6 “Secret” Things We Did in Summer
If you’ve been following us, you may know we recently awarded scholarships, launched a Congressional fellowship program, organized a Mobilizing Atheists speaking tour, and sent atheists kayaking down the L.A. River.
What you may not know is that our small but mighty staff and board have also been working “behind-the-scenes” on a huge slate of activities building the secular and interfaith communities.
Here are the Top 6 “secret” things we did in the last 30 days, which we haven’t bragged about… until now.
1. Attended a county-led Faith Leaders Workshop.
The workshop Strengthening Community Through Compassionate Leadership was co-sponsored by an L.A. County collaborative and nonprofits like our partners Interfaith Solidarity Network (ISN). It connected participating nonprofits like ours with new resources for addressing homelessness.
We benefitted from the training, networked with fellow community leaders, and stood proud as an atheist community in a government-led interfaith meeting. Our Executive Director Evan even befriended an evangelical pastor and met up with him for coffee to learn about their homelessness outreach programs!
2. Collaborated with American Atheists on grassroots advocacy strategies for CA.
Our two organizations agree, California is one of the most exciting and important states in the country when it comes to atheist community advocacy in 2026.
Our staff, in partnership with the CA State Advocacy Team organized by American Atheists, has begun developing a 2026 advocacy plan that includes email campaigns, constituent meetings with lawmakers, and the introduction of groundbreaking new human rights legislation for students.
Atheists United plans to launch, lead, and grow our new statewide coalition dedicated to protecting youth from Christian Nationalism across California.
3. Built a new activist Discord channel (coming soon).
The Atheist Advocacy Network, our soon to launch new program, will give both seasoned and new atheist activists a dedicated space to meet online for advocacy organizing.
We’ve built a private Discord space, and are now building an onboarding process to guarantee community privacy, safety, and best practices. We learned a LOT about online organizing since launching our Atheist Street Pirates program in 2020, and now feel ready to see how far we can stretch our virtual advocacy capacity. Look out for an invite soon!
4. Distributed 4,000+ pounds of food
This month, over a dozen volunteers helped us distribute 4,000+ pounds of fresh groceries in partnership with L.A. Food bank. This month we were hit with a surprise excess of oranges.
Alright, this isn’t a secret, but what you didn’t know is that our staff are working on making our volunteer processes replicable for future expansions to the distro.
5. Confirmed 11 speakers and 6 co-sponsors for our virtual youth summit
The Humanist Spark Summit is a free and virtual event that will empower secular youth September 27th and 28th — and everyone is invited!.
We just added a new speaker: Dr. Jé Exodus Hooper, an artist, minister and scholar from Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit, NJ. Hooper will spotlight aesthetics, ethics, and cultural pluralism.
6. Moved our Halloween Party to a “haunted” Victorian mansion
For our major fall gathering of SoCal atheists — we wanted to highlight the historic atheist mansion Heretic House near Echo Park as a gem of our community. It also happens to take place in one of the liveliest trick-or-treat neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Silent auction items we just confirmed include tickets to Huntington Gardens, LACMA, Rooftop Cinema Club, and the Santa Barbara Zoo.
We do this all with only ONE full-time staffer, a part-time contractor, and a volunteer board. We can afford this only with ongoing donations from supporters like you.
Can you make a $5,000 or $50 donation today in support of our work?!
We hope you’re thrilled with the movement we’re building together. If you want more details or have feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
