Enewsletter

After a couple of years distributing Vegan Outreach booklets at the University of Victoria, including a few thousand last term, I saw some of the results of these efforts today. A surprisingly large number of students told me that they were already vegan, vegetarian or "with me." Many told me how appreciative they are that I was handing out booklets, including one fellow on a bike who turned around to come back and shake my hand.
     The most touching moment, however, was when a student, to whom I had earlier given a Why Vegan?, came up to me with a lump in her throat, and tears in her eyes. We had a pleasant conversation and talked about where to shop. I will remember those couple of minutes for a long time.
-John Bowers, 2/13/06

Notes from Vegan Outreach

For Your Consideration

Last week, we mentioned that literature distribution in 2006 is proceeding at a record pace -- over 150,000 so far -- and we will very soon need to do another printing of Even If You Like Meat....

The number of booklets we can print and distribute depends on your support. The more tax-deductible donations Vegan Outreach receives, the more booklets can be printed, lowering the per-piece cost.

Please remember, every single day, members of Vegan Outreach are reaching out to thousands of new people, being the animals' voice, and helping to bring about a more compassionate and just world.

Please, if you can, help expose the animals' plight, and help more people make informed, cruelty-fee choices.

You can donate securely on-line here, or send a check or money order to:

Vegan Outreach | P.O. Box 38492 | Pittsburgh, PA 15238-8492

Above, Kaz Sephton leaflets at the University of Texas in San Antonio; photo by Jon Camp.

Jon Camp's Fourth Week in the South

Week 4 of my southern tour had me stationed in Texas -- what absolutely wonderful leafleting turf! With the help of volunteers, a total of 7,441 booklets were handed to students of U TX San Antonio, TX State, U TX in Austin, TX A & M, and U of Houston (where Emily Modis, right, leafleted with me). As most of the colleges that I leafleted had not been hit with vegetarian advocacy in years (if ever), it was great to reach out to students left in the dark about what today's farmed animals endure. It was also especially heartening to meet vegetarian after vegetarian in regions not necessarily reputed for espousing kindness to farmed animals. Most surprising to me was the amount of positive feedback I received while at TX A & M, a school known as a stronghold for teaching animal agribusiness. While I had minor fears upon entering the school, I ended up handing out 1,700 Even If You Like Meat booklets -- a personal best for me -- to interested students. The bottom line? At literally every college, there are scores of students interested in reducing farmed animal suffering.

Next week I will be leafleting Middle TN State U, Vanderbilt, Western KY U, U of Louisville, U of KY, and West Virginia U. If you would like to help leaflet with me, or if you would like me to give a talk to your local group, please email jon (at) veganoutreach.org. Thanks so much!

Follow-up to "Why Not Change the Laws?"

Matthew Scully, author of Dominion, points out in the AZ Republic: "Arizona voters will be asked this fall to weigh in on a ballot measure called the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Act ... [which] would prohibit the factory-farming practice of confining pigs and veal calves in crates so small that the animals cannot even turn around or extend their limbs...."

"Just this month, the industry's allies in the Arizona Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to bar the public from passing any laws promoting the humane treatment of farm animals, effective Jan. 1, 2006. Nice to have a fallback position: Even if the humane-farming initiative passes by vote of the people, as industry lobbyists apparently fear it will, they plan to nullify the law retroactively." Full article here (free one-time registration required).

Product of the Week

Tammy wonders "If it's okay to promote a product from a megacorp like Safeway, I'd like to nominate the O Organic Black Bean Enchilada -- an organic and vegan version with nutritional yeast!"

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

Notes from Our Members

Your single pamphlet got me to be 100% vegetarian, and now I want to spread what I have learned. Thanks a lot!
-AP, Kalamazoo, MI, 2/15/06

I got your pamphlet at school. I'm sooo not eating meat or eggs.
-JB, San Jose, CA , 2/9/06

Between 10 and 5 today, I distributed 907 booklets at Northern Illinois University, and an additional 5 and 5 to 2 different students who wanted to share them with friends. Around 8 people stated that they were vegetarian and 2 vegan. 2 people expressed their gratitude that I was doing this. A student who runs a morning show on the college radio stopped after getting a booklet to ask me to be on the show to speak on the topic. The school newspaper also sent a photographer to catch me in action. Another student also took photos and info from me for a class project.
-Joe Espinosa, 2/8/06

This weekend, I leafleted at the NBA All Star game. Just as I got my pamphlets into position and opened my boxes, one of the guys selling paraphernalia told me that he is a vegan, and he eagerly took a Why Vegan and a GCFE. Later, another guy working at the arena told me that he got a pamphlet from me at the University of Houston, and that he is still a vegetarian; I gave him a GCFE.
      It was cold, so tonight a lot of people were wearing fur coats, but this didn't stop any of them from taking Why Vegans from me.
      One person saw me leafleting and asked me if I was spreading the word of Jesus. I replied, "Nope." He took a Why Vegan, looked through it, and then told me that I WAS spreading the word of Jesus, just indirectly.
      A lot of people told me that they were already vegetarian or vegan, and asked me for more pamphlets. It's not what you might expect from a basketball game, but it just goes to show how much inroads we are making with the general population.
-Eugene Khutoryansky, 2/20/06

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