A community group will be showing a Marvel action-adventure movie to an audience of youths, who will be fed pizza and snacks, all for free. But to keep up what has become a monthly event, the group needs superheroes, so to speak, to come forward as donors.
Since April 2024, the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie have shown a movie on the last Saturday of each month at the West Toledo Branch Library, 1320 W. Sylvania Ave. It’s open to youths from grade school through junior high and high school.
Their families or care providers are welcome, but it’s really about the kids, said Douglas Berger, president of the group. The Secular Humanists chose Toledo’s Library Village neighborhood because “there’s quite a bit of low-income families and not a lot to do. This gives the kids someplace to go for free.”
The group awaited a grant from the American Humanist Association to cover the movie and a meal event through the end of 2025. However, the uncertainty of funding in the current political climate led the association to pause the grants, Berger said.
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So the Secular Humanists have put out the call for donors, with a goal of raising $1,000 to $1,200. If that happens, the monthly movies will continue through the end of 2025, and possibly beyond.
“We have enough funds on hand for July and August,” Berger said. Without donations, “after that we’ll have to suspend.”
Berger said the monthly films have drawn as many as 30 children. The West Toledo Branch already attracts children through its free lunch program and homework helpers, he said. Sometimes parents join their children in the library to do research, and stop in the basement auditorium with them to watch the movie as a family.
Berger said the movies are Disney or Disney-related, and have an element of science or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) topics.
The next film on Saturday, July 26, at 2 p.m. will be the Marvel superhero movie Thunderbolts.
The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie said its mission is to provide a supportive local community for humanists and other nontheists, while promoting an ethical, reasonable, and secular approach to life through education, community service, outreach, activism and social events.
Berger said the group makes no statements nor proselytizes to the movie audience. He said sometimes an interested adult asks about the group, so Berger provides a business card. “There are no strings attached” to movie attendance, he said.
He said the Lake Erie group was founded in 2018 to “provide a safe space for free thinkers and secular people. We support diversity, inclusion and equity. We don’t turn anybody away.”
The group of about 30 meets monthly at different public libraries, and is taking a break over summer, to pick back up in September.
Berger sees Secular Humanists filling a niche in the overall Toledo community. “Toledo has a history for free thought,” he said.
And when it comes to providing entertainment and food for youths through the monthly movies, he said “it’s something fun to do.”
(Berger said tax-deductible donations can be made by visiting humanistswle.org/donations/kidsmovie)
