The Humanist Community Welcomes Members and Friends to a July Potluck
2 p.m., July 26, 2025
The Humanist Community welcomes members and friends to a July potluck in a reserved area of a lovely park centrally located in Sunnyvale.
Bring a dish to share and come early-ish so that you won’t miss the fullness of the feast. This is not a barbecue, so we will not do any cooking there at the park. Unfortunately for us dog owners, this particular park does not allow dogs, so we will have to leave our furry friends at home.
Contact Havasy@live.com for exact directions to the park itself and to the gathering place within the park, and to accept the invitation. We look forward to spending time together with you again!
Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we welcome Chris Casselll to tell us about Pro Bono Photo, which serves the photo needs of social action and environmental organizations in the Bay area.
PBP (https://www.probonophoto.org/) is a clearinghouse that matches worthy organizations that need photographic and videographic services, with volunteer photographers and videographers who wish to donate their time and expertise. PBP was founded in early 2017 by Jack Owicki; the first Women’s March was the initial large event that we covered. Chris Cassell has been a photographer for PBP since that beginning.
In the years since then, and as PBP has become increasingly known to social and environmental non-profit organizations, two different roles of PBP have become increasingly separate and sometimes in tension with each other in terms of their ground rules. Those roles are (1) covering protests, and (2) helping non-profits document their meetings, conferences, etc. The protest coverage role had receded somewhat during the Biden administration but, needless to say, has exploded in activity since the start of 2025.
Chris will describe the evolution of Pro Bono Photo and those roles over the years, highlighted by photos (taken mostly by Chris) from events that PBP has covered. He will also explore the aspirational notion that the effect of PBP’s activities has been “necessary, though not sufficient”. That is, through documenting protests, PBP multiplies the effectiveness of those actions so that protest becomes more than just a bunch of left-coast people waving signs in each others faces. Helping to demonstrate that a critical mass of Americans share their anger with the current direction of politics is a necessary step. But that step plus several others may be needed to effectively change the direction that American society is headed.
Chris is a retired aerospace engineer; Lockheed Martin brought him to the Bay area in 1997, but in 2012 he transitioned to being a co-founder and the astrodynamics lead of Deep Space Industries, Inc. DSI had the long-term goal of near-Earth asteroid mining, but failed as a business in 2018. Chris’ education includes a B.A. in Physics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from UC, San Diego.
He is a member of two “religious humanist” organizations; the Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley (past Treasurer), and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto where he is currently a member of the Action Council (for social action).
Chris has been a serious amateur photographer since the late ’70s. Currently, in addition to Pro Bono Photo, Chris is active with the Los Gatos-Saratoga Camera Club where he is Judge VP, responsible for arranging judges for the club’s monthly photo competitions. He also regularly judges photo competitions at other camera clubs around the Bay area.
Attend in Person: On the first and fourth Sunday of the month, like this Sunday, attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.
If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.
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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here. No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter: Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712 Passcode: 250634
Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
