The National Day of Reason is Thursday, May 1. We will have events in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. The Des Moines event will be at the Des Moines Botanical Center Oak Room and will begin at 7pm. The Cedar Rapids event will be at Beams Auditorium at the Cedar Rapids Public Library and will being at 6:30pm. The Des Moines event will have an episode of Mr. Diety and both events will show the movie The God Who Wasn’t There followed by a discussion. Both events are free and open to the public and were organized by the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids groups.

We would also like to encourage everyone to donate blood on the Nation Day of Reason. Other groups have done blood drives to counter the ‘National Day of Prayer.’ I am still looking for someone who may be interested in working to organize the state-wide blood drive next year. I would also love to hear from you if you donate blood this year and/or are interested in donating next year.

Thursday, May 8th, Iowa City/Coralville Meetup at Old Chicago in Coralville at 7pm. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Saturday, May 10th, Iowa Secularists River Run. We will be canoeing on the Maquoketa River in eastern Iowa. To see the current details for this event and to RSVP, visit the Meetup site here. We plan on getting started in the morning and I am happy to organize car pools if that would be helpful. Please RSVP as soon as possible. I will soon be sending out a list of things to bring if you are planning to attend. We will update the website and the Meetup site with more information when we have an idea of how many will be attending. Thanks so much to Sally and Mike for making these arrangements.

Thursday, May 15th, Des Moines Meetup at Legends American Grill, 8460 Birchwood Ct., Johnston, at 7pm. For more information or to RSVP visit the website here.

Thursday, May 15th, Cedar Rapids Meetup. Leonardo’s Pizza, 2228 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Saturday, May 24th, Iowa City Meetup, Capanna Coffee Co., 136 S. Dubuque St., downtown Iowa City. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Sunday, May 25th, Memorial Day Potluck in Cedar Rapids, 4:00 PM at the home of Niles and Carol Ross. All are welcome. Please RSVP through the Meetup site by May 22. This will be a great chance to mingle and get to know your fellow Iowa Secularists! Niles and Carol will provide chicken breasts, and you bring what you like to share. Bring your own soft drinks, hard drinks, whatever drinks. Arrive approximately 4 PM, and we will have dinner approximately 5 PM. This is a “no shoe house” so be prepared to remove your shoes on entrance. We will have movies set up for the kids. Learn more here.

Each Saturday, North Iowa Secularists meeting at 10:00am at the Mason City Airport Cafe at Hwy 122 W. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Each Sunday, Des Moines weekly meeting, 12pm Please RSVP on message board. Panera Bread on 42nd St., West Des Moines, in the back room., visit the Meetup site for more details and updates here.