Enewsletter

You don't know me but I really appreciate all the work you do for the animals. Someone like you changed my life three years ago. They handed me a pamphlet in Pittsburgh and I've been vegan ever since. I wish I knew who it was so I could thank them.
-ER, 8/23/08

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Distro Distro Distro!

Last Thursday, overall distribution for 2008 passed 1.5 million booklets. Summer distribution has passed 350,000 booklets. Even before Labor Day, fall's Adopt a College is picking up; if you are interested in being the animals' voice and changing people's lives, please read about the Whys and Hows of AAC.

Learning the truth while sitting on the stars of Hollywood Blvd; photo by Stewart Solomon. Stewart recently passed out his 225,000th booklet.

Housing Revisited

Many thanks to those of you who offered to house VO leafleters during their upcoming tours! Brian Grupe, Vic Sjodin, and Jon Camp still need housing in or near Plattsburgh, NY; Morgantown and Huntington, WV; Springfield, MA; Orono, Portland, and Augusta, ME; Frostburg, MD; Savannah and Augusta, GA; Columbia, SC; and Lynchburg and Farmville, VA.

If you would be willing to house any of these courteous, young men, please email tour (at) veganoutreach (dot) org. Thanks so much!

Jack Norris, President of VO, to Speak in Chicago

Vegan Outreach President and co-founder Jack Norris will be speaking in Chicago tomorrow, August 28.

Links of the Week

• A History of Vegan Outreach and Our Influences, by Jack Norris
• Vegan Sandwiches

Product of the Week

More Joe Espinosa: "Chicago Soydairy produces a wonderful Mint Chocolate Chip soy cream."

Notes from All Over

Lightning round

• Erik Marcus notes Methane-Free Cows (a good complement to Global Warming and the Animals)
• Give Us More Choices, about KFC Canada and U.S.
• Magpies Are No Bird-Brains

Notes from Our Members

I accepted a booklet from a gentleman [Rick Hershey] outside before a concert in St. Louis. He was getting some flack from the security staff there but held his ground. I wanted to let this man know how much I really admire what he was doing. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe in and to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.
     I volunteer at a no kill shelter and I'm very passionate about the treatment and overpopulation of companion animals. I've been trying to rationalize the "schizoid quality to our relationship with animals" (to quote the leaflet), but I know there's no difference between the rescued dog in the kennel and pig in a cage at a factory farm. I'm going to taper off my meat consumption and hopefully give it up completely. If at all possible could you let this man know that I really appreciate what he does -- it does make a difference.
-KK, 8/21/08

I got your pamphlet at Warped Tour, Boise -- it was horrific. I'm vegetarian now. I've never been that against something -- it seriously made me want to throw up. But now I don't eat meat and I'm trying to tell everyone about how horrible this is. Thanks for showing me.
-LL, 8/20/08

Leafleting at Watertower Place in Chicago, a man stopped to tell me he is becoming vegetarian and had some questions about nutrition and also about the ethics of eating fish and eggs; I gave him a Guide. A woman also stopped to tell me she recently became vegetarian after learning about factory farming. She was grateful to us for being there leafleting and expressed an interest in leafleting too. Another woman stopped with her family to take information and said, "You are right about this, this is terrible, it has to stop!"
-Leslie Patterson, 8/13/08

I just wanted to say, THANK YOU for what you do. I am a vegan as of September 2007. I wish I knew many years ago what I know now. I am ordering these brochures to pass out everywhere I go!
-TW, 8/21/08

I really appreciate your extremely well written essays on the website. Thanks for all you do; it further solidifies my commitment to a vegan life and compassion and activism for all creatures.
-CS, 8/21/08

At Virginia Commonwealth University, a young woman let me know that as a result of receiving an Even If You Like Meat booklet on campus last year, she is now a vegetarian. Another young woman approached me and said that for years, she had had misgivings about eating meat, but her parents wouldn't let her go veg. She said that the booklet she received today appalled her and that as a result, this issue will no longer be on the back burner with her.
-Jon Camp, here showing a slide of Joe Espinosa while talking about AAC at AR2008.

At Illinois State University, I heard from an amazing 46 vegetarians and 4 vegans, including 1 vegetarian who let me know that she became vegetarian as a result of getting a booklet from me last semester.
-Joe Espinosa, 8/20/08

Exchange of the day:
     "I'll have to give this back to you. I can never give up meat."
     But you can read the pamphlet.
     "Yes, I suppose I can. But I love meat too much to give it up, and that is why God created animals for us."
     But the animals still do not want to go to the slaughterhouse.
     "They don't have a choice."
     But we do.
As we parted, the woman and her daughter were each studying their copy of the Why Vegan.
-Eugene Khutoryansky, 8/23/08; Eugene recently handed out his 300,000th booklet.

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