Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • December 3, 2008 | ||
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Notes from Vegan OutreachBe Part of the Helping Half!
Every day, we hear from more and more people making compassionate changes after receiving one of our booklets. The unprecedented increase in Vegan Outreach's distribution indicates even more potential. However, this fall's rapid growth has left VO financially depleted and has already forced cutbacks. Please help us make this fundraising effort a success so that Vegan Outreach can avoid even greater reductions in effort and distribution during the spring semester. We know the economic situation has made things tough for everyone. But with modest contributions from just half of the people receiving this e-newsletter, Vegan Outreach will be able to put the entire $109,000 directly to work for the animals and give Adopt a College's spring term a good start. 
Please be part of the helping half by making a secure, tax-deductible donation here, or send a check or money order to: Vegan Outreach We'll continue to do our best to make your contribution go as far as possible for the animals!
More InterviewsLast week, we linked to a new interview with Matt Ball at Vegan.com (see also this 2003 interview); readers might have missed this interview with Vegan Outreach's President Jack Norris, and these two pieces (1, 2) focusing on Director of Outreach Jon Camp.
Links of the Week
Notes from All OverLightning Round
Notes from Our Members
At Citrus College
[CA], a woman walked by saying,
"Thank you. This kind of information
enabled me to change and keeps me
changing." Yesterday at Antelope
Valley, one student said, "I
want to be vegetarian!" so
I gave her the info, noting the
recipes in the Guide.
As she walked away with her boyfriend,
he said, "You're not going
to start cooking like that now are
you?" Above, Gerardo Tristan enlightens another Georgia Tech student about the reasons for choosing vegetarian; right, a Montana State student considers Compassionate Choices; below, Vic Sjodin reaches one of the 1,300+ students handed a booklet at Wayne State in Michigan last month. I simply adore your
balanced approach to veganism. Your
"non-vegan-police"
stance has me nodding in agreement
every time I read your pages. I
have pointed so many people over
here in the UK to your articles.
Only today I had an email conversation
with a work colleague who was asking
me the usual questions. I pointed
him in your direction and he saw
the light! At Arkansas State,
I asked one girl, "Did you
get one of these?" She nodded
and said, "It was a life changing
experience." Others said they
were going veg; I had many short
conversations. I felt we had an
impact today and I think that's
the best feeling you can have. On my tenth
meat-free Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for Vegan Outreach. My philosophy and advocacy would not be what it is today (and not nearly as effective) if it weren't for VO's literature and helpful advice. I can see the change happening -- e.g., with my parents. When I became vegan, my mom started cooking and baking vegan food for me. Then it turned into my parents eating veg food a few days a week. Now, my mom is a vegetarian and my dad rarely eats meat -- and they have impacted some of their friends and co-workers! Being a good example goes a long way! At the University of
Oklahoma, several
people were enthused to get the
leaflet. One girl came back, put
her hand on my shoulder and said,
"Thank you for being here!"
Another guy asked, "What goes
on in factory farms?" I told
him and he seemed quite interested,
keeping the leaflet.
At Iowa State, it was another cold, windy day, but if anything, the acceptance rate was higher today. I met several vegans and vegetarians. I even spoke to an animal science major who said she thought the Even If
was really good. At Harvard today,
I was thanked a few times for spreading
the word. Met a young lady who went
veg after receiving a booklet from
me earlier in the semester -- she
told me to keep up the great work
because it’s effective! The students at Emory
University [in Atlanta]
were hugely receptive. After conversing
with one student, she said she was
going to give vegetarianism a try;
others implied that they would be
doing the same. In the last two
days, four individuals have told
me that they were going to try going
veg or vegan, with the booklet being
the impetus that led to each conversation. 
At Montana State,
I asked four people, "Sir,
excuse me. Just a quick question
-- I'm wondering why you did not
want this information?" It
came down to hunting and farming.
One man was a hunter -- when I spoke
with him about factory farming he
agreed it was cruel and visibly
softened as we spoke. He even said,
"I'm so tired of people buying
meat in supermarkets then complaining
about hunters!" Many other
students were polite, receptive,
and read the brochures. We met vegan
twins who were happy to take two
vegan buttons, and another student
who is starting an AR group on campus.
She took down the VO info to get
in contact. The sign said 32 degrees
after leafleting Harold Washington College [Chicago]. I had a good conversation with someone who asked why I was out there. I told him that I wished someone would have handed me a booklet when I was in high school. The more we talked, the more agreeable he was, and at the end he thanked me for being out there in the cold and we shook hands.
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So
far, generous members of Vegan Outreach
have donated $13,359 towards the
$54,500 
Matt
[McEwen] and I took vacation days and went up to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. When leafleting in cold weather, I often think about farmed animals who, having lived through the brutality of modern farming, take their last ride to the slaughterhouse, exposed to the ridiculous coldness that hits them, crammed in metal trailers traveling at speeds of over 55mph, wet from urine, feces, saliva, and blood. It makes layering up with clothing and doing this work in any weather the most reasonable thing I can do.