Last night we had the pleasure of hearing Gail Miller, one of the directors of the Critical Thinking Project, speak to us about the project and what it's goals are.
The focus is on developing nations, education quality and giving tools to deal with dogma, witchcraft and violence. The underlying foundation is one of fairness and tolerance, using critical thinking skills to become less discriminatory. Dr. Christopher DiCarlo started this as a sample program for high school students in Ontario and is now taking the project to developing nations.
B's Diner xmas dinner fundraising.
"EDMONTON — A diner in Old Strathcona that provides a hot Christmas meal to those in need every year is in desperate need of help after losing its main sponsor for the annual dinner.
B's Diner, located at 100 Street and 82 Avenue, is hosting its 13th annual Christmas party on Dec. 15 for those who may not otherwise have a turkey dinner this holiday season. The diner feeds an average of 300 people at the annual event.
"It's all you can eat. It's a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings, dessert," said Brenda Der, owner of B's Diner.
But due to an unforeseen family emergency, the person who regularly sponsors the meal won't be able to do so this year. The diner usually prepares 18 large turkeys and 12 hams at the dinner, and so far they only have one turkey.
Der hopes the community can rally together to help them out so they can go ahead with the dinner.
"You get people from every walk of life that just need that little help, you know, just a little bit of support; a little bit of food," added Toms.
B's Diner also hopes to go beyond its annual Christmas dinner this year. If they get enough donations, staff will also prepare additional meals and deliver them to less fortunate families in Edmonton.
We will be collecting cash donations for B's Diner at Brunch on the 29th and the round table on the 1st. This collection will be separate from the toonie tin collection. Anything you can pitch in with will help but I'd suggest five bucks.
This upcoming year we have a few things that we are fundraising for, namely a new long banner that we use at the Pride Parade along with a few standing banners for when we have tables/booths at events. We also want to bring in out of town guest speakers and do some advertising in 2016.
WE RAISED $840 FOR THE SOCIETY!!!
Bid prices do not include shipping, so if you do not live in the Edmonton area please bear in mind shipping will cost extra (we will discuss shipping options with winners).
Winners can pay via paypal or directly at a SEA event.
Hopefully many of you were aware of the kickstarter fundraiser to help fund a documentary on Nathan Phelps and his story about growing up inside the Westboro Baptist Church, his father, and how he left the church. The way kickstarter fundraising works is that you have to reach your goal amount to recieve any of the donations, and sadly, they fell short. The project team: Brad Johnson, Jason Badgett, Terrie Johnson, and Sam Billen, are now looking for funding directly by donation to Nate's website.
"Not My Father's Son" will chronicle Nate's story from the years of physical, emotional and mental abuse he suffered at the hands of his father from a young age through his journey toward healing to his subsequent and current fight for justice and equality for all people.
Nate's father Fred was the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, prior to his death in 2014. The church is known worldwide for its stance against homosexuality, and is defined by its trademark slogan, "God Hates Fags." Nate's escape from the abusive and hateful environment in which he was raised coupled with his quest to break the cycle of abuse and hate for future generations create a poignant and powerful theme for the film.
Nathan now lives in Calgary, Alberta and SEA were fortunate to have him come up and march with us in the Pride Parade this past summer. Let's help out and see this documentary completed by visiting his website to find out more information, and to donate!
So we're at a bit of a crossroads with the bus ads. We are still in need of some funds (although I have been promised a substantial donation from a few people we don't physically have them yet), however we are moving much closer to our goal of $8000. We also are trying to get Ad Standards Canada to approve our ad, which is what Edmonton Transit and Pattison have asked from us.
on our membership and merchandise page.
We know what the ad should say, but we need artwork. We're looking for some graphic artists or help creating the background image for our ad, do you have a hidden talent and want to help?
The ad should include our message "Godless? Good!" and a call for action by asking them to "Join us!". Ideally we'll have our website address and our logo included in the ad as well. The background image should be catchy, but also tie into our message. If we garner any media attention from this, we want the media to reuse our actual ad, rather than just describing it, so the graphic is important. We have discussed a few ideas but aren't sure these are attention grabbers.
I'm waiting to hear back from Pattison about the exact dimensions required, we're waiting to hear from ad standards as well…but for now we can move ahead by finalizing what we want the ad to look like. If you think you'd like to take a stab at it, you can find our logo HERE to use. If you use an image you find on the internet please make sure it is copyright free!
Please submit your ideas to our facebook group or page, or in an email to info@edmontonatheists.ca. Thanks for helping us grow our group and help other atheists out there know they are not alone!
The Society of Edmonton Atheists have some big plans this year and we kicked off our fundraising event last night at the David Silverman event.
All this being said, there are a few points we need to understand about advertising here in Alberta. The Pattison group own the rights to the bus ads in Edmonton, and Jim Pattison is a Christian. They originally classed us in the advocacy category, and then after some questions they changed their mind (but did not tell us why). If we go with a stronger message we may get pushed back to advocacy, a price tag we can't afford. So, we're awaiting clarification of our quote to see if a wording change will make a difference.
So, we are now awaiting some information from Pattison. Will the new wording put us back into advocacy and can they explain exactly why? If so, would changing the word IS to AND be acceptable? Do the members agree to this ad? There are all sorts of things that need to be discussed before we can move forward on the actual art work and message….and before any of those details are hashed out we have to raise the money.
We are working with a goal of $8,000 which was our original quote for the first bus ad wording. If you are interested in helping we'll be accepting donations at all events (just find a board member) or you can use our donation button and let us know in the notes section you are donating towards the bus ads specifically.
We appreciate every amount! Thanks for helping to support SEA and get the message out to other atheists that we're here and that they aren't alone!