Humanists Clean Up Tempe Beach Park

On August 13, volunteers from the Arizona Coalition of Reason completed a second day of labor towards a long-term commitment to the Tempe Parks and Recreation department to keep Tempe Beach Park clean. Sixteen volunteers showed up to pick up litter and pull weeds in the adopt a park program.

Most volunteers hailed from the Phoenix Atheists Meetup group, such as Brad Stephenson who drove up from Casa Grande. This was Stephenson's first involvement with the group and he came to “feel involved with a group outside of [work].” Stephenson works for the CCA private prison in Florence and enjoyed being part of something greater with like-minded individuals.

Kerri and Jake, members of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix drove from downtown Phoenix to be part of the community. They and the other 16 volunteers worked hard to collect about three bags of litter and weeds.

The weather was supportive, with cloud cover and cooler morning temperatures. And work only slowed when members struck on a topic of conversation in which a mutual passion for a shared truth proved too great to table for later.  The next Tempe Beach Park clean up hasn't been announced yet, but may be in two months.

Contributed by Richard Conaway.