One of our core values as Humanists is supporting our community and the surrounding communities. Here are some of the things we do or are involved with:

Member Support Team

Leader: Vici Duarte

We love our members and, as a Secular Humanist community, we feel obligated to assist our members who may be having personal hardships. If you or someone you know is having a personal hardship and needs a friend to sit with them at the hospital or needs assistance with yard work or could use a home-cooked meal or something else, please let us know. We’re here for our members.

To join the team or request assistance, please go to our Member Support Team page.

The membership task force is led by Vici Duarte. The times and types of activities vary due to the case-by-case nature of the hardships and requests.

Crochet sleeping mats for the homeless

Leader: Anita Romanowski

June 2016. Homeless mats ready to be delivered to those who need them. These represent several month’s worth of human hours of labor producing these mats! So many happy faces when we gave them away!

Inspired by YouTube videos making plarn (plastic yarn) and mats for the homeless, Anita and her crocheting crew were inspired to help the homeless of Phoenix beat the heat of the summer pavement with mats made out of recycled plastic grocery bags. It’s a lot of fun to make the plarn and mats. It’s a great way to meet new people and socialize as well! Don’t know how to make plarn? We’ll teach you, it’s easy! Just cut and tie. Don’t know how to crochet? We can teach you how to do that as well!

Anita Romanowski

We get together every month to make plarn and crochet the mats. Anita Romanowski is the coordinator for this event. Please join us for a fun and productive time.

St. Mary’s Food Bank

Leader:

St. Mary’s is widely known as the first food bank. They collect and distribute a huge amount of food to those in need around the state of Arizona. Even though the name is religious in origin, they’re a completely secular organization. Their primary product is the Emergency Food Boxes (EFB) which contain a mix of the key components for nutrition for families.

We volunteer with them every couple of months and perform a variety of tasks, including sorting and packing EFBs. Gwen Gentry is the coordinator for this event.

Tumbleweed

When we think of homelessness, we tend to think only of adults. However, the there are a significant number of homeless youth, often invisible to the general public. But you can make a difference.

Tumbleweed is an amazing organization that offers shelter, food, and education to homeless youth from 12-24 in the Phoenix area. They offer crisis shelter in the event of emergencies or sudden homelessness. They could always use basic supplies, so please donate if you can.

HSGP has a box at the rear of the great hall that is marked for Tumbleweed. If you have some of the items in their wishlist, please feel free to drop them off inside that box. That little bit can go a long way.

Want more?

Don’t see an event you like or do you have an event in mind you’d like to see at HSGP? Let us know!