February and March Events, including Darrel Ray, author of "The God Virus"

The SECULAR Center has a lot going on in February and March! 

First off, we have Kate's Gathering on February 9th at a local Cafe Express in Houston. 

We have also arranged a speech and book signing with Darrel Ray, the author of "The God Virus", in conjunction with our Planned Parenthood campaign starting in February.  Darrel will be speaking at the Planned Parenthood facility in Houston TX on February 19th at 7:00 pm.  If you'd like to attend, please RSVP to our e-mail address.  The cost is $10 per person.

In March, we'll be participating in the Houston Humane Society "K9 Fun Run" to raise awareness and money for homeless animals, as well as continuing our Planned Parenthood campaign.  More about the Planned Parenthood campaign will be in an additional post. 

Look for our newsletter to be sent out early in February.  If you're not signed up for our newsletter, please visit http://www.secularcenterusa.org/ to sign up!

Thanks!

Kate Update

To date, we have raised almost $500 for Kate and her family!  Every little bit will help, so please consider donating if you can!

One week from today we'll be having Kate's Gathering at Cafe Express at 1101 Uptown Park Boulevard in Houston.  Please join us if you can from 7-9pm to meet Kate and show her the support of the Houston secular community.

Thanks for everything!

UPDATE on Cancer Patient Kate

Within hours of sending out the e-mail about Kate today, we had five responses with offers of a place to stay for Kate.  I ran the offers by Kate and she was able to choose the option that best fits her needs. 

We have also had an outpouring of support with transportation offers and other offers of donations to help Kate and her family.  If you can make a donation to help Kate, please e-mail us and let us know!

We'll be having a gathering on Wednesday, February 10th from 7-9pm so that Kate can meet the Houston secular community and so that we can meet her!  If you're in Houston, please come on by!  Details will be up on our website calendar within the week.

Thanks for all you do, and thanks to the Houston community for their generosity!

Freethinking Cancer Patient Needs Help!

This information will also be sent out shortly to the SECULAR Center's mailing list. 

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Yesterday I received an e-mail message from Megan, a member of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. Megan's best friend, Kate, is battling a brain tumor and will be evaluated for an experimental treatment at MD Anderson's Brain and Spine Center from February 7th to the 11th. The Lance Armstrong Foundation is sponsoring her plane fare, but Kate needs a place to stay and transportation while she's here. Kate and her husband are also atheists. Today I spoke with Megan on the phone at length about Kate's situation.


In Megan's words, "Kate is a marvelous woman who volunteers tirelessly to help others in her community. She is witty, smart, and fantastically creative. Her medical care has exhausted her family’s savings, so a hotel room is not affordable. She will be traveling alone, as her husband and three young children will be staying in Iowa. Kate is able-bodied and needs no special assistance. Most people have no idea she has a brain tumor. But after five spinal surgeries, spinal radiation and gamma-knife radiation to her brain (the tumors started in her spinal cord and climbed to her brain), she is running out of treatment options. We are crossing our fingers for MD Anderson’s treatment."

The SECULAR Center is working to find Kate somewhere to stay from February 7th to 11th while she's in Houston. She will be evaluated for the treatment at 1515 Holcombe Blvd, near the Medical Center and it would be great if she could stay somewhere close to there. If not, perhaps someone would be willing to drive Kate to and from her evaluations? We're also hoping to find someone who can pick Kate up at the airport on Sunday and drop her off again on Thursday. If you can't help with lodging or driving, perhaps you would be willing to make a donation towards Kate's medical expenses or toward her travel/food expenses while she's here in Houston? If you're willing to help in any of these ways, please e-mail us!

I have personally checked this out and verified that Kate is a real person, a member of the Freethought community, who needs our help. I would offer my own guest room, but I will be out of town for work that week. Kate's situation is one of the reasons that I founded the SECULAR Center - to help people in need. Kate is in need of our support. Please help us help Kate.

SECULAR Center Volunteer Discussion

We had a great time at our volunteer discussion event in Houston last Sunday!  About 20 people showed up to learn more about the SECULAR Center and discuss secular volunteering.  People had some great ideas and contributions and we spent about two hours chatting before everyone headed home.

One of our Houston volunteers, Sally, made a great poster board with information about the SECULAR Center: 

One item discussed during the event is a special campaign for Planned Parenthood.  Pro-lifers are planning a 40-day protest at a Planned Parenthood location in Houston this February and March.  The SECULAR Center is going to organize volunteers to escort patients into and out of this Planned Parenthood location.  The first day we'll volunteer is February 20th with a number of follow-up events.  Optional training will occur on February 18th, so mark your calendars for these dates!

Thanks for your support!