Ethical Action

Ethical Actions are service projects we do together.  These projects benefit the larger community and include actions such as collecting items for the homeless, sorting donated food, helping disadvantaged families, and taking care of our local environment by cleaning up the Bay.

Please contact us if you would like to be involved in one or more of our Ethical Action projects.

  •  Sample of past Ethical Actions
    • Second Harvest Food Bank. 

      Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is the trusted leader dedicated to ending local hunger. Since its inception in 1974, Second Harvest has become one of the largest food banks in the nation, providing food to an average of nearly one quarter of a million people each month. The Food Bank mobilizes individuals, companies, and community partners to connect people to the nutritious food they need. Nearly half of the food distributed is fresh produce. Second Harvest also plays a leading role in promoting federal nutrition programs and educating families on how to make healthier food choices.

      Here is the Second Harvest volunteer agreement form.

    • Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley routinely volunteers time, money and food to assist in this worthy cause. A portion of the donations from our discussion & movie nights goes to Second Harvest as well as food collected during our volunteer events.  Ethical Culture also organizes volunteer groups for Second Harvest warehouse food sorting events.  Check our event calendar for future volunteer opportunities. 

    • Save the Bay
    • Sunday Friends
    • LifeMoves (formerly called Innvision). Collecting toiletries for distribution to the homeless through LifeMoves.  Making lunches for LifeMoves residents.
  • Direct Service, Heal and Help
    • Planted Seedlings on Mardi Gras for Save The Bay restoring tidal marsh habitat and getting shoreline plots ready for their new residents, the local wildlife.
    • Fall Welcome Weeding Project with Save The Bay restoring tidal marsh habitat and getting shoreline plots ready for their new residents, the local wildlife.
    • Food sorting at the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose
    • Adopted a family of three through the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center. Gifts for the family included two bicycles and accessories, doll and accessories, microwave oven, set of pots and pans, toaster, large food gift certificate, clothing for the entire family, shoes and wrapping paper.
    • Visited a Veterans Hospital to spend time with veterans during an Ice Cream Social
    • Collecting toiletries for distribution to the homeless through Innvision
    • Tree planting by the ECSSV youth group
    • Collected school supplies for local group serving low income families.

    Education, Inform Self and Others:

    • Read “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander and discussed current prison and jail conditions in the Bay Area.
    • Developed a Recycling Game that is now a part of the Sunday Friends program as an ongoing activity
    • Learned about Domestic Violence through the Clothesline Project, and a member created a video to support the project
    • Made Solar Ovens and cooked our potluck picnic in them and raised donations to fund 6.5 ovens for the Darfur Stoves Project
    • Learned how to prepare for disasters and other emergencies through the Red Cross
    • Bake sale to benefit One Love Advocates for children in Haiti by the ECSSV (Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley) youth group and ethical action
    • Had a Faux Meat tasting of alternative, non-animal foods to substitute for meat
    • Learned about ways to fight climate change, including using solar power, reducing use of resources like water and recycling electronics
    • Did a collection of 150 Animals for 150 Kids for Sunday Friends to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species

    Witness, Take a Stand:

    • Joined Occupy San Jose in protesting corporate personhood.
    • Joined demonstration against torture at a Amnesty International “Close Guantanamo” action

    Lobby, Influence Action:

    • Letters to various lawmakers regarding marriage equality.

    Direct Action, Change the System:
    Institutionalize Change or Response:

    • Lending to the working poor through Kiva Microloans

 

Making Collection Boxes for Sunday Friends
Making Collection Boxes for Sunday Friends