Notes from Vegan Outreach

Reaching More Every Day!

Adopt a College activists continue to reach thousands of people every day; see the VO front page for a sample of recently reported actions.

Anne Green leaflets at the University of Arizona; photo by Matt Ball.

For the Fall term, 215,000+ booklets have been handed directly to students across North America -- already more than all but the last two semesters! Several weeks ago, AAC passed the 1.5 million mark.

Thanks so much to everyone whose hard work and generous contributions have helped grow this program.

If you would like to expand these efforts, please consider a donation today.

Shirts Are Back!

After many years, Vegan Outreach t-shirts are back, in both unisex (S-XL) and "girlie" (S-L) styles! These lightweight, certified organic, US-produced, non-sweatshop, preshrunk shirts are American Apparel's sustainable edition, printed with water-based ink by tsdesigns.com.

You can order via our catalog; for sizing help, see these stunning modeling pictures from the VO office.

Workplace Giving

Many employers (e.g., Home Depot, Microsoft, Google, etc.) match contributions to Vegan Outreach -- be sure to ask about this where you work. The federal and many state governments allow employees to contribute pre-tax dollars. For example, Texas state employees can donate to Vegan Outreach (agency code #085085) during the State Employee Charitable Campaign that runs throughout the month of October.

Product of the Week

Nina: Van's Organic Waffles are delicious! They taste great and keep me full for the morning. Vegan waffles are all USDA organic and the choices are Blueberry (my favorite), Original, and soy-flax. The waffles taste great with Soy Garden Butter spread. They don't even need syrup! They really are that good!

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

Notes from Our Members

Today was my first day leafleting and it went great! A total of 3 people turned me down, and all 300 booklets I brought were gone within 55 minutes -- an hour well spent! I met several vegetarians and one girl who is working on cutting meat out of her diet and was really interested in the booklet. I also gave another girl five copies of EI to give to her friends. She was really appreciative of getting the booklet and was glad to meet someone who felt the same. Her warm smile really made my day.
-JG, 10/2/07

Miranda Robbins at Stanford; photo by Victor Tsou.

While leafleting at Rutgers with Gary and Renee, one soft-spoken young woman walked up to Renee to let her know how grateful she was of VO's work. She got an EI on campus a year ago and has been veg since. I also had this conversation:

Man: But their purpose is to be eaten.
Me: Well, there are more and more people who question that assumption these days.
Man: But they're going to eventually die anyway.
Me: So are we, but that doesn't give others a right to torture us.
Man <seemed to have an "aha" moment, thinks about it for a few seconds>: Interesting. Thank you.

-Jon Camp, 10/2/07

Well, I finally did it -- I got my first leaflet outing under my belt. The first brochure handed out was definitely the hardest, but after that, it just felt good to actually be doing something productive for the cause. It often feels to me like it is the AR people against the rest of the world, but I am constantly reminded, that most people just don't know any better. That is why leafleting is so important.
-RZ, 9/30/07

Members of AgireOra pause from handing out Perché vegan? Members of AO have handed out thousands of copies at universities in Italy (Rome, Milan, and Naples).

I recently founded v-PEACE (vegetarians promoting environmental activism through conscientious endeavors) at my high school. To promote the club, I posted flyers around the school urging people to join. Some flyers were informative, some were eye-catching, but some, I learned, were a little disturbing. I posted a flyer with a photo of a cow's head that read, "Did your food have a face?" People who had not seen such photos before were affected to the point of tearing my signs down. Government classes throughout the day discussed my right to post the signs, as well as others’ rights to tear them down. In my sixth period Government class, I explained my philosophy and took questions and comments at the head of the class for about twenty minutes. I also passed around pamphlets from Vegan Outreach. Additionally, there was not one person who spoke up to say that my posters deserved to be taken down. I was thrilled to have the interest, attention, and support of my peers.
-ES, 10/5/07

I am always completely confident showing people your articles, brochures and website -- you present the issues with a high level of intelligence and factuality and are never radical or overly emotional. My own advocacy has suffered due to my inability at times to not become emotional about the plight of the animals. Your take on things never fails to appeal to the hard cases in my acquaintance!
-KJ, 10/5/07

After I handed a booklet to a woman, her companion said, "Watch out, I grabbed one of those in 8th grade and haven't eaten meat since."
-AN, 10/8/07

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