Columbia Atheists Work to Fill Void For Homeless Community
- Robert Perrell
- Sep 21, 2019
- 3 min read
On a warm Sunday morning while many local churches were just getting out of weekly services, a local group of Atheists arrived at Finely Park in Columbia, S.C. to do their part for the homeless community. The group comes to the park on the third Sunday each month and provides essential toiletry items to the homeless, including toothbrushes, toilet paper, and deodorant.
The group is known as Atheist Alliance Helping the Homeless (AAHH), and is part of a larger organization, Atheist Alliance of America, which works to create strong secular communities all across the United States. The Columbia chapter, founded by Steve Weston, got its inspiration from a similar group in Austin, Texas ran by a man named Joe Zemecki.
“I saw Atheist Alliance Helping the Homeless, the Austin Chapter, on social media several years ago so I reached out to the guy to see how he was doing all this, but at the time I wasn’t really interested in running an organization, I just wanted to help,” said Weston.
After a few years of waiting for someone else to take charge, Weston finally realized it was up to him to lead the way. At the beginning, he says he spent a lot of money getting the organization going, but quickly realized it was not sustainable. Now, Weston receives more donations from individuals outside the group but admits he still purchases some of the items himself. Luckily, organizations like Bombas, an apparel company devoted to giving back to communities, are starting to take the pressure off Weston after they agreed to donate socks to AAHH.
“They gave me a six-month supply and essentially told me that whenever it runs out to submit another request and they would send more, so that has helped a lot,” said Weston.
There is also a wish list that Weston continually updates via Amazon.com that includes all the items they need help collecting for their upcoming events. The list gradually changes throughout the year depending on the needs of the community.
There are also advocates for the homeless that work closely with Weston like Regi, who maintains a list of local organizations that provide resources for the homeless. Regi then shares the list and other information with members of the homeless community so they know all the current information about where to receive food, shelter, or in the case of Weston’s group, toiletries. Regi’s list, which he works tirelessly to keep updated, is very impressive and includes a host of organizations in and around Columbia.
“I’m not trying to brag, but this is the most comprehensive list around,” said Regi.
According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, South Carolina is home to almost four thousand individuals experiencing homelessness each day. Just over four hundred of those are veterans, something that Weston mentions was a factor in determining which day his group operates.
“We chose the third Sunday, because that’s getting close to the time where a lot of veterans are running out of social security or veteran’s pay that they get at the first of the month, so they start running out of things towards the end of the month,” said Weston.
Not everyone that attended the AAHH event would be considered homeless, and as Weston points out, may only be actually homeless part of the time. These people end up at temporary housing just getting together enough money to survive week to week, and according to Weston, this is where his group can make the biggest impact.
“They might be in a motel room or something like that for two or three weeks and they’re on the street for a week until they get their next paycheck, you know, so we’re trying to fill that void.”
To find out how you can help, visit the Atheist Alliance Helping the Homeless Columbia on Facebook here. And for more news and information about the Secular Community, follow us on Twitter @SecularShepherd.
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