Come Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s Day with us!

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture offers a fun-filled family event to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr with African music, drumming and dance, face painting, African drawing, crafts and activities, stories and costumes. Moses Onguleye will teach the chiildren African drawing, DuPree and Barry Kornhauser (and guests) will perform songs about MLK’s life and Simba Yangala and the dancers from JungleDom will guide children through a relaxed African dance lesson, followed by a performance that welcomes the participation from both, children and adults.

Proceeds from this event will help provide scholarships for BSEC’s Ethics for Children Classes as well as help with our campaign for an accessibility ramp.
Monday, January 20th from 3 pm until 5:30. at:
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Doors open at 3.
Ticket prices:
$20 children 3 to 12 years old ( $25 at the door)
Free for children 2 yo or younger
$10 for adults and teens accompanying a child.( $15 at the door)
To purchase tickets using Eventbrite, please click here.

Proceeds from this event will help provide scholarships for BSEC’s Ethics for Children Classes as well as help with our campaign for an accessibility ramp.


Pledge Dinner 2019

On Friday, November 1st, 2019,  our members and friends gathered for a celebration of friendship, art, and appreciation for our community. Below are a few pictures of the evening, which featured poetry read by Kim Brandon and Tasha Paley, a fun theatrical sketch written by Tom Castelnuovo and performed by Tom and our board of directors, delicious food, donated by the Damas Falafel House, owned by the Lahoumah family, from our Ethics for Children program, and several pieces of artwork , which were also donated for our auction. Warren Miner was the winner of one of our auctions ( the 50-50 auction) and kindly donated his prize to help with repairs to our building. Laura Duffy was honored for all of her contributions to our society and was recognized, joining Nancy Richardson and Rita Wison, as a BSEC Beacon.
It was a warm and fun evening surrounded by friends.

 

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Books to Prisoners Program

Hello all,
I am delighted and proud to announce that The Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture now has a Books to Prisoners program.  On Friday July 26th We mailed twelve cartons of books to the Montogmery State Prison in Mount Vernon, GA. I have spent the last year gathering these books from the neighborhood and used book stores and even Barnes & Noble when they had a sale on dictionaries. At an average of 20 books—hardcovers and paperbacks—per carton for a total of about 240 books. Mostly fiction.

To me this is at the heart of our Mission which I have always felt was grounded in education. I have a list of prison libraries that I am going to send to in the coming months. The biggest cost is the postage. This was about $20.00 per carton at the USPS. I have pledged $1,200.00 for the coming year to fund this program. After speaking to and emailing to the librarians at these prisons I can see there is great need. Prison libraries are underfunded if they are funded at all. Its donations or nothing.
I am happily and gratefully accepting donations of books and money for postage.
Some guidelines:

Nothing spiral bound, or containing nudity or instructions on making your own weapons etc. Nothing too worn or old or written in or on.
What is needed most: Dictionaries, thesauruses, mysteries and thrillers, science fiction. Anything by or about people of color. Spanish language.
At the moment we do not have a collection point at BSEC so you will have to contact me and bring the books to my house. Contact me at [email protected].
PS another great organization I have worked with if you want to give books to individual prisoners who write for specific titles is: https://booksthroughbarsnyc.org/ 

Best,
Vincent Downing

The Art of Dying with a monthly Death Discussion Group

What might we plan, hope, dream, imagine as we consider our mortality?

The Ethical Living Committee at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture is championing a series for shared discussion and contemplation on death and dying.
All topics welcome. There are no taboos.

Shatzi Weisberger and others will begin each evening with a facilitated activity. Each gathering will be followed by a Death Cafe for open and intimate conversations.
3rd Thursday of every month at 6:30pm

Click here to reserve your spot