Tag: fundraising

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Winter Solstice Potluck with Gloria Steinem

One of the big events I’ve want­ed to have for the mem­bers and friends of SHoWLE was a win­ter sol­stice gath­er­ing. Many Humanist groups around the coun­try have one and my for­mer group in Columbus had a catered ban­quet each year in December. I would like to announce we will be hav­ing a Winter Solstice Potluck on Saturday December 21, 2024.

I ini­tial­ly had plans for a Winter Solstice Potluck to hap­pen in 2020 and we know why we did­n’t have one. Then after the pan­dem­ic sub­sided SHoWLE did strug­gle to get its feet back under it. I am con­fi­dent that in 2024 we are at least at the place we were at the start of 2020.

The catered ban­quet was used as a fundrais­er for my Columbus group but through the years the costs of the ban­quet wiped out any “prof­it” from sell­ing tick­ets to the event and peo­ple had a cer­tain expec­ta­tion when the event is catered. You buy a tick­et to a din­ner and you expect table ser­vice and bev­er­ages etc….

I like a potluck set­up bet­ter espe­cial­ly for a Humanist group who gath­er as a com­mu­ni­ty to observe the sol­stice.

We also don’t have to sell you tick­ets to attend and that way we can have some­thing else to fundraise off of like door prizes or a raf­fle. And I can assure you there will be plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties.

A potluck also keeps the event open and inclu­sive to the com­mu­ni­ty at large. That way you don’t need to spend $30 a plate for din­ner. It also helps us “cater” to peo­ple with spe­cial diets either they have a med­ical issue or they choose to be veg­an for exam­ple, a potluck is a bet­ter way to have food for every type of diet.

The Winter Solstice Potluck is ten­ta­tive­ly sched­uled for December 21 at the Yager Center at Swan Creek Metropark. In the fall we will have more details and dish sign-up list to try to avoid too much dupli­ca­tion. Other details will fol­low soon after.

I am excit­ed to have this event even I was sweat in the heat and humid­i­ty of June.

Mark this on your cal­en­dar. You can keep up on details as we add them on the event page on our web­site

*UPDATE*

Humanist and fem­i­nist Gloria Steinem will be our keynote speak­er. She will appear via Zoom to say a few words. SHoWLE is thrilled she agreed to speak

https://humanistswle.org/event/winter-solstice-potluck-2024

Thanks to our donors we have raised Gloria’s speak­ing fee

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This Giving Tuesday We Need Your Support

This past year has been a big year for Christian Nationalists in this coun­try and here in the Toledo area.

Foundation for Life, the iron­i­cal­ly named anti-abortion group that also includes sup­port from the Archdiocese of Toledo, pur­chased the vacant lot next to the last abor­tion clin­ic in Northwest Ohio. Now mem­bers of their group can harass and mis­lead women with­out con­se­quences.

The Center for Christian Virtue, also iron­i­cal­ly named, a group that is anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-human just pur­chased a build­ing across from the Ohio State House in Columbus for $1.25 mil­lion.

Groups like these, who com­plete­ly oppose val­ues we Humanists sup­port, can drop tens of thou­sands of dol­lars to push their Taliban-like agen­da.

Make no mis­take, the world that groups like Foundation for Life want to see has already hurt many peo­ple. This isn’t just a dif­fer­ence of opin­ion. Christian Nationalists are an exis­ten­tial threat not only to Humanists but to any­one who believes in the Bill of Rights.

Meanwhile, we have to con­vince peo­ple like you to sup­port our work and to help us build a com­mu­ni­ty with rea­son and com­pas­sion for a bet­ter tomor­row.

It should­n’t be this hard. We should­n’t have to beg. The Christian Nationalists don’t have to beg. Humanists should have a com­mu­ni­ty that is sup­port­ing and affirm­ing of our val­ues in Northwest Ohio.

We are ask­ing you to please sup­port SHoWLE: Make a cash dona­tion today!

Help us build a Humanist com­mu­ni­ty. One that val­ues peo­ple and the world we live.

https://humanistswle.org/donate

Donations are tax deductible.

PS: You can help even more by becom­ing a mem­ber or renew your mem­ber­ship on our web­site

https://humanistswle.org/join-our-group

References:

Center for Christian Virtue, a heavy hit­ter in Ohio’s cul­ture wars, buys build­ing across from Statehouse

Foundation for Life buys park­ing lot across from Toledo abor­tion clin­ic

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We Achieved GuideStar Bronze Level

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) was recent­ly rec­og­nized for our trans­paren­cy with a 2018 Bronze Seal on our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile!

GuideStar is the world’s largest source of infor­ma­tion on non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions. More than 8 mil­lion vis­i­tors per year and a net­work of 200+ part­ners use GuideStar data to grow sup­port for non­prof­its.

In order to get the 2018 Bronze Seal, SHoWLE shared impor­tant infor­ma­tion with the pub­lic using our pro­file on www.guidestar.org. Now our com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers and poten­tial donors can find out more about our mis­sion and pro­grams.

Check out our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile and tell us what you think:

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie GuideStar Profile

If you want to help people who had SNAP delayed due to the government shutdown we have some resources you can use https://humanistswle.org/community-outreach-resources-and-education
If you want to help people who had SNAP delayed due to the government shutdown we have some resources you can use https://humanistswle.org/community-outreach-resources-and-education