Last Friday, I finished up what has probably been the most important activism of my life. Fellow CAA volunteer Karl Noyes and I just completed a two-week trip, the Midwest Leafleting Tour, leafleting at colleges and universities across the region. In total we passed out copies of Even If You Like Meat pamphlet to over 11,000 individual students!
-Ben Acaso

Read entire write-up here and see pictures here!

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Jon Back on Tour -- Please Help!

Jon Camp is in the midst of week 1 of a 4 week leafleting tour through western NC, TN, KY, and southern OH. If you would like to leaflet with him or if you would like for him to give a talk to your local group, please email jon (at) veganoutreach (dot) org. Thanks!

Newsletter Available

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Products of the Week

A. Leamen: "Living Harvest Hemp Protein in chocolate chili: It's organic, vegan, and soy & gluten free. It tastes great mixed with vanilla rice milk."

At right, Jane Smiley leaflets at U. Cincy; photo by Jack Norris. Send your nominees for Product of the Week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous products can be found here.

Notes from All Over

Diner on Flax, VO, Environment, Vegan Lunchbox

In the latest edition of the Diner at vegan.com, Erik Marcus covers a variety of topics, including a criticism of Vegan Outreach's paper use.

Erik points out that only a very small amount of paper is used per person who changes their diet. People should also note that Vegan Outreach's booklets are printed on recycled paper. Of that recycled paper that isn't post-consumer, one tree will print thousands of booklets, and save, at a minimum, thousands of animals from the horrors of modern animal agriculture each year. Last but not least, every person who changes their diet will help save forests by removing support from a system that requires a great deal more land to grow feed crops for animals than if that land was used to grow food for humans directly. In a sense, using trees for Vegan Outreach pamphlets actually causes more trees to be saved in the end.

Win an Electric Scooter!

Our friends at Tofurky are running a One Millionth Tofurky Roast Contest -- stop by and enter today!

Artivist Film Festival

The 3rd Annual Artivist Film Festival & Awards will take place November 9-12, 2006 at the historic Egyptian Theatre in the heart of Hollywood. They will be honoring Joaquin Phoenix, Daryl Hannah, Matthew McConaughey; learn more at http://www.artivists.org/.

Congratulations!

To longtime vegetarian and animal advocate Tony LaRussa, for winning the World Series -- again! Only the second manager to win the Series in both the American and National League.

Notes from Our Members

During the week of Oct 16th to Oct 20th, 2006, 4,120 Vegan Outreach booklets were distributed to students at Simon Fraser University, Langara College and the University of British Columbia -- thanks to everyone who helped! From experience, we know that a small but significant, percentage of those receiving this information will be profoundly moved in such a way as to alter their choices. Many will adopt veganism, others will become vegetarians, while others will aim to reduce or eliminate their consumption of factory farmed animals. I believe that this work is the single most effective method of reducing suffering in today’s world. I have come to this conclusion after having spent the past fifteen years involved in a broad array of activities whose fundamental commonality is the pursuit of a more just and peaceful world.
-John Bowers, 10/24/06

At the Galleria Mall today, a girl told me that she used the Why Vegan pamphlet to get one of her classmates to go vegan.
-Eugene Khutoryansky, 10/29/06

At Anne Arundel Community College today, a young woman asked me: "Do you have any more of those recipe booklets? I got the other booklet from you earlier and my entire class was talking about it."
     I was at the University of DC two days ago. I met about 5 vegetarians, while 3 separate young women mentioned that they're vegan. One said that she has been vegan since learning about the animal cruelty issue, that this is her passion, that she's going to be a vet, and that she wants to get involved in activism. When I went inside for a minute, I heard one young woman say to her friend (not even noticing that I was nearby): "I'm definitely not going to be eating meat for the next week after reading this!" One woman came up to ask me about my thoughts on veganism and such. She was religious and mentioned how she thought God put animals on Earth for us. I told her that it was my belief that a merciful God would not specifically create animals with the capacity to suffer, just so that they could spend their lives suffering immensely, without reprieve. She seemed really interested and kindly patted me on the forearm before walking away.
-Jon Camp, 10/26/06

At Cal State Fullerton, it's sometimes like handing out candy to babies. One student, holding a half eaten hamburger, took a leaflet. "Wow, this is so sad. And I really love animals too." That about sums it up.
     At Cal State U Northridge last week, I couldn't help but remember my first leafleting experience at CSUN; it was Columbus Day of last year. I gave away quite a few but it was tough. Some leaflets were slammed to the ground and some were even launched into the air. "F###!" "Why are you showing us this!" But each time I've come back it has been much more relaxed. Today, there were quite a lot of "F#### Yes! Hell Yes! Heck Yes! For Sure! Fo Sho! Oh Yes! Definitely!" I'm sure all of these reactions were not all vegetarians, but they are, at the very least, starting to understand. Our work has an absolutely unbelievable impact.
-Stewart Solomon, 10/25/06

A few conversational snippets from Solono Community College today:

• "So this is where everyone is getting this pamphlet! I want one! I want a copy of everything!"
• One guy passed me and I offered him a leaflet. "After lunch," he said, breezing past me. I saw him after he emerged from the cafeteria. I held up the booklet questioningly. "After I eat," he said, walking quickly away. I figured he didn't want one and was trying to be polite. This was at the end of the day and I started to pack my stuff up. Just as I was about to leave, he showed back up and called to me, "Wait! I wanted one of those!"
• In the morning, I gave an EI to a member of the staff. He said that he needed meat and could never give it up, and he stuffed the pamphlet in his pocket. I figured that there was a good chance he'd toss it without reading it. Later in the day, he came back to the table with a friend and took a GCFE and said, "This is some good stuff. We need to see more about it."

At right, Meghann L leaflets by a table at Solono; photo by Suzanne.

Here are some scenes from San Jose State yesterday:

• A group of three students sat on a bench with a Why Vegan. They each took a turn reading it from cover to cover, discussing it amongst themselves. At first they were kind of joking and acting tough, but by the end they all seemed to be seriously considering what they were seeing.
• "Hey, is that the vegan thing? Great! I saw one earlier and wanted one for myself!" (Spoken by a faculty member!)
• "Thanks, I already got one. It stopped me from having a burger at lunch."
• Two students, a male and female. The guy takes the booklet.
  Her (sees cover): Why did you take that?
  Him: Hellllloooo? Animal cruelty? It sucks!
  Her: Oh, OK!

-Suzanne Haws, 10/25/06

The VO literature is the best tool for getting the message across. It was a Why Vegan booklet that convinced me to go vegetarian, and shortly after, vegan about 6 years ago.
-BW, Bristol, CT, 10/20/06

Amherst students win the award for most considerate: two of them came up to me at about 2:30 and said that they felt bad for me having to be out in the cold all day, so they'd brought me hot chocolate! I was floored. These same two students also said that they had received a brochure from me earlier in the day and were now considering vegetarianism. My tummy -and- my heart were warmed!
     At the Fall Picnic / Day of Outreach at Maple Farm last Sunday, a woman and her young son who told me an incredible story of vegan outreach: when the boy, Charlie, was four years old, he picked up a Why Vegan at a store and read it on his car ride home. From the back seat, he was asking his mom questions about the photos in the brochure, and she was obviously concerned about the material he was reading! The two of them looked it over together when they got home and ended up both going vegetarian that day. Their family is now all veg, and they run a small farm sanctuary in their hometown of Stow, MA. Charlie was featured in his local newspaper on several occasions and has been an outspoken advocate for animals at his school since kindergarten. His mom told me about a time when his teacher called home to say that they would be talking about protein in class tomorrow and that "Charlie had better behave!" Needless to say, he did not. I see a bright future for him in leafleting.
-Jenna Calabrese, at right (photo by Jon Camp) 10/25/06

Sometimes, fighting animal cruelty is completely overwhelming. Whenever I see someone wearing fur or eating meat, it's difficult for me to remain positive. But I do have a cure for the vegan blues: every week I get a VO e-newsletter in my e-mail, always with stories about how a pamphlet influenced somebody, or recounting how successful a day of leafleting was. So, thank you for including them every week, and thanks to everyone who is making a difference for animals.
-ES, 10/19/06

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