Past Events
Winter Solstice Party
Celebrate the passing of the seasons with us. We'll have a candle-lighting ceremony, sing secular holiday songs, play games, dance, and have a raffle. Dinner is provided. Drinks are extra.
THIS IS TO LINK YOU TO EVENTBRITE. PLEASE PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sasv-winter-solstice-party-tickets-79896744313?aff=internal
November Assembly - Help Often
Our guest speaker is Kelly Kobza, Founding Director of Greater Good Haiti, an organization whose main goal is to provide remedial education for children who have otherwise no means of attending school, enabling them to better their lives and the lives of their families. Kelly lives in Anse A Galets on the island of La Gonave in Haiti. http://www.greatergoodhaiti.org/about/
October Assembly - Resilience
We want to make the most of the one life we know we have.
Our lives have meaning and purpose when we come together to better ourselves, help others, and improve our world.
We believe in good. We believe it is our responsibility to make our world a better place.
We believe in reason. We believe that evidence and science are our guiding stars through this life.
We believe in compassion. We believe that human connection makes life worth living.
We will share coffee and tea at 10:30 am, celebration at 11:00 am, and potluck at noon. Bring a dish to share!
September Assembly - (Re)Habilitation
Our guest speaker will be Kyle Robertson, Asst. Dir., Center for Public Philosophy and Lecturer in Philosophy at UCSC. He'll speak about the joys and challenges of philosophical inquiry in unusual spaces. Kyle believes that philosophy is a fundamental human activity, and that we should practice it in a variety of contexts outside of the University classroom. He will use his experiences working with elementary schoolchildren and inmates at San Quentin State Prison to illustrate his arguments.
August Assembly - Self-Acceptance
Raji Raman, SASV board member and leader of SASV's Compassionate Listening Smoup, will be sharing her thoughts on the value of self-acceptance and how it relates to compassion. After her introduction, she'll invite us to break into groups and participate in a short listening practice aimed at encouraging self-acceptance.
Also, Amy Baldwin will host, Alicia Bogart will be singing and playing ukulele, and Greg Coladonato will be sharing how he is doing his best.
July Assembly - Compassion
Our speaker, Lisa Blanchard, is the founder and executive director of the Grateful Garment Project, a non-profit that seeks to ensure that no victim of sexual assault ever experiences further suffering due to lack of resources. Sexual assault victims are often asked to give up their clothing as evidence after seeking medical attention and typically leave with nothing but a hospital gown to wear. The Grateful Garment Project provides clothes and other resources that they may need.
June Assembly - Happiness
Our speaker, Linnea Butler, LMFT and founder of the group therapy practice Bay Area Mental Health, is going to be discussing "the things that hold us back from happiness and perspectives on getting unstuck."
Alex Rudnick is going to be our host! Warren Schmidt is doing our reading and Josh Abadie is sharing his Doing Your Best.
Let's have a potluck after Assembly! See our new signup page for main, side, vegetarian, kid-friendly, and dessert dishes. No account or password needed. Please sign-up! https://signup.com/go/tKRFhnQ
May Assembly - Exploration
All young-at-heart are invited to "Camp SASV," where we'll sing fun camp songs and hear about adventures at Camp Quest West, a secular summer camp.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Jessica Witchley, alumni staffer at Camp Quest West, will share what's new and tales of recent camp adventures. Come prepared to show off your critical thinking chops in Darwin's 20 Questions, a longtime camp activity that's good for all ages!