Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie
Building community through compassion and reason for a better tomorrow.
We now have a potluck sign up form for the picnic on June 21st. This just to avoid duplicate food but feel free to bring whatever you want to share.
SHoWLE will have a limited number of hamburgers and hot dogs as well has cold soda and water to drink and plates and utensils to use. Feel free to bring any games you want to share.
More information about the picnic can be found the events page.
The International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference, which is put on by the University of Toledo, Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, recently reached out to us to ask if we could sponsor this years conference that will be held virtually in September. This is a great opportunity for SHoWLE to have our name out publicly in support of an event that fits in with our values.
They have sponsorship levels with the lowest package being $500 which would have our name and logo in the program and website and would provide three one day tickets we could give out to donors.
Our goal is to raise $500 by June 30th for our sponsorship. If you donate and want to attend we will have the tickets available on a first come first serve basis. The largest sponsorship package is $5000 and each package comes with more free tickets but our goal for now is $500.
We will donate any funds we raise to help with the conference.
To donate for our sponsorship follow the link below:
Here is information about the conference from their website:
“Human trafficking is one of the most prevalent and active criminal enterprises affecting our local, national, and international community. Responses to combat trafficking include prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership. The International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference is proud to be the host of the oldest and largest academic conference on human trafficking in the world. As the world’s leading academic conference on this topic, we serve as the hub through which practitioners, policy makers, researchers, criminal justice professionals, businesses, healthcare professionals, social workers, and more become educated and equipped to provide the best local and global responses possible. We remain committed to educating the community and we need your help!
The 22nd Annual International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference will be hosted virtually on September 17–19, 2025 and will highlight a variety of skilled presenters at the forefront of both human trafficking and social justice issues. This year’s conference will feature over 100 presentations and thousands of attendees tuning in from all corners of the world. Attendees will learn how to identify risk factors, improve responses for victims, and learn how we can collectively move forward with an agenda for change.”
If you missed the Here 4 Good sale through Jupmode in March we have good news. SHoWLE has a limited number of T‑shirts for sale and 100% of the sale goes to the group. We have 5 shirts each in the following sizes: S M L XL 2XL. Once these shirts are sold there will be no more until next year.
Price for all shirts is $20 each and if you want it mailed to you then it is an extra $6 for shipping. Once you buy a shirt we can arrange a meetup to get the shirt or you can pick it up at a meeting if you want to save shipping costs.
This is an excellent way to support SHoWLE and show the town you support us.
If you would like one fill out the form below while processing a credit or debit charge. Be sure to let us know the size you would like.
If you plan to mail a check click on the Sending a Check link and fill out the form letting us know, skip the donation form, and mail the check to SHoWLE PO BOX 6433 Toledo, Ohio 43612. We will hold a shirt for you until the check arrives.
We only need your address from this form if we will be mailing a shirt. Once you submit the form it will take you to our donation form to pay for it.
First come first serve.
The SHoWLE Board of Directors adopted the following statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community and to oppose bigotry. This statement can be found in our Policies and Resolution page of the website.
The Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie voted on January 21, 2025, to “sign on” to a statement issued by a majority of the secular, Humanist, and freethought groups in the country affirming our commitment to support and protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in this country.
In a statement titled “Statement from American Atheist, Humanist, Freethought, and Secular Groups Affirming Commitment to Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights” 16 national secular groups affirmed:
“We will not permit religious extremists to foment a moral panic, encourage harassment or violence, and enact dangerous policies that seek to force LGBTQ+ Americans generally—and trans Americans in particular—out of public life and out of existence. Nor will we sit silently or ignore when the talking points, misinformation, and outright fabrications of anti-LGBTQ+ extremists are laundered and given a veneer of legitimacy or acceptability by those who hold themselves out as voices of reason or science.”
The SHoWLE Board agrees 100% with the statement and we intend that our group will continue to be a welcoming place for all people no matter who you are or who you love. Our Humanist values demand it.
We need more compassion and understanding and much less irrational hysteria. We need laws and policies based on data and actual reality and not biases, religious indoctrination, or tabloid anecdotes.
SHoWLE also will not tolerate bigotry from our state legislature, general community, or our membership. We will call out that bigotry when needed. We will not support or work with any group that supports bigotry of any kind especially toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Some people have said that recent attacks on the Trans community have been only about discussing science and biology and that by not allowing that discussion we are censoring science. We reject that argument.
Free speech arguments should never be used to justify hurting people and whether a group should have basic dignity, and worth should never be debated.
No one should live in fear for simply existing.
Starting on February 1st, 2025, SHoWLE will reduce our use of Facebook. We will put in a static post pointing visitors to our website but we will not update our public page, boost any posts, or create any new events.
We don’t make this decision easily but the change in political views of the CEO and other actions taken by Meta, the owner of Facebook, make our continued use of the platform problematic. If you are not aware of these issues check out the links at the end of this post for some details. In general:
The fact-checking moderation was put into place a decade ago because Facebook was used to facilitate ethnic cleansing in a couple of countries. Not to mention now there will be more irrational posts about the harm of vaccines and other promotion of woo.
We will keep our private group page for now but we intend to promote a more open community forum in the future off Facebook.
We recommend that our members also move away from Facebook but that decision should be left up to each individual. In the links below is an article from EFF.org that shows how to block use of your data for profit making by Meta.
If you have any questions about this new policy, feel free to reach out to Doug or other Board members.
Meta ends its DEI programs as Zuckerberg blasts Biden on Joe Rogan
Mark Zuckerberg Preps for More Ethnic Cleansing
Mad at Meta? Don’t Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
You can also find us on Bluesky as Toledo Humanist Community
The evening of December 21, 2024 was a magical night and I don’t even believe in magic. My group the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie held our first Winter Solstice event at the Yeager Center at Swan Creek Metropark. When planning the event I did want to have something special like a special speaker but our group is still pretty small. Our co-founder Shawn suggested inviting Gloria Steinem to speak over Zoom. Gloria is a feminist icon, 2012 Humanist of the Year, and grew-up in Toledo. I didn’t believe it would happen. This is Gloria Steinem, one of the most famous activists in the world and we are a lowly Humanist group in the Black Swamp of Northwest Ohio. But we tracked down her speaking contact and I sent an email.
The day I got the response was emotional — her people said she was considering our request. Holy S*it!!!! It might happen. I was so excited and then got more excited when we agreed on a speaking fee and signed the contract — It was going to happen.
25 people joined us on December 21. Several of them had donated to Gloria’s speaking fee and many more joined us to hear from Gloria. The food spread was so generous that we had to break out another table to hold it all. There were some adult beverages drank and coffee made and we were all having a good time.
As it came time for Gloria’s visit my 10 year old lap top decided to be difficult and it wasn’t going to boot up and be ready to go in time. Oh did I tell you the Yeager Center doesn’t have WI-FI?? I was preparing for a huge melt down because of tech issues. Shawn saved the day because in trying to play a music playlist from their phone to the TV we discovered they could screencast to the TV. When I couldn’t get my laptop fully booted up I used my phone to start the Zoom session and Shawn joined the meeting and hosted as originally planned. Then once we figured out to make it full screen the tech issue was gone and we enjoyed our short time talking to Gloria *Freaking* Steinem as she sat at her desk in her brownstone in New York City.
We had some questions prepared and took a few from the audience. One person asked if there were any younger political women she admired and she mentioned Amy Richards but what she did next blew my mind. She asked us who the up and coming political women in Toledo were and we called out some like Dr. Michelle Grim, Erika White, and Katie Moline and Gloria WROTE their names down. I hope she reaches out to them in some fashion. I wish we had some more names ready. Gloria still cares about her hometown even though she left before she graduated from high school.
As we closed she wished us well and hoped to stay in touch and Shawn told her if she was ever in the Toledo area to let us know and we would setup and event or something for her.
Shortly after the call, the potluck formally ended as we held the drawing for a large gift basket donated for the occasion. It was won by our member Colette C.
And I was able to make in home in time to catch the Ohio State football game against Tennessee which turned out great as the Buckeyes won.
Like I said it was a magical night and we are already talking about having a Summer Solstice event in the coming year.
Thanks to all our members and friends who attended and donated toward this potluck and made it a great success and I wanted to thank again the members of the Potluck committee for this six month odyssey — Shawn and Anne E. and our setup and clean up helpers Bev and her friend Anne B.
If you attended please feel free to send us feed back by email or use our contact form — let us know what you liked or didn’t like the event.
This post was written by SHoWLE President Douglas Berger
Here is a montage of the night:
Although due to the contract we signed, we were not able to record or livestream the visit, Zoom did provide a summary created by AI. After some light editing here is the summary:
Our President, Douglas Berger, will be hosting a workshop about speaking up for Humanism in public — from print to invocations. There will be three connected sessions starting on January 16, 2025 via Zoom.
The workshop is being put on by the American Humanists Association’s Center for Education
Seats are limited. To register and for more information visit
https://bit.ly/SpeakUpHumanists
This is not an official SHoWLE program.
One of our community outreaches we’ve done, really since SHoWLE was founded, is sponsoring a family through the Lucas County Children’s Services. They match us with a family and we donate gifts to help make their holiday season a merry one. Now through December 8th we are collecting gifts. Check out the details below.
Thank you to all the donors for another excellent gift drive. Here is the result of our work:
We intend to participate in 2025.
Our current service project is to host a free movie and pizza for kids at the West Toledo Branch Library each month. We have had good turn out each time, averaging about 20 kids and some caregivers. We would like to continue this project into 2025. If you can help fund the project please do.
Here is message from our President Douglas Berger:
The first place I lived when I moved to Toledo 8 years ago was on Lewis Avenue in the Five Points neighborhood. The nearest library branch was West Toledo in Library Village. This is a classic Tudor style building and is busy much of the time.
Our co-founder Shawn grew up in the Library Village area and wanted to do a service project that was focused on the kids in the area. This area is moderate to low income area and with that people have money at the beginning of the month and by the end of the month not so much. Shawn hatched the idea of showing a movie and offering free pizza and other snacks for the kids at the end of the month.
We show movies from the Disney library and provide Marco’s Pizza and other snacks like baby carrots and bananas. We don’t talk about Humanism or our group since that is what churches tend to do when having free kid activities — proselytize. We just want the kids to come to the basement auditorium, sit back, and have fun for a couple of hours.
Shawn and several of us have funded the project through September but now we need your help. It can cost up to $100 for each event and we would like to continue the project for a year. We would need at least $300 to finish 2024 and $1200 to cover the whole of 2025. We will be looking for additional sources of funding but we hope you can help now.
To Donate, use the link below:
It is that time of year for membership renewals. All memberships purchased a year ago expire on 09/30/2024. We hope that those who memberships need to be renewed will do so.
You can start the process on our Members page on the website. Login and on the Account overview page click on the renew box. Not sure how to login to our website? We made a handy dandy tutorial linked below:
You can renew or upgrade your membership from the Account Overview page. We also ask that if you can, check the Auto Renew box so it will automatically renew your membership next year giving you the peace of mind that it will be renewed without missing a beat.
Here is a list of members who need to renew. If you feel you shouldn’t be on the list, login and check your status and if you are still concerned reach out to President Doug and he will verify your expiration date.
You can also update your contact information and preferences on the Edit your profile page.
Any questions feel free to reach out.