Seattle Atheists is participating in this year’s Relay for Life event, and we’re looking for volunteers like you! There are all sorts of ways you can help out. You can make a donation to support participants or the Seattle Atheists team, or join us during the walk. You can also help us with various fundraising activities during the time leading up to the event.

When and Where?

Date: May 12 – 13, 2012
Start Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Dempsey Stadium, University of Washington

What to Expect

1. Relayers are welcomed in the Opening Ceremony.

2. Relay starts with the Survivor Lap, when survivors walk to celebrate their victory over cancer.

3. The Caregiver Lap recognizes those who have given care to cancer patients.

4. All of the Relay teams are invited to walk together during the Opening Lap.

5. Luminaria bags and candles are lit during the Luminaria Ceremony to honor loved ones who have passed or are fighting the disease.

6. Individual Walking is observed throughout the night with Family Games, Activities, and Entertainment.

7. The Fight Back Ceremony helps close the event. Relayers take a final lap and pledge to take action and spread awareness of cancer research, treatments, and prevention.

Get Involved

Click here to visit Seattle Atheists’ team page.

From there you can make a donation or become a team member. The cost to join is $15, but since Seattle Atheists has already registered the team, you can send a message to seattleatheists@seattleatheists.org to request instructions on how to join for free. Remember that we need a lot of volunteer power to set up and man the booth, walk laps, and clean up.

Have you survived a battle with cancer, or know someone who has? We’re looking for cancer survivors to honor and take part in the Survivor Lap.

We need fundraising ideas! Let’s work together to meet and exceed our fundraising goals. Please don’t hesitate to share your ideas.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

The idea is simple

It’s such a small thing to do, but it is a great way to get conversations started (“what’s the deal with all the A’s?”).  Let people know we’re here, that we’re their friends, their family, we’re all over.

Last year 15,000 turned out, this year that’s been exceeded in the first day!  Get on board

Tens of thousands of people remain without supplies of food, drinking water and shelter, and reports of looting and other lawlessness are increasing. In Concepción, one of the hardest-hit cities, thousands of government troops were sent to restore order, extending an overnight curfew until midday.

Ms. Bachelet said that she still was not able to give specific figures on the scope of the damage, but that projections have gone as high as $30 billion. She said an estimated 500,000 houses had been destroyed, and serious damage had been done to numerous bridges, roads, ports and public transportation stations.

Here are some more organizations that are working to help Chileans, in addition to the ones listed previously.

Save The Children is sending an emergency assessment team to Chile, and they are asking for contributions to their Children’s Emergency Fund to aid these efforts.

The American Red Cross has made an initial pledge of $50,000 from their International Response Fund, which you can contribute to to further assist.

AmeriCares is sending medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Chile. Make a direct contribution to AmeriCares’ Chilean earthquake fund.

Please donate immediately to any of the following charities to help the people of Chile. We will continue to add charities as we find them.

Red Cross
MADRE
Partners in Health
Doctors Without Borders
Americares
International Relief Teams
Mercy Corps

To ensure rapid response to this tragedy, we would like our readers to donate immediately to any of the following charities working right now to help the people of Haiti:

Humanist Charities Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund

We urge all members of the humanist and freethought community to join us in the relief effort. You can make a donation to the Humanist Charities’ Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund online, or by calling 1-800-837-3792.

The Center for Inquiry

CFI is accepting disaster-relief donations through its S.H.A.R.E. program to support those providing care to the survivors of the magnitude-7 earthquake. 100 percent of all donations will be sent directly to the secular aid group Doctors Without Borders, which suffered the loss of all
three of its medical facilities and is working against difficulties to provide the basics of first-aid care and stabilization.

Please make your contribution to S.H.A.R.E. here. All funds sent to S.H.A.R.E. are tax
exempt in the United States.

Red Cross

Donate to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund here:
http://american.redcross.org/

Additional charites:

MADRE
Partners in Health
Doctors Without Borders
Americares
International Relief Teams
Mercy Corps

Operation Paperback collects gently used books and sends them to American troops deployed overseas. Since 1999, we have shipped over 950,000 books to locations around the globe.

Many of our troops are serving far from home and living in facilities that provide few of the comforts of home. At the end of the duty day, the opportunity to escape into a good book is welcomed. Every week we receive thanks from troops who are glad to be appreciated and remembered.

Our service members make sacrifices every day for our country. It takes so little to let them know that we appreciate what they are doing for us. When you donate to Operation Paperback, you will let our troops know that you support them, and you have not forgotten them.

To get a head start collecting books at home, here are some instructions:

Troops have requested the following genres: action, bestsellers, biographies and memoirs, fantasy, history, horror, mysteries, science-fiction, true crime. Do not send romances unless specifically requested by the individual! Our troops have received a disproportionate amount of this genre and they aren’t very happy about it. Be sure that the books you collect are in very good condition.

From the Seattle Times:

About 450 people are expected Saturday at the Rainier Valley Food Bank to get food for Thanksgiving meals. But when staff arrived Wednesday at 6 a.m., they found the lock on the storage container had been cut and nearly everything inside had been stolen.

Burglars took several hundred pounds of potatoes and onions, as well as 30 crates of canned fruit, soup, chips, peanut butter and vegetables that volunteers collected last weekend. The loss totaled $1,500 to $2,000, said Sam Osborne, the food bank’s executive director.

An update from the Seattle PI: http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/185870.asp

Thank you to everyone who donated to RVFB in the wake of the burglary. They received over $25k worth of food and financial help! Keep the donations coming during leaner giving months, especially after the winter holiday season. Bring non-perishables to our Jan. 10th Membership Meeting!