Enewsletter

This issue sponsored by DownBound:

At James Madison University today, Aashish Bhimani and I handed out over 1200 copies of Even If You Like Meat. We had at least an 80% acceptance rate, lots of people thanking us for being there, etc. Aashish overheard someone telling his friend how he really liked that it wasn't an all or nothing approach, concluding that he felt he could actually do something about cruelty to animals.
-Jon Camp, 11/14/05

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Records Galore!

Already in 2005, Vegan Outreach has sent over over 710,000 copies of our booklets -- nearly 100,000 more than all of 2004!

Adopt a College activists have also already smashed the previous one-semester total, with dozens of activists having handed nearly 135,000 booklets directly to students!

Each one of these booklets has the potential to create much change -- being read by and shared with the consumers, voters, and leaders of tomorrow.

Housecleaning Notes

• As the holidays approach, much of your internet shopping can help print more copies of Why Vegan, Even If..., and Vegan Outreach's other booklets. You can start here; GreaterGood and iGive serve as portals to most large internet shops.
  
• VO's 2004-05 financial information is now available here.
  
• Every week, several people e-mail to ask why they didn't receive the latest e-newsletter. It seems that, over time, some ISPs are filtering our mailings as bulk. Look for a new edition every Wednesday -- if you don't receive it, check your deleted items or junk mail folders, and be sure to add "enewsletter (at) veganoutreach.org" to your address book. Thanks!

Products of the Week

MacKenzie Barrett writes: "If you miss peanut butter cups, try the 'Beanit Butter Cup Mix' from Dixie Diners' Club. It comes as a mix, and makes 25 small size peanut butter cups that taste just like the ones I used to buy before becoming vegan!"

And if looking for a holiday treat for a new vegan or budding activist, keep Meat Market in mind. VegNews said: "Erik Marcus' Meat Market radically redefines what it means to be an effective animal advocate in the 21st century."

Send your nominees for Product of the Week to product@veganoutreach.org; previous products can be found here.

Notes from All Over

Activist Profile from CAA's eNewsletter

excerpt: "Although Ben Acaso had heard a little bit about how animals were raised in factory farms, it wasn't until reading Matthew Ball's essay 'A Meaningful Life' that Ben decided to focus his time and energy advocating on behalf of farmed animals.... Ben has distributed thousands of pamphlets raising awareness on the plight of animals raised for food, distributing nearly 2,000 pamphlets at local colleges this semester alone! Ben is kept motivated by his many encounters with people who have gone veg after reading one of these pamphlets. 'The small time commitment [of distributing pamphlets] brings a huge payoff,' says Ben. 'With every person who decides to reduce or eliminate animal products from their diets, thousands of animals can be spared from the horrors of factory farms.'"

Notes from Our Members

I recently got this message from a friend: "You know, I was handed this booklet on animals and how they are processed for the purposes of food consumption, and it's terrible. I understand why you do what you do, and I respect it a great deal."
-Ryan A. MacMichael, Leesburg, VA,, 10/31/05

At right, Nick "The Friendly Giant" Lesiecki leaflets at San Jose State; picture by Suzanne Haws.

I am a student at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, CA, and yesterday, I stopped by a booth on my campus where they were handing out a booklet titled Even If You Like Meat. I found the booklet to be quite educational because it made me aware of the cruelty that animals such as pigs, birds, and turkeys go through in order for us humans to survive so to speak. Obviously, we have other alternatives to eating meat, but we ignore them. All of the pictures shown in the booklet are very disturbing, because we are neglecting animals, who cannot speak for themselves. Now, I am very interested in becoming a veggie for the sake of these animals.
-GG, 11/11/05

Today at Indiana U of PA, I handed out 600 Even Ifs, and a few Guides. At one point, a man a little distance away was loudly saying: "Brochure on animal cruelty on paper that destroyed wildlife?" Before he could go on, I quickly walked over to him and in a calm and friendly manner stated, "Sir, these booklets were printed on recycled paper with soy ink. And just so you know what this is about, here," handing him a booklet. He got embarrassed and said he was just joking around (which was a lie), and I said it was no problem whatsoever Dale Carnegie would have classified this as the virtue of letting others save face). The guy ended up staying there while his friends dispersed, reading the booklet quite intensely for at least five to ten minutes and left reading the booklet.
        I remember reading an interview with the late AR activist Henry Spira, in which he said that his goal was to "push the peanut forward." While I think that we all do this each time we get out and do this work, some days we sense it more than others. Today I felt like it was pushed forward quite substantially.
-Jon Camp, 11/4/05

Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating. All donations are tax-deductible. Vegan Outreach POB 30865, Tucson, AZ 85751-0865