Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Solstice and more!

Today I want to wish everyone in the Northern Hemisphere a happy Winter Solstice and everyone in the Southern Hemisphere a happy Summer Solstice!  Sometimes we forget that the Southern Hemisphere is celebrating the Summer Solstice while the Northern Hemisphere is celebrating the Winter Solstice.   So, today I want to include everyone around the world by saying, 'Happy Solstice!'

On that international note, I would like to announce that the SECULAR Center now has over 300 supporters in almost 10 different countries around the world!  We really appreciate everyone's support and are working hard to ensure that your donations, volunteer hours, and other forms of support are going toward important and much-needed secular charity programs. 

To date, we are working with other communities in Texas such as Dallas and San Antonio; as well as Ames IA, Portland OR, Kansas City KS, Los Angeles CA, and more to get SECULAR Center programs underway and coordinate non-theist volunteer and charitable efforts.  Look for some exciting announcements about these programs after the New Year!

In Reason,
Noelle

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

And We're Back!

Wow, I can't believe that it's been almost a month since I have blogged!  So much has been happening both with the SECULAR Center and in my personal life.  I got married on November 27th to my partner of 3 years, Keith.  We had a small secular ceremony on the Star Cruiser Yacht out of Kemah, TX.  Our families traveled from Washington, Ohio, Italy, Massachusetts, Washington DC, and New Mexico to be there and we all had a wonderful time.  If you're interested in seeing pictures, friend me on Facebook.

Lots of exciting things have been happening with both the SECULAR Center and the Houston/Texas freethought community.  I'm going to separate out the news into different posts and backdate some of them so that they are relevant, so expect to see quite a few posts from me in the next few days.  For now, I will tell you that we are wrapping up editing on the new SECULAR Center video!  It's a one minute and thirty second video that talks about the SECULAR Center and what we do.  As soon as it's up on our website, I will blog with more info about how to find it.

My new husband and I leave tomorrow for Seattle for 10 days for the holidays.  I hope all of you are having a great holiday season full of laughter and joy.  Please don't forget to give whatever you can during this season since there are so many in need out there.

Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Noelle

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

SCUSA has been invited to the HEADS Meeting

The SECULAR Center has been invited to the HEADS Meeting in Washington DC this January!  This meeting gathers together all of the leaders of the US National Freethought organizations such as the American Humanist Association, Atheist Alliance International, Atheist Nexus, American Atheists, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Center for Inquiry, and others.  The meeting is January 8th-10th 2010.  Can you believe we're almost at 2010 already!?!

It's important for SCUSA to attend the HEADS meeting so that we can continue to form partnerships with national organizations.  This will help us further our goals, because we want to coordinate all non-theist volunteerism and charitable efforts.  Please feel free to send feedback to me at secularcenterusa@gmail.com if there's any ideas or comments you would like me to bring to the table with these national organizations.