CURRENT & UPCOMING NEWS

May 7, 2008
HUMANISTS & FREETHINKERS, PLEASE HELP BURMA / MYANMAR CYCLONE VICTIMS!
On May 3rd, Burma, also known as Myanmar, suffered devasting losses from Cyclone Nargis which struck early Satuday, May 3, 2008. Initial reports, just two days after the storm struck have estimated that 22,000 have perished and 44,000 are presumed missing, as well as leaving over a million people homeless. The United Nations estimates that "hundreds of thousands" of people in Burma are in need of help due to the wind, rain and sea surge that swept across the vast Irrawaddy delta region and destroyed much of the country's heartland and largest city, Rangoon, also known as Yangon. The Associated Press quoted U.N. and local Ministry Officials. Anahad O'Connor of The New York Times reported the storm surge swept the entire region with a 12-foot high wall of water.

South Asia's worst monsoon season in decades caused damage estimated at nearly one billion dollars in Bangladesh and India alone, and the United Nations declared the floods the "worst in living memory." A second wave of flooding throughout parts of Bangladesh and India in September has intensified the already-dire humanitarian situation. Farmlands have been damaged, homes and livelihoods have been destroyed and help will be sorely needed.

Please contribute to helping these people by clicking onto the American Humanist Association's Humanist Charities site and making a contribution today. Another alternative is to give to Oxfam International.

Either way, please contact us to let us know what you did (click here) so that we can have an idea of how many of us Humanists and Freethinkers in Houston helped out!

April 30, 2008
HOH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM!
There's a big project just getting started which is very exciting. HOH is finally beginning an educational project. Dr. Marian Hillar has offered to develop an HOH-sponsored introductory course on Philosophy, Science, and Religion that will be available to all of us, and to the general public. This course could be the beginnings of a personal development program that would be a very valuable service to our members. Dr. Robert Finch is also planning a course on Ethics, which will follow sometime after Dr. Hillar’s first course. We will keep everyone posted as things develop!

April 30, 2008
CHILDREN'S EDUCATION & ACTIVITIES
As many of you know, we are in the early stages of developing a children’s educational program. Our vice-president Roxie Deaton is heading up that project, and in the process has proposed an excellent idea for helping to reach out to more parents and connect them with one another. Soon she’ll be planning some child-friendly special events and activities for parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and anyone else who’d like to participate. These could include outings, get-togethers, and more. If you would like to help Roxie with your ideas or time, please let her know because I’m sure she would appreciate all the help she could get!

April 30, 2008
YOUNG ADULTS CLUB UPDATE
The HOH Young Adults Club now has a few different events and activities under its belt, and we’ve made a lot of new friends through it. Most of these events have been social in nature up until now. As one of her first projects as Membership Director, Rianne Stringer will be starting up new regular meetings of the Young Adults Club, to be held on the second Thursday of each month. These meetings will be for a combination of planning special activism projects such as charitable work, political action, public events, and so on – and could also include their own discussions on interesting topics. The first meeting is likely to be a brainstorming session. Check out our calendar for the specifics on the first of these!

April 30, 2008
REGIONAL FORUM UPDATE
We now have TEN volunteer organizers ready to host regional forums throughout Houston and the surrounding areas. Brian Ballard will host the HOH Katy forum, Bob & Sheila Finch will host the Sugar Land forum, Jim Frazier and Diana North in Clear Lake, Jimmy Dunne in Spring Branch, Ruth Hickerson in Silver Lake, Phyllis Clark in Jersey Village, and Daniel Strain hosting at Luis Daily’s family home for the HOH Inner Loop forum. A meeting of these organizers is being held on May 3rd to go over the basics of the program, establish some norms and framework, and share ideas. Once they are launched, the HOH Regional Forums will take place simultaneously throughout the city, on the afternoon of the first Saturday of each month. More details and specifics will be coming soon!

April 7, 2008
HOH APPOINTS MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
A position has recently been filled that been needed in HOH for a long time. President Daniel Strain has appointed Rianne Stringer as HOH Membership Director, and she has thankfully accepted. Rianne will be maintaining membership records and mailing lists. She will also be handling announcements and reminders, and keeping us active on MySpace, Meetup, and more of these social websites where we have reached out to many new people. The Membership Director also specifically focuses on the needs and wishes of the membership, and helps to build those relationships that make for a cohesive community. We are very grateful to Rianne for her volunteerism!

April 7, 2008
MARK WISE SERVING AS NEW SECRETARY
As many know, Jerry Harris has been serving as HOH Secretary, and has done a wonderful job. Unfortunately, Jerry had to resign due to time and health issues and we all wish him the very best. Please contact us and we will pass along any words of support as Jerry works toward better health. Fortunately, Mark Wise has stepped up and has been filling the position as interim Secretary. Mark is enthusiastic about HOH and being a part of our group, and we are very fortunate to have him with us!

March 31, 2008
MEETUP.COM BETTER TO STAY IN TOUCH
HOH has been trying many things to reach out to new people lately and one of them has been getting on the website called Meetup.com. This website helps organizers post and send reminders of events for just about any type of group. It has a lot of automatic functions that make this sort of thing much easier for us than email, and it is also very convenient for you because you can access a calendar, send your RSVP, and get more up-to-date information on our events (helpful in cases where we have impromptu or irregular activities that come up between monthly mailing list announcements). Because it makes things so much easier for us and for you, Meetup.com is something of which we'd like all of our members and attendees to be aware. If you would like to sign up on the Humanists of Houston Meetup page, please visit http://humanism.meetup.com/177

March 31, 2008
YOUNG ADULTS CLUB COMING ALONG
As many of you know, the HOH Young Adults Club (YAC) started some time ago with the aim of involving more young people in the group. We'd like to report that it's coming along nicely! We have been making new contacts with more and more people. We have gone to movies, played games, had a museum trip, a Halloween party, gone bowling, and had fun at a couple of happy hours as well. Now, many of the members have started to take the initiative in scheduling their own events and activities, so we're looking forward to more fun in the future! Along with the very successful Women's Club, organized by Sheila Finch, HOH has seen a vast improvement in the overall diversity of its attendees in the past year. Thanks to everyone, longtime and recent, for these wonderful developments in HOH!  If you would like to be a part of the HOH YAC, please be sure to sign up on their Yahoo email list. This is where all the latest on plans and talk about new ideas goes on! The site is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOH_Young_Adults

March 15, 2008
WELCOME GATHERING SUCCESS!
To Celebrate our new location and all of the many new people we've been making contact with recently, HOH held a Special Welcome Gathering for newcomers, recent attendees, and longtime members. We had a great turnout with about 50 people, men and women of all ages! We'd like to thank everyone who came to the gathering so much. It was wonderful seeing old friends, new friends, and meeting new people too. Below is a collage of some pics from the Gathering - we didn't get everyone that was there but we have some more coming soon so our apologies if you're not in these! For those who came and those who couldn't make it, We'd also like to welcome you out to our next Gathering, and to any of our many events and clubs that go on throughout the month!

Many thanks to Dr. Marian Hillar for his photographs

RECENT NEWS

January 19, 2008
HOH MOVING TO NEW PLACE IN MARCH
HOH members voted Saturday January 19th to relocate to a new facility for the City-Wide Monthly Gatherings, starting in March. The February Gathering will still take place in the traditional place, at the Unitarian Fellowship on Wirt Road. However, beginning in March the HOH Main Monthly Gathering will take place at the Bayland Community Center in Bayland Park, 6400 Bissonnet Street, Houston 77074 [map here]. The HOH City-Wide Monthly Gathering is held on the third Saturday of each month. The February Gathering in the old location will take place at the traditional time of 2:30pm. However, the March Gathering in the new location (and every Gathering after) will take place at a new time: 1:00pm. To learn more about the center, please visit their website at www.pct3.hctx.net/CCBayland.

Current
HOH IN SEARCH OF ORGANIZERS
As part of the Vision Project, we will be creating several regional gatherings to take place simultaneously on the first Saturday of each month, in different locations throughout the Houston and surrounding areas. Areas included will eventually include: Clear Lake, Jersey Village, Sugar Land, Spring Branch, West Houston, Pasadena, Silver Lake, and Inner Loop. The first step in this is to call for volunteers to help organize these new gatherings. If you are interested in helping out with finding a place in your area and planning the gathering, please contact us - we need you!

Current
DARWIN DAY 2008 COMING SOON
The Houston Freethought Alliance Darwin Day Committee is composed of volunteers from HOH and all of the other Alliance organizations. They are busy working on preparations for our Darwin Day event this February 9th. For all the details on the plans so far, please see our Darwin Day page!

January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008
HOH CELEBRATES 30th ANNIVERSARY
Now, in the year 2008, HOH is celebrating 30 years of reason in Houston! In the early 1970s an informal group of Humanists began meeting on an occasional basis. During that time, eye surgeon and Houston School Board President Dr. Ray Karchmer Daily was a "leading light" of the group. She convened a meeting for AHA President Bette Chambers with 130 people and by 1978, the Humanists of Houston was chartered. Her son, Dr. Louis Daily, is a valued member of HOH even today. To see the original charter and read a history of Humanism in Houston, please visit our website and see Dr. Robert Finch's excellent essay (link HERE).

January 12, 2008
HOH TO HOLD VOTE ON GATHERING LOCATION CHANGE
It seems likely we will be outgrowing our space at the Unitarian Fellowship soon. We have located a very nice facility: the Bayland Community Center in Bayland Park. It has a larger room available to us on our usual monthly gathering date (3rd Saturday of each month) starting in March. It is also located in a more accessible part of Houston and in a park. Amazingly, the facility is completely free. However, we would like to put this move to a vote. Therefore, at the January 19th HOH Gathering, we will be holding a vote from among attending members on this move. If it passes, we will be in the new location for the first time at our March Gathering. If you are an HOH member and plan on attending, please take a moment to look at the Bayland Community Center's website to see information, pictures, and location: http://www.pct3.hctx.net/ccBayland/ 

January 6, 2008
SOLSTICE CELEBRATION PICTURES AVAILABLE
Thanks to Marian Hillar, we now have some pictures from the Houston Freethought Alliance's winter solstice celebration! To see them, visit our photos page. If you have some pictures you'd like to send in and share, please contact us to let us know.

December 18, 2007
HOH WEBSITE CALENDAR IMPROVED
Now the online calendar of events available at www.HumanistsOfHouston.org is much improved and more intuitive and useful! To see it, simply click on the calendar page on our website.

December 16, 2007
HOH VISION PROJECT PASSES 1/3 MARK
The HOH Vision Project has passed the 1/3 mark toward its goal, with the addition of a 14th Patron! The goal of the project is to eventually reach 40 Patrons. At that point, it is estimated that it will become practical to start looking into building space to host the Houston Humanist & Freethought Center, a joint project with HCoF. To learn about becoming a Patron, please click here. 

December 15, 2007
WINTER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION!
Mark your calendars! The Alliance-wide Winter Solstice celebration is coming this December 15th! This is the largest regular event for Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers in the Houston area, with members from all five Houston Freethought Alliance groups coming together to celebrate (including HOH). 

For time, place, and more details, as well as how to RSVP for this limited-space event, please see our Winter Solstice page by clicking HERE. Note: as of Monday, 11/19, we are 73% full, with only 30 spaces left so RSVP soon!

November 29, 2007
TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY DIRECTOR LEAVES POST OVER EVOLUTION 
A recent article in the New York Times explains that Christine Castillo has left her post as Science Director for the Texas Education Agency. The resignation came after a dispute over her endorsing Evolution and 'taking a position' on the evolution/creationism debate by circulating messages about it on some forums. Thanks to Jimmy Dunne for passing this along to HOH. [Link to NY Times Article Here]

November 29, 2007
SAM HOUSTON ATHEIST ALLIANCE REPORTS ACHIEVEMENTS & PLANS 
The Sam Houston State University Atheist Alliance (Huntsville, TX) recently reported to the Humanists of Houston, "This has been a fantastic semester for the Sam Houston Atheist Alliance. We started in August with 4 people. We have averaged 1.5 new members every week, and our membership is now around 24. Next semester we want 40. This semester we had Dan Barker as a speaker, took a group trip to see Lucy, and worked on developing our organization. This semester is nothing compared to what next semester will be. We are working on: (1) a student speaker series called, "Why Atheists Stand Up", (2) a student debate, (3) ask an Atheist, in which student Atheists, and hopefully one semi-prominent atheist sit in the student mall and answer questions, (4) off campus events, (5) an off campus speaker, (6) a magazine, and most importantly, (7) creating a network of east and central Texas schools. THIS IS WHERE WE NEED HELP." We will be discussing possible ideas and future plans with the Sam Houston group in the coming weeks.

November 27, 2007
HOH TO PARTICIPATE IN HUGE DARWIN DAY EVENT IN 2009
Although HOH is currently playing a role in developing a Darwin Day event for 2008, along with the other Houston Freethought Alliance groups, it has also just become part of a massive Darwin Day project to take place in 2009, marking Darwin's 100th birthday. This program will include participation from the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Zoo, several surrounding public library systems, and many others. To visit this project's website, please go to www.darwin2009houston.org. You can also visit HOH's Darwin Day page at www.HumanistsOfHouston.org/darwinday.htm.

November 23, 2007
HUMANISM DISCUSSED ON HOUSTON KPFT
90.1 FM, Pacifica Houston, has recently discussed secular Humanism on its program, Peaceful Coexistence. You can listen to the program directly by clicking this link, or by going to http://archive.kpft.org and finding "Peace Hour - Peaceful Coexistence" for Friday, November 23, 2007. Thanks to Ariel Thomann for reporting this! 

November 18, 2007
HOH YOUNG ADULTS CLUB
LUNCH & BOWLING
The new HOH Young Adults Club will be getting together for lunch and bowling on Sunday, November 18th at 12:00 noon.

Meet at Restaurant: Guadalajara Mexican Grille & Bar (9799 Katy Fwy, Houston) [MAP]. 

Bowling Afterward: AMF Bunker Hill Lanes (925 Bunker Hill Road, Houston, TX 77024) [MAP].

We'll meet in front of the restaurant at 12:00 noon for lunch, then bowling just around the corner around 2pm. Bowling will cost about $17. PLEASE RSVP by contacting us so we know how many to expect - thanks!

November 18, 2007
HOH ELECTION RESULTS
At the November Main Monthly Gathering, Officers were elected: Daniel Strain was re-elected to another term as president, Roxie Deaton was elected to a new term as vice-president, Jerry Harris was re-elected as Secretary, and Ron Jones was re-elected as Treasurer. Tom Brucia was also re-elected to the Development Fund Committee. In addition to these votes, a five-year plan was amended and voted in. This plan will help chart the course of HOH in both the near and far future.

November 18, 2007
LOWER PRICES FOR HOH MERCHANDISE
Prices have just been lowered for every item in the HOH Store. They now reflect the minimum we are able to charge for each item, given our costs. Your purchase of these items is a great way to help spread awareness of Humanism and the organization, as well as being great conversation-starters! Included are: Basic HOH T-shirt ($8.99), Navy Blue HOH T-Shirt ($18.99), HOH Long Sleeve T-Shirt with front & back image ($21.99), HOH Mug ($10.99), HOH Large Mug ($11.99), HOH Teddy Bear ($12.99), HOH Humanism Button ($1.25), HOH 10-pack of Buttons ($10), and the new HOH Bumper Sticker ($2.99). These can be purchased online now by clicking HERE.

November 17, 2007
HOH ANNUAL VOTING: OFFICERS
& FIVE YEAR PLAN
This November will be a special annual voting session at the Main Monthly Gathering. There is also a Five Year Plan document that should be reviewed beforehand. For a link to this document and all the other details, please see the Gathering page. 

November 15, 2007
SSR "ASK AN ATHEIST" FORUM
The Secular Students of Rice will be hosting their "Ask An Atheist" forum, open to the public this November 15th at 7:00pm. It will be in the Anderson Biology Labs 131 on the Rice University Campus. For directions and other details, please contact SSR at alex.gorischek@rice.edu.

November 1, 2007
PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN NEED OF SUPERHEROES
Planned Parenthood has been providing volunteers to escort women through anti-choice picketers from the Houston Coalition for Life (HCfL). These picketers had planned 40 days of picketing at five south Texas Planned Parenthood centers (including Houston), but have now decided to extend the period. Therefore, your help is needed to assist these women in need. For more information or to volunteer, please see their website HERE.

Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a humanist and AHA Humanist of the Year 1957 (you'll find her picture at the top of our page on Humanism). Thanks to HOH member Ariel for bringing this news to our attention!

November, 2007
HOH TO PARTICIPATE IN ALLIANCE DARWIN DAY 2008 EVENT
HOH has provided two representatives to serve on a multi-group Darwin Day committee, that has already begun plans for a joint Darwin Day event in February of 2008. This event will be a collaborative effort between all five organizations of the Houston Freethought Alliance. If you would like to be a part of this planning committee, please contact us!

October 31, 2007
HOH OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS NOW ONLINE
Long overdue, the HOH Bylaws and a few other official documents of HOH are now available on the HOH website at www.humanistsofhouston.org/documents.htm or by clicking a link near the bottom of our 'about us' page.

October 29, 2007
HOH SOCIAL CLUB MERGING INTO YOUNG ADULTS CLUB
Seeing that the goals and organizers for both clubs are very similar and somewhat redundant, the HOH Social Club has been merged into the new HOH Young Adults Club, to go by the name of the latter. To get in on plans, announcements, and discussions, please sign up to the HOH Young Adults Yahoo email list by clicking HERE.

October 27, 2007
HALLOWEEN PARTY NEWS
The new HOH Young Adults Club kicked off on Saturday, October 27th with a Halloween Party at Daniel & Julie Strain's house. We had a great time, played some games, had food and drink, listened to music, and met new people! Pictures can be seen by clicking the Halloween page HERE. The Young Adults Club is already thinking about ideas for their next happening. To get in on plans, announcements, and discussions, please sign up to the HOH Young Adults Yahoo email list by clicking HERE.

October 24, 2007
ROUNDTABLE NOW INDEPENDENT
The Yahoo email group list previously known as "HOH_Roundtable" has now become the "Humanist_Roundtable". As such, it is no longer affiliated or connected with the Humanists of Houston, but is instead run privately and independently by Tom Brucia, with any local Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers welcome to partake in discussions. HOH President Daniel Strain has decided that HOH should get out of the 'internet forum running business' to concentrate on real-life community, which is what HOH is about. He says, "While internet forums are a wonderful way to keep in touch and discuss, it's very easy to fall into the habit of doing everything online. However, HOH is not a user group, a list, or a website. It is designed to be an in-person, face-to-face organization and family - and developing that is where the attention of the officers belong." As with most similar organizations, HOH will now maintain a private mailing list roster from which it will send direct email announcements and reminders to those who have signed up on the HOH mailing list, while internet forums and discussion will be left to individual members' own initiative. 

October 30, 2007
REPORT 2007 / AGENDA 2008 NOW AVAILABLE
HOH President Daniel Strain has completed a report on what we have accomplished in 2007, and a proposed agenda for 2008. This document is now available HERE.

October 2007
LOCAL PEARLAND SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER WALKS OUT ON PRAYERS
Suzy Roberts, serving on the Pearland School Board, has recently objected to the practice of prayers before the school board meeting. After the board continued to allow them under an altered policy, Ms. Roberts walked out on the meeting - a first in Pearland history. More information is available at the following links:

ABC 13 (includes video)
Texas Observer [added 12/3/07]
HoustonPress
Houston Chronicle, Inside Pearland

September 21, 2007
HOH STARTING YOUNG ADULTS CLUB
The HOH Young Adults Club will be for those around the ages of 18-35, although a little older or younger will be welcome! Activities might include things such as dancing, drinks, shows, and more. We're looking for interested people so please let us know if you're one of them! To get in on plans, announcements, and discussions, please sign up to the HOH Young Adults Yahoo email list by clicking HERE.

September 15, 2007
STAR TREK'S SUSAN SACKETT TO SPEAK
The Humanists of Houston will be flying in Susan Sackett to speak on the subject of "Humanist Themes in Star Trek". This event will be co-sponsored by HOH and the First UU of Houston (where it will take place at 5:30pm). Please note this event will take place in lieu of our regular Gathering on September 15th, which will be cancelled. See our Star Trek page for more information! [link HERE].

September 8, 2007
SECULAR COALITION'S LORI LIPMAN BROWN COMING TO HOUSTON
The Greater Houston Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State invites you to its fall membership meeting featuring

Lori Lipman Brown,
Director of Secular Coalition for America

“A Place at the Table:  How the Nation’s First Lobbyist
for Non-theists is Enjoying the Feast” 

Saturday, September 8, 2007
Program:  10:00 a.m. to noon.
Registration and refreshments:  9:30 a.m.
Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway, Houston
(1 block east of Waugh)

Organized in 2002 as a 501(c)4 advocacy organization, the Secular Coalition for America is the only organization in the nation whose primary purpose is lobbying Congress on behalf of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans.  Its mission is to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the U.S. and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all.   Working with groups like AU, the Secular Coalition for America has been tackling church/state issues and bringing non-theistic Americans’ voices to the discussion. 
Brown will report on how the Coalition’s member groups are working together and bring updates on the church/state issues hitting the Hill.  She will also discuss how the national media have reacted to the “atheist lobbyist.”  Brown is a frequent political commentator on television and radio and a regular columnist in a variety of print media and is a former Nevada legislator, a lawyer and an educator. 
A self-parking lot across the street costs $3.  Limited street parking is nearby.

Please RSVP to HoustonAU@flash.net or call 713-782-8962.  More information about the program and AU is available on our web page at www.HoustonAU.org.  To learn more about AU, see www.AU.org. Learn more about Lori Lipman Brown at www.Secular.org

August 18, 2007
CHILD CARE NOW AVAILABLE AT HOH MAIN MONTHLY GATHERING
Thanks to Ms. Clara Lee, who has volunteered to baby sit in an adjacent room during the HOH Monthly Gatherings, those with children can now attend with ease. Clara is a high school student with experience as a summer camp counselor. For parents who wish to do this, please RSVP so we can know to ask Clara to be there. We will provide you with direct contact information to Clara so that you can feel free to ask questions or make any other arrangements you'd like. But in general, you need only show up and the whole family can now be welcome!

August 15, 2007
CHILD CARE NOW AVAILABLE AT HOH MAIN MONTHLY GATHERING
Thanks to Ms. Clara Lee, who has volunteered to baby sit in an adjacent room during the HOH Monthly Gatherings, those with children can now attend with ease. Clara is a high school student with experience as a summer camp counselor. For parents who wish to do this, we will provide you with direct contact information to Clara so that you can feel free to ask questions or make any other arrangements you'd like. But in general, you need only show up and the whole family can now be welcome!

July 6, 2007
HOH/HCOF OFFICERS ON TV
HOH President Daniel Strain and HCOF Director Nancy Fay were guests on the television program The Connection, which originally aired July 6, 2006 on Houston PBS. The other guests were Methodist Pastor Thaddeus Easland of Hope Church, and Rabbi Stuart Federow of Congregation Shaar Hashalom, with host Doris Childress. These programs are now available online, and on our HOH YouTube & Video Page.

2007
HOH MEMBER TOM BRUCIA WINS PRIZE IN 'HUMANIST VIDEO CHALLENGE'
Former HOH President and active member Tom Brucia has recently won third place in the AHA's Humanist Video Challenge. Congratulations Tom!
[See the video on our YouTube page HERE].

June 2, 2007
REPORT: HOH WOMEN'S CLUB SUCCESS!
Report by HOH Vice-President Sheila Finch

The new Humanist Women's Group received no fewer than twenty-one responses showing interest in such a group. That was a great response! Three people indicated it would be difficult for them to make a Saturday meeting, ten people said they were very interested but could not come that particular Saturday and the remaining eight people showed up at Ziggy's and we had brunch and talked until twelve noon. It was just great. We ranged in age from two sophomores in High School to those of us like me who are retired.

For the moment we are going to continue as a brunch group, sharing thoughts and ideas, and then add extras like contributing time or money for good causes or other activities as we feel ready. One participant put forward the idea of hosting a question and answer session where people could ask "What is a humanist? a freethinker? a skeptic?" and other questions. This could be especially helpful perhaps for young people. I'm passing this idea on to Daniel Strain, the president of Humanists of Houston.

Nancy, Roxie, and Cindy from the Houston Church of Freethought joined with me in being "oldtimers", Rose, Paula, Dorian, and Claire were newcomers and we were thrilled to meet them. We plan to meet again next month on July 14th. at Ziggy's again because everyone there said it was a good meeting place. Please come and join us next time if you like good food and conversation with fellow females!

June 2, 2007
HOH LAUNCHES WOMEN'S CLUB
Thanks to the efforts of our Vice President, Sheila Finch, the HOH Women's Club launches with its first get-together Saturday, June 2nd, at 10:30 a.m. at Ziggy's Healthy Grill. Ziggy's is at 2202 W. Alabama at Greenbriar. If you go to www.ziggyshealthygrill.com they have a very clear, uncluttered map for how to get there. For more information, please contact Sheila at 281-491-1608 or sheilafinch@pobox.com. 

May 26, 2007
HOH NOW ON MEETUP.COM
The Humanists of Houston has recently started a group at the popular website "Meetup.com" . The homepage for the group is:

http://humanism. meetup.com/ 177

For those who don't know, this is a website that helps scheduling and facilitates announcements and RSVPs for people wanting all sorts of different meet-ups in their areas.

We will be using the site to announce our meetings, much as we do on this list. Therefore, those who are already on this list (our main mailing list) need not get on the Meetup list unless they wish to for broader reasons.

However, Meetup.com presents yet another pool of new potential people to see these announcements. For example, our fellow Houston Freethought Alliance member-group, the Atheists Meetup has been very successful and now has some 300 people on its lists. Our hope is not to compete with their efforts, but merely to make more people who are interested in Humanism aware of even more events. And then, of course, those on Meetup.com who may find us first will also become aware of the Atheist Meetup group through our Alliance affiliation.

While our announcements already go out to a few hundred via traditional email, plus this list, plus our MySpace page, we're hoping the Meetup site will allow even more to be informed about us.

May 3, 2007
STEM CELL TOWN HALL MEETING
The Texas Freedom Network and the League of Women Voters are co-sponsoring this event 7:00 p.m. Thursday, May 3rd, in the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church at 17503 El Camino Real (in Clear Lake). An informational video and a short talk will bring those attending up to speed about current legislative proposals pending in Austin -- and how you can make a difference.  [Those interested in standing up to attacks from the religious right on a variety of science-related issues can obtain more information on these at Stand Up For Science...]

Deadline: May 3, 2007
THE HUMANIST VIDEO CHALLENGE (win $500)
The American Humanist Association, EvolveFISH, and Rational Response have teamed up to bring the positive message of Humanism to YouTube! For the full announcement, see:
http://www.americanhumanist.org/humanistvision.php

Click here for Older News

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NEW VOLUNTEERS ANNOUNCED
HOH has recently been benefited with a new Secretary and Membership Director.
[Click Here For More Info]

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WELCOME GATHERING SUCCESS!
See pictures and learn about the great turnout at our recent Welcome Gathering!
[Click Here For More Info]

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HOH CHILDREN'S PROGRAM
Learn about our plans for an HOH Children's Program and help us make it a reality! Find out what one Humanist group did.
[Click Here For More Info]

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WHAT HOH REALLY NEEDS
More than funds, more than events, it's our rarest commodity.
[Click Here For More Info]

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CANNED GOODS PROGRAM
Remember to get one extra can when shopping, then bring those collected to the monthly Gathering!
[Click Here For More Info]