I find it difficult to feel responsible for the suffering of others. That’s why I find war so hard to bear. It's the same with animals: I feel the less harm I do, the lighter my heart. I love a light heart. And when I know I’m causing suffering, I feel the heaviness of it. It’s a physical pain. So it’s self-interest that I don’t want to cause harm.
-Alice Walker, Vegetarian Times, Jan/Feb 2008

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Adopt a College Starts Hot in the Cold

Even though not all schools are yet in session, Adopt a College activists across North America have already handed out 58,365 booklets at 78 schools in 2008!

High School student Matt Ramir leaflets in Chicago; photo by Leslie Patterson.

You, too, can get involved! With your help, Vegan Outreach can reach a million students in 2008!

Product of the Week

Adriana: Organic Light Sodium Creamy Butternut Squash Soup made by Pacific Natural Foods is wonderful poured right out of the box and heated in a microwave. Perfect for a cold winter day when you don't feel like cooking. Made with soy milk and only 280 mg sodium per cup.

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

Notes from All Over

Chefs’ New Goal: Looking Dinner in the Eye

From The New York Times:

Last Friday, in front of 4 million television viewers and a studio audience, the chef Jamie Oliver killed a chicken. Having recently obtained a United Kingdom slaughterman’s license, Mr. Oliver staged a "gala dinner," in fact a kind of avian snuff film, to awaken British consumers to the high costs of cheap chicken.

"A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn't expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub," he said Monday in an interview. Full story.

 

Q&A with Pamela Anderson

From The Guardian:

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Brigitte Bardot for defending animals and not caring what people say. Full story.

Notes from Our Members

I have found all your information to be truly devastating, and have made a drastic lifestyle change.
-AA, Scranton, PA, 1/20/08

At the African-American universities Clark Atlanta, Spelman, and Morehouse, I had my best leafleting day ever. It was absolutely amazing -- dozens of students were visibly moved by the lit and many said they were going to consider going veg. The best school I've ever leafleted in my history of leafleting is Spelman -- the women were so excited to receive leaflets and thanked me for being there. The students were not only genuinely interested (those who were not already veg), but among the warmest group of folks I've ever met. I can say with confidence that dozens of these students will dramatically alter their eating habits. And this is especially great since this is such a good university and many of these women will be the leaders of tomorrow. The men at Morehouse College were hands down the nicest men I have ever met while leafleting. Many thanked me for being out there and several expressed an interest in vegetarianism. Like Spelman and Clark Atlanta, there were too many positive interactions to report.
-Dawn, 1/19/08

I am very appreciative of your focus on the overall alleviation of the suffering of our nonhuman companions, rather than on some notion of "vegan purity" which is impossible to obtain in our world today. We have to bear the suffering, rather than try to pretend that we can separate ourselves from it by being "pure."
-CR, 1/16/08

Leafleting two charter schools (Prospect Heights International High School and Clara Barton High School), I thought I had brought way too much literature, but I ran out. One great exchange occurred after a girl had been flipping through the booklet while she was waiting in the covered bus shelter. She walked back over to me and asked if I was a vegetarian. I said I had been since I was nine years old, and her eyes totally lit up. She pointed at the brochure and said, "This is gonna make me be a vegetarian now, too." I told her I was sure she could do it, suggested that she go to our website, mentioned a few of my favorite restaurants and products to buy. She smiled thoughtfully and walked back to the bus stop.
-Jenna Calabrese, 1/18/08

At Illinois State University, I heard from 31 vegetarians and 4 vegans. I was approached by a student who wanted to let me know that originally he took the booklet out of curiosity about what propaganda I might be peddling. However, he stated that he found the booklet remarkably accurate according to his experiences as an animal agricultural worker. He explained that he had worked on chicken and turkey production operations, but had most experience with pigs, having worked on a mega hog farm as a culler (killer) of piglets who were not growing quickly enough. He apologized 3X for being a meat eater, so I gave him my harm reduction speech about not eating birds, who are relatively smaller and suffer more, I would argue, than other farmed animals. His own experiences with killing piglets should be enough to keep him off pork.
-Joe Espinosa, 1/16/08

At the University of California, Irvine, well over a hundred kids told me they were veg or vegan, and even more walking around with vegan choices for lunch: salads, veggie rolls, chocolate Silk. Every time I go, there are more and more.
-Stewart Solomon, 1/15/08

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