Billboards, Beer, and Volunteers. Oh, My!

In the last post, I suggested that maybe our group New Year's Resolution could be to finally get the billboard we've been talking about for over two years. Well, our Board of Directors took that to heart and things are happening faster that we've grown accustomed to. In fact, I am very pleased to announce that we've signed the contract with the billboard company and our billboard is scheduled to go up July 18 - August 14 on Russell St. a few blocks north of the Good Food Store.

The only thing we have left to do is raise $870 by July to pay for it. The Board of Directors are completely confident that this is possible. We've all seen the news stories that say anywhere between 12% and 20% of Americans are "none of the aboves" in the religion category. That means there are thousands of Missoulians out there waiting to discover that they're not alone and that there are people who think like they do all around. We're gong to try to reach as many of them as possible leading up to the billboard, and the rest of them with the billboard itself.

There are all kinds of ways you can help. Donations are, of course, welcome and we'll take whatever you can afford. T-shirts are also available for purchase, and a great way to spread the word about us just by wearing it around town. But there's more than that. You can help organize activities that we can publicize to drawn in more members, or just come participate in the activities we have. Simply by being an active participant in the group, you're helping us achieve our mission of fostering vibrant community of non-theists in Missoula.

One way that you can become a (more) active participant is to join us on our outreach activities. On January 24th, several members of the outreach team met at the Food Bank to assemble sack lunches for Project Homeless Connect, and just yesterday we spent a couple of hours at the Poverello Center's "Joseph Residence" (a temporary housing opportunity for homeless families) cleaning out and organizing the toy/art room in the community center. There will be more of that to come, so if you would like to participate, sign up for our newsletter and be sure to check the box to be notified of outreach/volunteer opportunities. There's no obligation or minimum number of volunteer activities you're expected to pariticpate in. Just come help when you can.

We'll also be having a big event for you beer drinkers on August 24th at the Kettlehouse. Every Wednesday from 5-8:00pm, is "Community UNite" at the brewery on the Northside. Each Week a specific local non-profit is designated as the beneficiary and a portion of all beer sales from 5-8pm on that Wednesday go to that organization. We've been selected as one of the non-profits for 2011, and our night is Wednesday, August 24th. So, mark your calendar and come on out and drink your limit (3 pints), enjoy the company of many other fine non-theists, and help out a great cause in the process.

Of course, we still meet for brunch on the first Sunday of every month at the Stone of Accord on north Reserve in the meeting room at 10am. If you would like to join us but aren't sure where to go, just tell the hostess you're with the group in the meeting room and she'll show you the way.

Welcome!

If you have just heard about us through our recent Montana press coverage, welcome to our website.

The Missoula Area Secular Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a community of non-theistic individuals and to promote and organize educational programs focusing on secular ethics, science, history and critical thinking for our members, their children and the public at large.

If you would like to join us, keep an eye on this website for announcements on upcoming events, and/or join or burgeoning Facebook group, or follow us on Twitter. We meet up regularly for a variety of educational discussions and lectures.

Membership dues are $20/year, which allows you to vote for our board of directors and on any issues the board puts to the members for a vote. Most of our events, however, do not require you to be a dues paying member to attend. All you need to do is show up.

We also happily accept donations of any size. All donations are tax deductible and fund our educational and outreach programs. To become a paying member or make a donation, simply use the "Donate" button on the right, or bring a check to an event.

Now Accepting Online Donations

The Missoula Area Secular Society is now able to accept online donations.

We are still awaiting our final 501(c)(3) approval from the IRS, but our attorney (who specializes in this sort of thing) is confidant that everything will go through fine, just at the agonizing pace of bureaucracy.

If you intend to deduct your donation from your taxes, you should check with your accountant first. According to our attorney, the IRS usually allows deductions made in good faith to pending non-profits who have filed their paperwork, such as us. Never-the-less, check with your accountant.

If you'd like to make a donation, simply click the link below. If you don't have a paypal account you can click the "continue" link in the lower left corner of the donation form to continue to securely enter your credit card information (they intentionally make it hard to find, so look close).

You will also be given the opportunity to include a note with your donation. If you'd like to request that your donation be applied toward a specific purpose, please indicate so in the note and we'll do our best to accommodate your request.

M.A.S.S. in the News!

This is just a quick update on today's Snow Sculpting event. We had a few surprises. The first was that hardly anybody showed up, or if they did, they couldn't find us (we were just over the ridge to the south out of view of the parking area). But it was pretty cold, so I guess the turnout wasn't that much of a surprise. We had a great time, did a lot of experimenting, built a 4 foot tall snow candle, an equally tall "North Pole", and hopefully learned enough to do some more interesting sculptures next year.

But the second surprise was that, about the time we were finishing our second sculpture and deciding what to do next, we noticed someone trudging through the snow directly at as with a big smile on her face as if she was happy to have found us. We all figured this must be someone new who wants to join the group (and our snow sculpting adventure). But then she got closer and announced that she was from The Missoulian and had a photographer and videographer following her up the hill. So, we chatted with them for a while about M.A.S.S. and contrived a few photo ops for them.

After they left we packed up or gear and headed back down to the parking area, ready for some hot chocolate. As we were coming down the hill to the parking area, we noticed a KPAX truck pulling in. The driver got out and said "I'm looking for the Snow Sculpting People". "You found us" we said, and we turned around with all our stuff and headed back up the hill with her following with her big video camera. We contrived some more photo ops and she interviewed me about M.A.S.S.

So, M.A.S.S. is about to get some local publicity. Hopefully it'll be positive and show us as who we really are... your neighbor's, coworkers, friends and other happy, law abiding citizens of Missoula who just happen to not have god belief and want to get out, meet each other, and have some fun together.

Anybody who's here as a result of the publicity in the Missoulian and KPAX and interested in joining us, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed for this site to be alerted to new upcoming events, or check back regularly. If you have a Facebook account, you can join the 60+ other people who've joined our group there to be notified of new events through FB. I'm looking into a little downtown bar hopping for Wednesday afternoon / early evening as our next event but am still waiting on some final info for that. Full details will be posted here as soon as I have them ready.