Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • April 19, 2006 | ||
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Notes from Vegan OutreachUpdates / Note from Jon CampWell over 600,000 booklets have now been distributed through the Adopt a College Program, and it continues to grow; e.g., college students personally handed a veg booklet: 
Overall for 2006, Vegan Outreach has sent out over 320,000 booklets already -- on track for a million this year! At right, Lana Smithson of VegTampaBay leaflets at the University of South Florida; photo by Michelle LaFleur. Jon Camp writes the following about his latest tour:
Products of the WeekLauren Porsch offers: "I'd like to nominate a new vegan product from Morningstar Farms -- the chick'n and steak style Meal Starters." Laura Brown has discovered: "Clif bars! I tried these for the first time recently. I was skeptical because bars usually leave a lot to be desired. Not this time -- vegan and delicious!" Send your nominees for Product of the Week to product (at) veganoutreach.org; previous products can be found here.
Notes from All OverChildren May Be Planting Seeds...excerpt: "'Survey results suggest that in youths ranging from 6 to 17 years old, about 2 percent are bona fide vegetarians, avoiding all red meat, fish and poultry. This is admittedly a pretty low number and doesn't suggest the beginnings of a groundswell of support for a plant-based diet. However, another finding is quite encouraging, and that is 20 percent of teenagers report that vegetarianism is not only acceptable, it's 'in.' This suggests that while they may not have adopted the vegetarian lifestyle, they are not opposed to it and would not be likely to condemn those who do not eat meat."
Notes from Our MembersI am sure you get e-mails
like this all the time, but today
I was walking back from class (at
UC Irvine) and I received one of
your animal cruelty pamphlets. After
reading it, I stopped eating meat.
I will graduate to vegan in time. At UC San Diego today,
I handed out 2,150
booklets. One female student sort
of automatically uttered those words,
"No thanks, I like meat."
Then she caught herself and appeared
extremely embarrassed. This wasn't
an attempt to be obnoxious, as it
often is. It was more like free
association, as if this is what
she was truly thinking. We go to
these campuses armed to the teeth
for a debate, but there can be no
debate. Because the other side has
absolutely nothing to offer except
that they like meat and they're
in the habit of eating it. We are
such interesting creatures, selfish
to near comical proportions, yet
capable of true compassion. This
is why this seemingly untouchable
mega-apparatus we are fighting must
eventually collapse like a tower
of cards. And it becomes our job
to put selfishness to sleep and
awaken compassion. I handed out 256 EIYLM
brochures yesterday at the University
of Colorado, Boulder. The EIYLM
is particularly effective in
that its title is disarming to would-be
naysayers. One guy put up his hand
to wave away the leaflet I was offering
saying "No thanks, I like meat."
I said, "But the title is 'Even
If You Like Meat.'" He came
back and decided to take one after
all. Another guy passed by and pulled
an egg carton out of his back pack
and shook his head as if to say
he didn't want a brochure. I told
him I used to eat eggs too, so he
came back and got an EIYLM
from me. One woman gave me a thumbs
up and thanked me for handing out
leaflets. I also enjoyed hearing
many comments of "I'm already
veg" and "I'm already
vegan" -- it gives me hope...
Vegan Outreach makes me hopeful
too! 
I want to tell you
about something I saw this week
when I leafleted. First I gave a
leaflet to an older, white woman
-- someone my mom's age. Then I
gave a leaflet to a younger black
man. Neither of them were really
folks I thought would take too much
interest in the literature. Traffic
was slow, so I had a chance to watch
them as they stood shoulder to shoulder
at the light waiting to cross the
street. Both were reading the booklet,
then one would lean over and say
something to the other, who would
point at a picture and make a shocked
face. Soon, the light changed and
they crossed together, still shoulder
to shoulder, and walked down the
whole sidewalk together, still reading
the booklets and pointing to pictures
within them. They walked
slower than everyone else. Then
they stopped in front of an entrance
to a building where they talked
for sometime, booklets still open.
Finally, they shook hands and parted.
These two individuals --
of different age and background
-- shared a few moments of their
day looking at the booklets -- both
in shock and horror at how today's
farmed animals are treated. I am a freshman
in high school, and have been a
vegetarian for 2 years now. I'm
slowly getting used to a vegan lifestyle.
I had to do a report in my writing
class, and I chose factory farming.
I had a bunch of your Why Vegan?
pamphlets, so I decided to pass
them out to my class. They were
all taken aback by it all, and a
few people showed their families.
The response has been great! My
one friend told me that he showed
his cousin and now his cousin is
a vegetarian! I also gave one to
my aunt's friend because he used
to always bug me about why I was
veg. I showed him the pamphlet,
and now he goes out of his way to
buy cage-free eggs. On a flight today,
the gentleman across the aisle struck
up a conversation. After he asked
what I did, he pointed to his high-school
daughter and said she had just gone
vegetarian. I gave her a Try
Vegetarian and a GCFE,
which she, her sister, and mom read
the rest of the flight.
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