Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

YOU ARE THE BEST!!

Our greatest thanks go out to the hundreds and hundreds of donors who stepped up to help Vegan Outreach exceed our End-of-Year Matching Goal! The economy is not the best, but you are! You showed your commitment to going beyond the familiar and high-profile, and donated to help the unseen chickens, pigs, turkeys, and other animals who are still used by society as "food."

Because of your generous donations, hundreds of thousands of individuals will receive VO's detailed and documented booklets, revealing the hidden, horrible reality and laying out an honest case for vegetarianism. If, instead of a moderately less cruel system, we want to have a fundamentally better world, there must be many, many more vegetarians.

Your dollars will bring this about -- through the incredible efforts of the Adopt a College leafleters. The hard work of 154 volunteers, 46 groups & our paid leafleters made the fall semester a record-smashing term for the animals, with 657,850 students receiving a VO booklet at 684 schools. Our top "staff" leafleters -- Vic, Jon, Brian, Brianne, Eileen, Eric, Fred, and Rob -- reached a total of more than 341,000 students. The top five volunteers each handed booklets to more than 10,000 students, with the top 33 in four-figures -- rounded out by 12-year-old Stephanie Solomon at an even 1,000. The top ten volunteers:

• Casey Constable (above)
• Joe Espinosa (right)
• Stewart Solomon (below)
• Leah Wagner (right)
• Leslie Patterson
• Maureen Wilson
• Barbara Bear
• Darius Fullmer
• John Bowers
• Kenny Torrella

See the full list here.

It may seem like a cliché, but it is true: in 2009, we will continue to make a real difference for the animals every day!

You Can Help in 2009!

Jon’s Spring Tour
Starting in February, Jon Camp, VO's Director of Outreach, will embark on a multi-month college leafleting tour throughout VA, NC, SC, GA, northern FL, and northern NY. He would love to speak with your local group about Vegan Outreach's work and the importance of getting active for animals.

Jon has found housing for most of his tour, but still needs a place to stay in or near Valdosta, Albany, Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Gainesville, GA; Tallahassee, FL; Lynchburg and Harrisonburg, VA; Greenville, SC; and anywhere along the northern border of NY, between Potsdam and Buffalo.

If you'd like to house this courteous young man, leaflet with him, or have him speak to your group, please email jon (at) veganoutreach (dot) org. Thanks so much!

Private Schools
This semester, we are focusing on distributing our literature at the many private schools that don't allow leafleting. We would like to find contacts who can register a table for VO activists, so that we can distribute our literature legally. If you attend a private school (or know someone who does) and would be willing to help us get a table registered, please contact anne (at) veganoutreach (dot) org We particularly need contacts for private colleges and universities in California and on the East Coast. Thank you!

Nutrient & Talk of the Month

Vegan Outreach President and Registered Dietitian Jack Norris has updated his Omega-3 essential fatty acid recommendations -- check it out!

Jack will also be in the Los Angeles area later this month; on Monday, January 19th, he will be giving the talk: "Does Veganism Spread Itself? A History of the Vegan Movement in the United States: What's been tried, what's worked, where we should go from here." Details here.

Notes from All Over

Lightning Round

• Via DawnWatch: Hens on ABC
• The Animal Odd Couple (video after commercial)
• Audubon Magazine: The Low-Carbon Diet
• Vote for vegan lunches at Change.org
• Lightlife Foods Commits to Using Fewer Eggs & More Vegan Options!

Notes from Our Members

I've only been involved with VO for the last few months but I already feel so lucky/ blessed/ excited to be a part of this all. I'm a believer now. I've heard so many stories on [the Adopt A College] board and from people while I'm leafleting that I know these booklets are making a huge, positive difference in the world.
     Prior to leafleting, I would sometimes fit into the angry vegan stereotype, more or less because I didn't know how or where to direct my anger and frustration. I met Jon [Camp] on my campus last April and was extremely humbled by what he had to say, and by the A Meaningful Life booklet that I eagerly read right when I got home that day. Before meeting Jon (and then Nikki [Benoit], and then Vic [Sjodin]), I never knew anyone so dedicated and passionate about ... anything. Before meeting them, the only animal activists I knew were, to put it bluntly, arrogantly arguing over abstract theories. Despite the big words and winning arguments, I didn't see any real change happening. Now I see and read about it every day. To see and meet people so nice, humble, and dedicated was and still is simply beyond inspiring. Thank you all for doing what you do and for being so open, welcoming, and hard-working.
-Kenny Torrella, 12/24/08

Thank you for caring so very much for the animals. The work you do is so important in helping to open the eyes and hearts of those who are unaware of (or just don't want to think about) the unimaginable suffering the animals raised for our consumption must endure. Please keep up the good work!
-LM, 1/1/09

Leafleting Michigan Ave, I used the line "Help end suffering" or "Help end cruelty," and had good results. A highlight -- a nice young guy told me that he is vegetarian but after talking to me he is going back to being vegan. A woman in a fur coat came up and said she is vegetarian but got the fur before she went veg. She said she wants to sell her furs and give the money [to charity]. I told her that Vegan Outreach could use the money and that they would use it to produce the booklets we hand out. She said she'd give the $ to VO. Another great outing for the growing Chicago team, and we look forward to a New Year filled with spreading a message of compassion and peace to our fellow humans.
-Leslie Patterson (at right), 1/3/09

I just finished reading the updated A Meaningful Life -- what a powerful article. I put it in my "favorites" so I can read it often. Things like that keep me focused and in tune with the animals and why we continue to fight for them.
-RK, 12/23/08

Here is a donation to your work. I had been curious about vegetarianism, and I recently decided to go vegan thanks to your literature.
-CW, 12/29/08

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