Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • December 2, 2009 | ||||||||||||||
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There
are a thousand hacking at the
branches of evil to one who is striking at
the root.
Notes from Vegan OutreachYour Impact: Adopt a College and Matching Updates
No holiday for the animals, and thus no holiday for members of Vegan Outreach, who continue to strike at the root every day, providing the animals a voice and changing lives. To date, activists have leafleted 619 schools this semester, personally handing booklets directly to 437,552 individuals. This brings 2009’s school leafleting total to 957,237. You can see a specific example of this work in this article (PDF) about Joe Espinosa, published at Ball State University. These efforts have only been possible because of your generous contributions! So far, hundreds of members, dedicated to creating real, fundamental change, have contributed to the $70,000 end-of-year matching challenge; Vegan Outreach is now over halfway there! You can be a part of this: right now, your fully tax-deductible contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar!
We
need your help to reach our goal – Every week, you read a sampling of what we’ve accomplished together. Please consider making a special donation to this challenge – your support will change lives. You can use a credit card to make a secure donation online, or send a check or money order to: Vegan Outreach | POB 30865 | Tucson, AZ 85751 Please help us put the matching money to work for the animals – you’ll be glad you did!
A Message from Jon Camp
During my recently concluded 10,000-mile, eight-week outreach tour, I went to 46 schools in IL, IA, NE, WY, CO, UT, ID, WA, OR, MT, SD, BC, and AB, including a number of schools that had never before been leafleted. Fellow members and I handed 38,043 booklets directly to interested students and faculty. Profuse and hearty thanks go to those of you who provided housing, leafleted with me, set up a talk in your neck of the woods, and to all of you who donate to Vegan Outreach: you make the success of this work possible. With each passing year, I’m seeing more and more interest from students – and a deeper sense of urgency. I know we are making a difference as I see near daily coverage from the media, books about veganism and factory farming topping the bestsellers lists, and a growing consensus from the general public that we should be moving away from eating animals. It’s an invigorating time to be an animal advocate as we are making big, lengthy strides! As more and more individuals support our collective efforts, the pace of progress will continue to increase dramatically.
Product of the WeekZuzka: “I’d like to nominate Dr. McDougall’s ready-to-serve soup cartons. I don’t need a can opener to enjoy them at work!!” Send your product of the week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous entries here.
Notes from All OverLightning Round
Notes from Our Members
Your
Guide,
along with Why Vegan?,
helped push my girlfriend and me to go vegan!
We’ve been vegan for a month now and feel
great. On top of this, we’ve become really
inspired to assist in the animal protection
movement. We have been leafleting the Phoenix
area with Jeff Boghosian (such an awesome guy),
and I just began reading The
Animal Activist’s Handbook.
The book seems awesome so far and is totally
inspiring. Lots
of students excited to get our
info at Macalester College. One guy had just
tried to go vegetarian a few weeks ago, but
had a hard time living with roommates who ate
meat. I gave him a few suggestions and a Guide,
and he sounded ready to try again. One woman
came back after reading the booklet to tell
me she appreciated that it didn’t take
an all-or-nothing stance. She thought she would
try to cut out some meat from her diet and was
intrigued when I suggested she start with chickens. Today
is my six-year veganiversary, so
I celebrated by leafleting with Jo DeGeorge.
A number of good encounters, including one woman
who scowled at Jo. Jo called after her, “Did
you have any questions? I’d be happy to
talk.” The woman came back and explained
that she works with pets all day and can’t
handle to see animal cruelty, and admitted she
should read about this and took a leaflet! I
stopped to chat with one of the Greenpeace canvassers
and inquired about his veg status, to which
he guiltily admitted he was not, and agreed
to read an Even If You Like Meat and
the Guide.
I was
really happy how tabling went
at Notre Dame de Namur University – great
acceptance rate and very friendly students.
Had a number of great conversations, including one with a hunter who
was impressed with how reasonable I was in my approach to helping animals.
The president of the Go Green club congratulated
me for spreading the good word. A vegetarian
gal told me (and her friend), “Yay, I’m
not alone!” A teacher on campus uses our
materials in some of her classes and a student
remarked that he went veg after taking her class
and getting an Even If You Like Meat and
the Guide last semester. I stopped
by to see the professor and we exchanged contact
info and I replenished her stock of lit. The crowd was receptive at
Metropolitan State College in Denver, where
I broke my old record with 1,059 booklets handed
to students. I met one vegan who was itching
to get active, so I told her about VO. Another,
whom I had never met before, rushed up and said,
“Oh, my vegan friend!” and gave
me a big hug. Once again, we were greeted with
a very positive reception at the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. My favorite
reaction was after I handed a Compassionate
Choices booklet to a young woman who was walking
with a friend on either side of her. A few steps
after receiving the booklet, and within earshot
of many people, I heard her enthusiastically
tell her friends, “I LOVE IT SOOO MUCH
THAT THEY ARE OUT HERE DOING THIS!!!”
Got up
early and did the 7:40am class
change at Bluegrass Community College, then
booked it to the University of Louisville. Very
good outreach; conversed with one lady for a
long time and she said she would go veg. Another
came up and said getting a leaflet last year made
her go veg.
A dark
and dreary evening at Portland
State, but I had some good interactions. People
thanked me for being there, and a group of three
guys each asked for a brochure. They then agreed
with one another that “This is messed
up!” and “It’s really sad.”
Many
conversations at California University of
PA. I explained to an older man that I didn’t
think a merciful God would give animals a complex
nervous system and brain if their intended function
was to spend their lives in conditions that
would lead to chronic suffering. One woman told
me she had worked to get horse slaughter banned
and that the booklet led her to the realization
that the raising and killing of other animals
was just as bad. Others mentioned wanting to
go veg; I gave them each a Guide. It
was a very solid six hours of outreach and there
was definitely a great deal of interest at this
school.
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