A New Year of FVAAF

As our group grows and we move into the new year I want to introduce some of the new goals and sub-groups that our group will be hosting.

One big change from last year is that our meeting time is changing.  Harmony Cafe is no longer open on Sunday’s so we will be meeting on Saturday from 4-6 pm on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month.  I will always be posting meetups during these times so that we always have a presence when we are scheduled.  Harmony Cafe has been a great way for local Atheists to find out about our group and I want to make sure that we are there when we are scheduled.

As always the primary goal of our group is to provide a community for local Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists and Freethinkers alike.  In an effort to reach more people and provide more resources I have been working on affiliations with the following organizations:

• Secular Coalition of America
• Freedom from Religion Foundation
• The American Humanist Association
• Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers
• Center for Inquiry
• Atheist Alliance International
• American Atheists

By working with organization like these I hope to market our group and provide a national resource for issues we want to pursue.  We may or may not affiliate with all these organizations but I want to get us started.

I would also like to go over the list of programs that we have been doing and introduce some of the new ones.

• Discussion Group – A get together over coffee to discuss topics that are interesting to the group.  I try and keep these discussion fairly open so that they can go in any direction the group feel it needs to.
• Movie Night – This particular meetup has been either hit or miss over the last year.  (Which I apologize for)  I would still like to do these once every other month or so.  If you would like to host a movie night please let me know and I will work with you on the scheduling.
• (NEW) Book Group – The group was started by Matt and I liked the idea so much that I want to make it a regular thing.  Just like a regular book club there will be a book that is the topic for discussion during that meeting.  I will schedule these every other month or so.  If you have a book that you think is a good read please let me know.
• Dinner Night / Weekend Breakfast – These meetings are always fun and casual.  We basically get together and do introductions and eat some good food.
• (NEW) Political Action Group – Many of our member have expressed a desire to take action and I think it’s a great idea to start looking for way that we can make an impact locally.  During this group we will make plans about what we are going to do and do them.
• Speakers – I am going to work on finding speakers willing to come to the area , which is another reason I have been working on affiliations.  Also if you are aware of a speaker in the area please let me know so I can post it on our meetup.
• (NEW) Presentations – Many of our member have subjects that they are passionate about and I want to provide them with an opportunity to share there passion with us.  We also have some members who have experience teaching and speaking that I’m going to encourage to present for us.  I find many Atheists crave knowledge (I know I do) and many of us are well past our school days.  What better way to learn something new than by attending a presentation by one of our members.

Happy New Year!

I look forward to see you at our next meetup!