Helping Others

Among our core values as Humanists are Altruism, Environmentalism, and Service & Participation. Every act of kindness counts! Here are some of the ways we are helping others in our community.

Little Free Pantry

The Little Free Pantry movement is a grassroots, crowdsourced solution to immediate and local need. Whether a need for food or a need to give, mini pantries help feed neighbors, nourishing neighborhoods. We have a Little Free Pantry that is available to all 24/7.  In it we have bottled water, various food items, and essential hygiene supplies for anyone who needs it. Thank you for making a physical or digital donation.

Visit our Donations Page for HSGP’s Little Free Pantry!

🥫Non-perishable Foods: Canned goods such as vegetables, fruits, soups, and proteins like tuna or beans are greatly appreciated. Pasta, rice, cereal, and shelf-stable milk are also excellent choices.

💧 Bottled Water: Water is a precious resource, especially during hot days. Your donation of bottled water ensures access to clean and safe drinking water.

🥜 Healthy Snacks: Nutritious snacks like granola bars, trail mix, and dried fruits provide convenient and wholesome options and much-needed energy boosts.

Electrolyte Supplements: Help replenish electrolytes lost through sweating by donating electrolyte packets. The packets can be added to water to create a hydrating beverage that supports overall health.

❄️  Freeze Pops: Our neighbors will beat the heat with donations of refreshing frozen snacks that can be stored at room temperature. These treats provide instant relief and bring smiles to faces in the midst of summer heatwaves.

🧴 Sun Protection: Sunscreen, lip balm, hats, and sunglasses are vital for protection from harmful UV rays during prolonged outdoor exposure.

Visit our Donations Page for HSGP’s Little Free Pantry!

HSGP members are encouraged to join the team that keeps the Little Free Pantry stocked with supplies, updates the Amazon Wish List (coming soon!), and safeguards the property from littering and vandalism.

Please contact our Service and Participation Director at volunteer@hsgp.org if you would like to arrange a physical donation drop off or to give in other ways.

 

Little Free Library

Do you like to read books?  Do you have books that you enjoyed and want to pass on to others to enjoy?  Then come and visit our Little Free Library!  Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization based in Hudson, Wisconsin.  Its mission is to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all, through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Libraries.  We believe in that mission so we’ve added our own Little Free Library in front of our Humanist Community Center that is easily accessible 24 hours a day seven days a week!  Everyone is free to take a book or leave a book.

Member Support Team

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 member support team 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 Mats & MORE!

HSGP’s crocheting crew helps the unhoused 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 plastic yarn (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!

We get together every month to make plarn and crochet the mats. Please join us for a fun and productive time.

Blood Drives

Every day, blood donors help patients of all ages: accident and  burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients, and those battling cancer.  Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood and there’s no substitute for it.  When a patient receives blood, it is because a generous donor gave it in advance.  If you would like to be that generous donor, we host blood drives for the American Red Cross every three months in January, April, July, and October.  Here is a list of our upcoming blood drives.  Did we mention that you get free cookies and other tasty snacks and drinks after you donate? Yes!  You Do!  All you want!

Protein Folding

Do you want to help others, but you are short on time?  Do you have a computer with an internet connection? Then please consider donating your unused computer processing power to help cure diseases! Most home computers use only around 10% or less of their computing power on a continuous basis. Folding@home (FAH or F@h) is a distributed computing project designed to help scientists develop new therapeutics for a variety of diseases by simulating protein dynamics, protein folding, and the movements of proteins via running simulations on volunteers’ personal computers.

These simulations run in the background at low priority so that they do not interfere with your regular use. While you are going about your everyday activities, your computer will be working to help find cures for diseases like cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, influenza and many others (including COVID-19). Many members of Folding@home also join teams.  After you install the app, you can join the “Humanists, Atheists and Freethinkers” team if you’d like. Please enter team number 10571 in the Configure option of the app to join the team. Folding@home runs on Windows, macOS, Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, Redhat, Centos, Fedora, ARM Linux, & Raspberry Pi!  Yes! If you have a Raspberry Pi lying around that you haven’t found a use for, you can use it to fight disease!  HSGP is not affiliated with Folding@home, but several of our members contribute computer processing power and you can too!

Want more?

Looking for more ways to help others? Have a service project in mind you’d like to see at HSGP? Let us know!