Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • April 21, 2010 | ||||||||||||
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Notes from Vegan OutreachActivist Profile: Lana Smithson
Continuing our series of activist profiles, we meet Lana Smithson. Up and down the East Coast, Lana has reached over 26,000 individuals with Vegan Outreach booklets! Here is an excerpt from her profile: What would you say to individuals hesitant about leafleting? If you were suffering, you would want someone to help you. Helpless animals are suffering and you can do something about it. That’s powerful. Ultimately, consumer dollars control everything, so we need to present the information directly to the consumers. Keep in mind that leafleting is tremendously effective and quite easy. Most people will be willing to take a leaflet and some will be extremely thankful. Negative comments are not common. When they happen, don’t worry at all about them; just smile and remind yourself that perhaps sometime in the future, those folks will be willing to hear the message with an open mind. There’s always hope. For that moment, just be friendly and move on to the next person if you feel there won’t be a productive conversation. Also, even if you go leafleting by yourself, you are never truly alone: Other leafleters are out there every day in other areas and we all cheer each other on. You’ll be part of a wonderful team and that is very motivating. Lastly, in any crowd of people there are many who are potentially interested in the information but they don’t even realize it yet! You’re going to be the one presenting the information that will change their lives and help them on their journey of compassion! They will be grateful to you. Countless animals will be helped. Wow, aren’t you excited? Now get out there! Read the full interview!
From “Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!” Blog
Product of the WeekRene: “SoyRizo is a great meat substitute for chili, burritos, scrambles.” Send your product of the week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous entries here.
Notes from All OverLightning Round
Notes from Our Members
Students
at my school in Baltimore (UMBC)
were handing out free booklets. These shocking
images and stories have really affected me! The
pamphlet about animal cruelty
that someone was handing out on campus strongly
impacted my life. Thank you so much. I just
received your Guide
to Cruelty-Free Eating. It was an insightful
read. I have been struggling with how to communicate
to my friends and family in order to promote
veganism. I realize now I was not communicating
my message about veganism properly. Alene
Anello and I reached over 1,800
students at the University of Massachusetts,
Boston today. There were lots of people reading,
asking questions, giving us support for this
work. Conversation of the day:
I felt
so much more comfortable leafleting after
the first couple times. By the third time I
had lost the jitters. I just told myself that
this is one of the most effective ways to help
the animals, and I desperately want to help
them, so go for it! Knowing you guys figured
out what works gave me the drive. Very
fruitful day at Auburn University,
where I reached 1,950 students. Two students
told me their classes discussed being veg; also
heard groups walking by talking about issues,
saw lots reading pamphlets, met two former vegs
who said they would now go veg again. Feedback
of the day: “I already got one and let
me tell you, I read the whole booklet in class
and I am never eating meat EVER again.” We reached
over 2,000 students at George
Mason University today. Met many vegans and
vegetarians, and had great discussions with
students and faculty. One student who read through
an entire booklet said he was going to go vegan!
Another student read the Even If You Like
Meat and asked where she could find vegetarian
food in the area.
Tuesday
at the University of Wisconsin,
La Crosse, a woman I had given a leaflet to
earlier in the day came back to say she was
interested in volunteering in the future. Another
student was very excited to get the leaflet.
He was doing a project about animal cruelty
and said the Even If was exactly what
he needed. A second guy said he was going to
take his Even If to his Environmental
Studies. Some
antagonism today at LA City College
and LA High School, but lots of enthusiasm,
too. My third leaflet catalyzed a conversation
with a young man who was swept away immediately
by Even If’s cover. Plans to request
a Guide, and took three leaflets to
hand out on the way to his car. Agrees this
is all insane.
Leslie
(Patterson) and I were joined
by Monica Ball and her kids, Kasey and Kassidy (right),
at Illinois State. We reached over 1,400 students.
Had some good conversations; e.g., a woman in
her late 40s stopped to say that she was impressed
with our polite efforts, rather than simply
expressing our outrage in a way that would make
people stop listening. She let me know that
she and her five children, all boys, have reduced
their consumption of meat due to her getting
the booklet from me in the past. I took the
opportunity to congratulate her and underline
the great suffering reduction that comes from
avoiding the flesh of birds and fishes, as being
smaller animals and also due to those who suffer
to death in production or as bycatch respectively,
more of them suffer and die to feed a meat eater
during the year compared to eating larger animals.
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