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Enewsletter • April 30, 2008 | ||
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Note from Vegan Outreach
Adopt a College UpdateDuring spring term so far, Adopt a College activists have leafleted at 461 schools across North America. As we go to press, booklets have been handed directly to 413,016 students. Monica Jain leaflets at Baruch College; photo by Jenna Calabrese. Thanks so much to everyone whose hard work and donations have made this possible! Every day, thousands of new people are learning the realities of factory farming. With your help, AAC could reach a million students in 2008!
Conference of the WeekTheir Lives, Our Voices, organized by CAA, will be in Minneapolis, MN, June 6-8. Matt Ball, Vegan Outreach co-founder and author of A Meaningful Life, will be giving several talks and staffing a VO table. Discount registration from now until May 8!
Book & Recipes of the WeekBest selling author Martha Grimes' new Andi Oliver novel, Dakota, exposes the realities of today's factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses. One Amazon reviewer says: "Found myself Googling 'vegetarian recipes' after I closed the book." Vegan.com's Top 10 recipes of 2008. Send your nominees for Product of the Week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous products can be found here.
Notes from All OverLightning Round
Notes from Our MembersLast year,
Robert received a Why Vegan
while visiting the International
festival with his family. As he
started to read it, his wife and
daughter each purchased a chicken
drum stick, and asked him if he
wanted one too. He replied, "You
need to read this pamphlet. I don't
think you want to eat meat anymore."
So, after receiving the pamphlet
at last year's festival, he pretty
much became a vegetarian before
reaching the end of the first row
of booths. His wife and daughter
became vegetarian the next morning.
His daughter has now convinced two
of her classmates at school to go
vegetarian, and she is now working
on her third. 
Yvonne LeGrice spreads Compassion; photo by Jessica Dadds. Leafleting at Baruch
College, Monica [Jain]
and Molly [Schulman] had some great
interactions. I spoke with one student
who literally stopped in his tracks
upon receiving the WV and
came back to eagerly discuss the
specifics of following a vegetarian
diet. We also inadvertently leafleted
a large group of what appeared to
be elementary and middle school
students -- a bunch of them noticed
that we had brochures and insisted
that we give them a few. One remarked
that the brochure was very sad and
he was "going vegetarian for
a week." I gave him the thumbs
up. After running in
the Santa Cruz Half Marathon, a
man handed me your brochure. After
reading it and looking at the horrible
pictures of the poor animals, I
cried. I am definitely going to
change. I want to help these animals
and help stop this cruelty. I picked up one of
your booklets, and
I was just appalled. I had no idea
this went on. I will never touch
meat again. Last weekend during
Earth Day celebrations, a
student from a local high school
environmental group invited our
local vegetarian association to
have a table at their conference.
Sarat [Colling] and I teamed up
and spoke with students during the
day. We played Meet
Your Meat on my laptop
and handed out a lot of booklets
-- a higher than usual percentage
and number of Guides,
as many of the students indicated
being vegetarian. I'm 39 and see
a huge difference in terms of environmental
and food awareness among the youth
of today versus when I was in high
school. It gives me hope for a gentler
more sustainable future. Thank you
for your incredibly wonderful work
for animals. I have a booklet that
says: "If everyone just cut
their meat consumption in half,
billions of animals would be spared
from suffering." I think this
emphasis is critical -- I believe
many people can be encouraged successfully
to cut down their meat consumption
in the name of compassion. It immediately
helps animals, and it starts these
people on a path which often will
lead to giving up meat entirely.
I like your focus on the cruelty,
and how important it is to end the
cruelty. I believe many people can
be encouraged to focus on the cruelty
aspect -- again, as a beginning
point which puts their feet on the
path to a meatless diet and which
immediately begins to help the animals. At Tufts, Bobby
[Westfall] approached me about my
work, and then stayed to leaflet
between classes. Many students instantly
became engrossed in the booklet.
One particular fella in a John Lennon
t-shirt stopped right in the middle
of the stairs, blocking traffic
for a minute or two. Another said,
"I have been vegetarian for
3 years because of THAT booklet!" One of my students
gave me a Why
Vegan? pamphlet and now I have
no choice but to become vegan. Thank
you.
I went back to the
University of Wisconsin, Green
Bay, and a lot of students mentioned
having gotten a booklet from me
previously. One woman said, "I
got one of those before. It made
me cry. It's really sad." Another
said, "I have to tell you,
I got one of those last time you
were here and I haven't eaten meat
since." She said she sent the
link to all of her family, and it
was having quite an effect on them.
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Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization dedicated to
reducing the suffering of farmed animals
by promoting informed, ethical eating.
Vegan Outreach
POB 30865, Tucson, AZ 85751-0865
Visit our networking pages:
-RH,
Cayce, SC, 4/21/08
At
Wayne State, Kelli
[Marshall] offered a booklet to
a couple of girls passing by. As
they walked away reading the booklet,
I heard one of them yelling "OMG,
look at the chickens!" Another
student immediately stopped and
read through the booklet. Later,
I was happy to see he was talking
to Jan [Cejka]. He said he was interested
in joining our group. Another student
also expressed interest in getting
active for the animals, so I gave
him my information. When I got home
and logged on, he had already signed
up!