Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Activists Everywhere Need Your Help

Hundreds of members of Vegan Outreach have already contributed a total of $25,106 towards the $54,500 end-of-year matching opportunity.

These donations provide booklets to thousands of vegetarians across the continent, allowing them to pursue effective action for the animals. Vegan Outreach has answered over 1,500 orders for booklets already this year. Overall, more than 4,500 people have used VO booklets to take the animals' case to new people, inspiring tens of thousands of new vegetarians and saving millions of animals from the horrors of modern agribusiness.

There are just two weeks left to reach our goal and put the full $109,000 to work for the animals! You can empower more activists by doubling your secure, tax-deductible donation here, or send a check or money order to:

Vegan Outreach
P.O. Box 30865
Tucson, AZ 85751-0865

Your contribution will put more booklets into more people's hands, providing the animals a voice and making a real difference.

Animals' Camp

This past week, Vegan Outreach's overall booklet distribution passed 2.4 million for 2008!

As always, Jon Camp is a major reason for this success. In addition to leafleting, Jon has a nearly full-time job as Vegan Outreach's Director of Outreach. And while it would be much easier for him to stay home and leaflet only in his area, he travels far, for weeks on end, to fill in the gaps where there are no locals.

As Vegan Outreach's all-time leading leafleter, Jon continues to turn in eye-popping results. On top of all his other duties, he has handed booklets directly to over 125,000 students (and thousands of others) already this year, far surpassing his previous personal record. (Read more about Jon here, as well as other amazing leafleters.)

Words cannot begin to do justice to Jon’s incredible accomplishments, nor to his daily selfless dedication to the animals. We are exceedingly lucky to work with such a committed, focused, and humble advocate!

-Anne Green, Jack Norris, and Matt Ball

Scheduling Notes

SoCal -- mark the date! Jack Norris will be speaking in the Los Angeles area on Monday, January 19 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day). Details here.

Also: the next two e-newsletters will go out on December 23 and 30, returning to Wednesdays in January.

Top Gift Ideas under $20, from TVS

From books to chocolate!

Notes from All Over

Meat Moves Over

Via The Vegetarian Site: Whether they consider themselves vegetarians or not, 24% of consumers say they sometimes order meatless entrees at restaurants. Which demographic groups are more likely to choose meat-free meals? Women (30%) more than men (18%); Gen Y (30%) and Gen X (26%) more than Boomers (22%) and Matures (21%); Asians (31%) and Hispanics (26%) more than blacks (25%) and whites (23%); Residents of the Northeast (29%) and West (26%) more than the South (24%) and Midwest (20%). Full story.

Lightning Round

• More on Meat Eaters Live a Lie
• Vegan.com: Humturduckenan; Brain Worms
• Team Vegan Philly Runs Marathon

Notes from Our Members

Nothing is more gratifying than to leaflet a college for Vegan Outreach! It has become impossible to hand out these booklets without striking a cord with a number of people. At Miami Dade College, I had three nice long conversations with individuals who plan to attend the local vegan potluck. Another professor took the information and said he would seriously consider it because, "We need to evolve towards this." One of the students had tears welling up in her eyes as we spoke, which made me cry also. I'm always so grateful for the opportunity to share this information.
-Linda Bower, 12/5/08

Of my three colleges today, Truman, a community college, was the star. It was brutally cold so I had to go inside to warm up my feet and hands every half hour or so. Each time I went into the lobby, I saw students sitting at tables reading the booklets. Several students approached me with questions about becoming vegan. They received copies of the Guide. At DePaul, I heard from at least 6 veg*ns, including a middle aged construction worker who said he is trying to get his children to go vegetarian. I no longer have any preconceptions about who may or may not become vegetarian, since I have now heard from every conceivable type of person that they are.
-Leslie Patterson, 12/4/08
Editor's note -- Leslie was recently named Mercy for Animals' Grassroots Activist of the Year!
Above, Riley Law and friend; photo by her father, Mikael Nielsen -- MFA's Activist of the Year.

Three of my friends got the brochure you were handing out today [at Frostburg State University], and are all considering becoming vegetarians because of it.
-MM, 12/8/08

Just wanted to say thank you for the amazing article that you wrote (One Possible Future). Very inspirational. And thanks for all of the work that you are doing. I will be putting Vegan Outreach as one of the charities that our wedding guests can donate to instead of giving us wedding gifts.
-LB, 12/11/08
Editor's note -- thanks to everyone, like this member of VO's Board, having gift donations made to VO!

I recently received Even If You Like Meat from a volunteer on campus at Georgetown University. I am horrified by what I saw and read. At bare minimum, I am planning on cutting back significantly on animal derived foods.
-MB, 12/13/08

Kenny Torrella takes the truth to another Towson University student; below, Casey Constable reaches another Tennessee student with the vegan message.

At Kingsborough Community College, many times I would see two students walking together, and the one furthest from me would urge their friend who was closest to the leaflet, "Go ahead- take one! You need to read that!" Many students reported previously receiving them, and some even asked for extras for friends, which was great to hear since this is relatively new school for AAC. One person who turned down a leaflet around 9am decided to take one when she saw that I was still there 5 hours later. "Oh goodness...you've been out here for hours! Geez you must care about this!"
-Eileen Botti, 12/5/08

At Northern Essex Community College, I had near 100% acceptance rate. One guy said, "Oh man! I KNEW it was going to be that. I just watched some videos the other day and this is like a sign."
-Brian Grupe, 12/3/08

At Seattle Pacific University, two professors approached and thanked Rachel [Bjork] & Rob [Gilbride] for being out there. One found a Compassionate Choices in the bathroom and read it. They said the students are very open minded to this message, and asked for brochures for their classes.
-Eleni Vlachos, 12/5/08

Leafleting a concert today, I overheard one guy telling his friends that this pamphlet made him go vegetarian two weeks ago.
-Eugene Khutoryansky, 12/7/08

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