Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Jon Camp's Sixth Week in the South

Elated by the successful previous weeks of my leafleting tour, I was hopeful that week 6 in the south would live up to my expectations. It absolutely did. With volunteer help, a total of 5,950 Even If You Like Meat booklets were individually handed to students of Middle Tennessee State, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, and Morehead State.

At right, Maria Sochor leaflets at Middle Tennessee State U.
Photo by Jon Camp.

Some of the more memorable experiences of the week were:

• At Middle Tennessee State, I saw scores of students walking around reading their EIYLM booklets intently. A young woman, moved by the animals' plight, walked by an hour or so after receiving her booklet and declared emphatically, "I'm never going to eat meat again!" She was then promptly given a high-five.
  
  
• At the University of Kentucky, there was a near constant flow of students for close to seven hours and I was able to personally hand out 1,500 EIYLM booklets. A young woman associated with animal agribusiness came up to challenge the information set forth in our booklet, and she was taken aback when I answered her every question in a calm, polite, and factual manner. I told her that our goal was not to demonize farmers, but to reduce animal suffering. Moreover, it is hard to refute that animals endure great misery on today's factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses, and that more people eating more vegetarian fare could greatly reduce that. The woman left the conversation disarmed and thoughtful.
  
  
• At Eastern Kentucky, a young woman came up to let me know how sad she felt after reading the booklet, and how guilty she felt about owning and wearing a leather coat. I mentioned that guilt revolving around a coat already purchased would do the animals no good, but that reducing her meat, egg, and dairy consumption could have far-reaching impacts. She agreed and felt confident that she could make choices that would help farmed animals.

In conclusion, week 6 was what I had expected -- long and unglamorous work, but to invoke the late animal advocate, Henry Spira, work that pushed "the peanut forward" for animals.

Attention: St. Louis!

Vegan Outreach co-founder and President, Jack Norris, R.D., will be the featured speaker at the St. Louis Vegetarian Society's Meatout Celebration. There will be two seatings for this all-you-can-eat gourmet vegan dinner! Details here.

Jack will be leafleting in the St. Louis area on Friday, March 17. Contact him at jack (at) veganoutreach.org if you would like to join him.

Worse and Worse

People often claim that things can't be like what is shown in Why Vegan and Even If You Like Meat. They are right -- things are worse. As pointed out at a recent meat industry conference, "The number of pigs dying on the way to the slaughterhouse has nearly tripled in recent years."

Product of the Week

More Safeway! From Susan Eakins of Missoula, Montana: "I nominate the Safeway Food Markets 'Select' line of house brand products, which include dishwashing detergents, all-purpose cleaners and detergents. They are low-cost, and not tested on animals! Safeway stores are located throughout most of the USA, under various names such as: Randall's, Dominick's, Thom Thumb, Genardi's. PETA acknowledged Safeway in their Proggy awards."

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

Notes from All Over

Excerpts from Robert F. Kennedy

Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), "Day of Affirmation" Address, University of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time [we stand] up for an ideal, or act to improve the lot of others, or strike out against injustice, we send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.

"All of us will ultimately be judged and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves, on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that effort. The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment..."

Notes from Our Members

Your booklet is very powerful, and motivated me to go vegan. I would like to distribute them now.
-JR, Tempe, AZ, 2/28/06

While handing out Why Vegans at the Galleria Shopping Mall, I ran into a vegan who asked me if I pass these out here often. I replied that I do. He said that he keeps meeting people who tell him that they got a Why Vegan at the Galleria, and that "everyone in town is talking about it," and even his boss at work hasn't been able to eat meat for two months since getting a pamphlet at the mall.
     At Vegan Meetup, one person told me that she gave out the Why Vegans I gave her a few months ago, and that several of her friends have now gone vegetarian as a result. Even one of her friends, who she thought was the last person on the planet who would ever consider going vegetarian, is now a vegetarian because of the pamphlet.
-Eugene Khutoryansky, Houston, TX, 3/4/06

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