About - Stem Gift Drive

STEM Gift Drive is about more than what we give. It is also about how we serve.

MISSION: STEM Gift Drive expands access to engaging STEM toys, games, books, and experiences for young people while bringing communities together through an inclusive, secular campaign where everyone is welcome to participate.

Program Goals:

Expand access to quality STEM resources.
Inspire curiosity, exploration, and possibility.
Create welcoming opportunities for community service.
Build strong, mission-aligned community partnerships.
Grow responsibly while protecting the integrity of the program.

History

The STEM Gift Drive began in 2015 as part of a community impact project hosted by BE Orlando Humanist Fellowship. BE organized about 72 community service projects each year, and the STEM Gift Drive was one of them. BE’s mission included doing good in the world while creating welcoming opportunities for LGBTQ+ people and those of all Religious, Secular, or Spiritual Identities (RSSIs) to volunteer, serve, and build community.

BE also worked to increase awareness of Religious, Secular, or Spiritual Identity (RSSI) inclusion within nonprofit organizations and community service. Part of that work was creating opportunities to serve together as an organization at projects, programs, and events where Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, and people of minority religious or spiritual identities were intentionally welcomed to volunteer and serve.

In addition, religious neutrality was—and remains—important to many people in LGBTQ+ communities, who cannot always assume that faith-centered charitable or volunteer environments will be affirming of their identities or relationships.

We wanted the STEM Gift Drive—as with all programs of BE Orlando—to be a place where LGBTQ+ people, secular people, religious people, and people of other identities and perspectives could participate authentically without religious assumptions, pressure, discrimination, or expectations.

That may also mean recognizing the need for service opportunities that feel comfortable after experiences of religious exclusion, rejection, or trauma.

When BE closed in 2019, the organization leaders believed the STEM Gift Drive was worth continuing. The STEM Gift Drive became an independent, volunteer-led initiative while carrying forward an important part of its original philosophy: community service should be a place where people of every Religious, Secular, or Spiritual Identity can serve together comfortably.

Today, STEM Gift Drive remains intentionally secular and religiously neutral. This does not mean religious people are excluded. People of every Religious, Secular, or Spiritual Identity—including secular people and religious allies who share our commitment to an inclusive, religiously neutral program—are welcome to donate, volunteer, host collections, and support the campaign.

Community belongs to all of us, and we want to create a place where everyone can belong and serve together.