The following article is from the Secular Humanist Bulletin, Volume 15, Number 1.

The Council for Secular Humanism would like to welcome the Freethinkers of Ventura County, the Humanist Association of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the Humanists of Idaho to the Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies.

Humanist Caring. After learning that member Frank Cuzzillo was unable to take care of his garden after a stroke, the Secular Humanists of the East Bay started "Frank's Garden Foodbank Project." Along with tending the garden, they are distributing excess food from Frank's garden to the hungry.

The Capital District Humanist Society got involved with a local soup kitchen, Equinox, not on Christmas when most are already overstaffed, but the Monday before Thanksgiving. Members peeled potatoes and deboned turkeys in order to serve 6,000 on Thanksgiving Day. And the Upstate South Carolina Secular Humanists put their caring into action 365 days a year by supporting a secular recovery house year round.

The Highway to Humanism. The Atheists of Northern Colorado are less than a year old, but already have made themselves highly visible in their community. They have adopted a highway section to maintain but have fears about the possibility of their sign being vandalized. The Atheists of Colorado in Colorado Springs had their sign vandalized and were told by the Colorado Department of Transportation that the sign would be replaced once "but after that, you'll just have to change the name of your organization." Adopt-a-Highway is an activity that all groups should get involved in, and we need to watch carefully how our departments of transportation handle any vandalism.
The Atheists of Northern Colorado are also planning on entering patriotic floats in next year's Fourth of July parade. We hope it will be as successful as the humanist booth staffed by the Humanist Association of St. Petersburg at Circus McGurkis, an annual arts fair.

Please send your local group news to: Jo Ann Mooney, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664.

Jo Ann Mooney is Director of Humanist Community Development for the Council for Secular Humanism and is Executive Director of the Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies. She may be reached at joannmooney@earthlink.net.