NJHN President’s 2024 Year in Review and 2025 Year of Turmoil and Resolve

 

This is NJHN President Lisa Ridge’s talk given at our 2024 HumanLight and 30th Anniversary Celebration on December 15, 2024

Let me start with a spoiler alert: There will be a toast at the end of this, so please get yourself the drink of your choice before I get there! 

I’m going to tell you about NJHN’s year in 2024. Let’s see what you remember.

In January we started with a presentation by three young leaders with SURJ-NJ, Showing Up for Racial Justice. SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial and economic justice, working on the issues of homelessness, food insecurity, Indigenous sovereignty, and more.

In February we had a virtual talk by Deborah Boerner Ein, author of a biography on Mary Treat, a 19th century ecologist who lived and worked in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Her studies of carnivorous plants coincided with those of Charles Darwin, and she corresponded with the esteemed British naturalist more than any other woman scientist. A group of us also visited the Zimmerli Art Museum on the Rutgers University New Brunswick campus.

In March we hosted a virtual talk by Seth Andrews, known as The Thinking Atheist, for his talk, Seth Andrews vs. God: Who is the Better Intelligent Designer? Seth had some things to say about some of the world’s faulty wiring and how he might have done better than whoever – or whatever – allegedly wrote the blueprints. We also had an information table at the American Atheists convention in Philadelphia, which led to some New Jersey folks finding us and becoming new members.

In April we moved outdoors to the Trailside Nature & Science Center in Watchung for its Wild Earth Fest, featuring animals, food, music, educational activities. A few of us also joined up with a few folks from the Red Bank Humanists to participate in Clean Ocean Action’s Beach Sweep at Bradley Beach.

We didn’t have a program in May as we prepared for a return trip to the Jersey Pride Festival in Asbury Park in early June. We had an information table there and our volunteer crew enjoyed talking to lots of people about humanism and our organization. We had a great time!

In June we held our Annual Membership Meeting and Board of Directors election. We shared ideas for future plans and heard feedback from our members. We also elected new Board members for two years and officers for one year. Besides me as President, would our other Board members here today just stand for a moment to be recognized: Vice President Adriana Cordal, Treasurer Robert Lovatt, and Secretary Gary Brill, as well as Tamar Kieval Brill, Brenda LaDuke, Sue Landry, and Joe Vincenzino. Board members who couldn’t be with us today are Rhonda Marker, Ronda Cluff, and Laura Bonapace. I also want to thank a few members who work on some of our committees: Tim Ridge and Len Cacciatore of our Technology Committee, Michael Cluff on our Marketing Committee, and Heather Sloan who helped with our Party Planning Committee for today’s event. We’ve had a very busy year, as I’m here to tell you, and these folks help make it all happen.

For the fourth year, in July we hosted a Summer Art & Hobby Show, at the Monroe Township Library, where our members shared their incredible artistic talents and what inspires their happiness and creativity. This is an excellent way to learn more about each other and I want to encourage more members to consider participating next year. My only talent is to be a very appreciative spectator.

In August, we were planning to hold our summer picnic at Duke Island Park, but the weather forecast called for storms with high winds and lightning, and THAT’S when I learned that lightning can be very dangerous in an open-sided shelter with metal tables. I feel like I should have known that before.

In September we had another information table at the rainy Franklin Day Festival in Somerset. And THAT’s when we learned that sitting under a tent in a constant rain is miserable and everything gets wet and very few people come and we probably won’t do that again.

Our October speaker was Nick Fish of American Atheists on Rising to the Moment: Our Role in Stopping Religious Nationalism, Protecting Democracy, and Standing Up for Human Rights. We were feeling hopeful about the November election, but we were wrong and the threats are on the rise here and around the world. Nick’s talk is available on our YouTube channel—please subscribe so that we can start livestreaming!

And last month we got together to talk about our reactions, feelings, thoughts and concerns about the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election.

And here we are today, closing out our year with our 24th celebration of our Humanist values AND the 30th anniversary of the founding of New Jersey Humanist Network.

Throughout the year, we continued our monthly Book Club, where we read a variety of 10 nonfiction books to expand our understanding of human challenges and achievements, our history and future. We’ll end this month with a book that reflects on the necessity of our acknowledgment and celebration of our binding relationship with the rest of the living world.

We continued our Exploring Humanism online program this year. Once a month we’ve discussed a variety of issues and how they affect our humanist lifestance. We started discussing the Ten Commitments created by the American Humanist Association late last year and this year we discussed Peace & Social Justice, Service & Participation, Altruism, Environmentalism, Humility, Empathy, Global Awareness and Responsibility. Our next Exploring Humanism series will begin in February.

We continue meeting for our Monthly Dinner at the Omega Diner in North Brunswick. In October we held a postcard writing effort to unregistered voters in Pennsylvania to tell them about the danger of Project 2025 and encourage them to engage in efforts to protect democracy, not theocracy.

We will do our very best to create opportunities for more fun, social gatherings in the coming year, if the weather will cooperate.

We’ve shared information about many virtual programs, conferences and celebrations from national, regional and international organizations, and the release of reports of critical importance here and around the world.

This year we were awarded two additional grants from the AHA to purchase a new button maker and additional banners and materials for more tabling events.

And we awarded our second Secular Student Scholarship to a young man named Christian Silva, who is a graduate student at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Christian received his undergraduate degree at Moody Bible College, which is where he came to learn that the experience he had there left him unable to reconcile his personal beliefs about love, tolerance, and activism with the hate-centered religious indoctrination he was exposed to there.

We’ve welcomed 20 new members in 2024. We’ve been progressing with our Community Cares program for our members, to show that our community wants to support you in times of joy and sadness, to celebrate your successes, to offer our support in difficult times, our condolences when you experience loss. To keep in touch with you when these life events happen. We hope you’ll share these experiences with us in the future. You can communicate with us by email at NJHNCARES@GMAIL.COM.

I’d like to thank those who arrived early today to help set things up, those who will stay afterward to clean things up, and those who made an extra donation so that others could afford to be here today. Finally, I’d like to thank all who donated items for our Silent Auction and to those who bid on those items over the last week. I don’t know the final numbers yet, but I’m hoping we’ve been able to raise at least $400 for some of today’s expenses and for our programs and speakers for next year.

As for the future, we face many tough days ahead, for ourselves, our families and friends, those we care about, those we don’t even know and never will. We will see challenges to the values we share and hold dear. American democracy and its institutions are at risk. Many of us are working our way through grief and despair, a sense of resignation, an inability to accept the unacceptable. We need to take the time we need to do that, and then find the resolve to look for inspiration and the positive paths. I know how hard many of us have worked, but more work remains. We’ll join with others, including those who believe differently than we do. Act with love and kindness and generosity. Try to heal old wounds and not make new ones. Look for examples in those who are making a positive difference in the world. Stand with the helpers. Show up, figure out what we need to learn, get the skills, ask for help, and stand up for each other. Ground ourselves in our values and refuse to abandon one another. Anger and fear will tell us that we’re wasting our time and nothing will change. We’re not giving up. It can feel like the world is falling apart. But there are millions of tiny acts of kindness still holding it together. And seek out joy and laughter as often as we can. We are intelligent and resourceful. We have a vision of a better future, one that works for all of us with no one left out.

Thank you all for coming today and sharing some of your holiday time with us. I’d like to propose a toast for all of us for 2025: For good health and success, happy times with family, friends and pets, time to relax and travel, good food and drink, good books and music, and all the rest that fulfills you. The powerful impact of working together, the resolution of conflicts around the world and world leaders seeking peaceful and restorative solutions. And better days ahead, as we continue to celebrate our Humanist values of Reason, Compassion, and Hope for a better future! Happy Holidays, Happy HumanLight, and Happy New Year, to all of you!

Published 12/16/24