Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Link of the Week: Why North America?

Occasionally, a member suggests that Vegan Outreach should expand our efforts to other countries. Others question why we focus on North America. Here is an explanation.

Conference of the Week

Taking Action for Animals will be held in Arlington, VA from July 19-21; discount registration is available until June 27. Vegan Outreach Co-founder and President Jack Norris will be speaking, and Jon Camp and other VOers will be there as well!

Activist Profile: Miranda Robbins

As we've done in the past, Vegan Outreach is profiling some of our top leafleters. This week, we turn our attention to Miranda Robbins. In her first year of leafleting for VO, Miranda handed out over 80,000 booklets to college and high school students, and thousands more at concerts, festivals, and beaches throughout California. Miranda's hard work for the animals continues to inspire many.

How long have you been involved in animal rights and how did you get interested?
Post-Katrina, I started meeting people who did more than just talk and it really inspired me. I saw "Earthlings" in October 2006. That really kicked my butt. I knew I had to start doing something. About a week later, I met Monica Ferroe, who was handing out Even Ifs at a movie screening. She really helped me get started with consistent leafleting and I haven't stopped since. Thanks, Monica!

What made you decide to start leafleting? If you were nervous the first time, how did you get over it?
Leafleting seemed to make the most sense to me as an effective form of advocacy. After consistently leafleting for over a year now, I very much believe leafleting to be the most effective form of advocacy, next to video leafleting. As far as being nervous, I still am almost every time I go out to a campus or concert. But I feel I have a duty to share the knowledge that I have with others, because this mass oppression isn't going to end by itself. And once I give that first booklet away, the rest just seem to fly out of my hands.

What was your most positive leafleting experience and why?
It is difficult to choose just one, because something positive happens almost every time I leaflet. I never tire of hearing the excitement in someone's voice when they learn that they aren't the only vegan out there!

What would you say to individuals hesitant about leafleting?
Get out and do it! Throughout our daily lives, there are multiple opportunities to spread awareness about the mass oppression and exploitation of animals. Because we can save so many more lives by encouraging others to go vegan than we can just by being vegan ourselves, it is important to speak out. And leafleting is one of the easiest and most effective ways in which you can make a difference. So what are you waiting for? Now is the perfect time to start!

Read the entire profile here!

Cookbook of the Week

Cookie-Pie Goddess Miranda: "For those of us who have been known to skip straight to dessert, Hannah Kaminsky has created My Sweet Vegan, her debut volume of tasty vegan treats. My Sweet Vegan contains more than seventy user-friendly recipes accompanied by colorful photographs of the finished products, adding eye-candy to the list of sweet offerings." Read the full review!

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

Notes from All Over

Food Crisis Solution: Go Vegan

NPR commentary by Peter Singer: "Why are we in the midst of a food crisis when world production of food per person has actually grown steadily since the 1960s? The answer is that we're not eating the food we grow, sometimes not eating them at all, sometimes wasting at least 80 percent of them." Read the full story.

Who says you have to eat meat to be a successful athlete?

Via COK: "Already we've seen a number of world-class athletes move toward vegan and vegetarian diets. NBA guard Salim Stoudamire, former NFLers Desmond Howard and Ricky Williams, track and field greats Carl Lewis and Edwin Moses and others have followed that path. Four other athletes who have made the switch to vegan or vegetarian diets recently shared their thoughts on these and other meaty issues tied to their choices...." Read the full story.

Via DawnWatch, Men's Fitness profiled Mac Danzig as part of their 25 fittest men. Finally, Ruth Heidrich's site offers her take on successful vegan athletics.

Notes from Our Members

A few months ago, I received one of the booklets about the way animals are treated in the food industry. It really got me thinking, and I decided to become vegan. Thank you for providing me with information.
-LE, 6/13/08

I received your booklet at Boston University last year. I have made the switch to a vegetarian diet, and am working towards being totally vegan. Our cafeteria offers lots of veggie / vegan options, which has helped the transition tremendously.
-MP, 6/18/08

After handing out several Why Vegan? pamphlets at my high school at the end of May, I received excellent feedback. Three girls came up to me later that day; one saying that she'd rethink consuming meat and animal products all together, and two who turned vegetarian right away. Those two have still remained vegetarian and one of them is even headed towards becoming 100% vegan!
-TO, 6/19/08

Paul Shapiro leaflets in Maryland; photo by Jon Camp.

This weekend, I was reminded of the power of Vegan Outreach's work. On Friday, I heard from Steven, a young man I had leafleted the night before at the Bethesda Metro station. He said that while he used to go back and forth, to no avail, with his roommate about veganism, simply showing him the VO booklet brought forth a different result; his roommate is giving vegetarianism a shot. On Saturday, while tabling at the Richmond Vegetarian Festival, I heard from a woman who picked up a Why Vegan? four years ago; she has since been vegetarian and is now working on going vegan. While leafleting Sunday at the Baltimore Pride Festival, two separate women came up to sincerely and enthusiastically state they were profoundly moved by what they saw in the booklet and, because of this, wanted to go veg.
-Jon Camp, 6/23/08

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