Enewsletter

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil
to one who is striking at the root.
—Henry David Thoreau

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Past Results and Future Opportunities: You and Team Vegan

Your donations at work: Team Vegan member Jeni Haines gets into the swing of concert leafleting!

Because of the incredible generosity of our members during 2010’s end-of-year fundraiser, Vegan Outreach has been able to print and distribute a record number of booklets during the first six months of 2011. For the spring term, Adopt a College activists set a huge new distribution record, reaching 682,899 students at 799 schools!

These records, and the countless lives changed, are the direct consequence of contributions to Vegan Outreach’s work.

If you gave to VO’s end-of-year fundraiser, these are your records.

What will happen during the rest of 2011?

Will we set a new overall distribution record, exceeding 2008’s 2.4 million? Will the fall term see even more students learning the animals’ plight?

Now is when we, together, make these things happen!

There are just hours left to take advantage of Team Vegan’s double-doubling challenge!

Please click over to the Team and help us put more money to work for the animals. The matching pool has been extended to $100,000!

With your secure, tax-deductible contribution today, you can create four times the amount of change in the world!

Thanks so much!

Team Vegan’s Animals

Last but certainly not least, this week, we’d like to highlight some Team Vegan companions:

Dogs: Leanne Alaman, Lisa Baker, Nettie Schwager, Nicole Pallotta, Sherlock (photo: Leader of the pack).

Cats: Allison Back, Katherine Groff (photo, in box of Compassionate Choices), Jason Knase, April Willson, Team Vegan Cat (“herder” of the cats).

Rats: Heather Leughmyer.

And two birthday animals: Joe and Eileen!

You can support any of these fine young animals by making a tax-deductible contribution to any of these members (or the people in the feedback section below, or via the Team Vegan general donations page).

And as mentioned above, now until June 30, your donation will be doubled, dollar for dollar!

So please, take just a minute and click over to TeamVegan.biz, support a team member, and help take the animals’ message to more people!

Notes from Our Members

Team Vegan member Yvonne LeGrice takes the animals’ message to Saddleback College.

We had a great spot near the finish line of the Peoria Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, but many people coming our way already had Compassionate Choices in their hands! We soon found the leafleters who were two ladies from a local group, Peoria Voices for Animals. They were just about out of their flyers, so we took over, and reached over 1,000 people. It was great leafleting; most attendees were young women.
—Team Vegan member Darina Smith, 5/7/11

Good conversations at the University of Northern Iowa. One girl saw her friend take a leaflet and said, “Oh my gosh! When I read that it made me cry.” Another girl said, “I got one of those. It’s so sad.”
     Today, I had very high acceptance rate at Iowa Western Community College. Moving on to Omaha, a Creighton University student told me, “Someone was just talking about this for speech class. It scared the crap out of me.” Then, a girl said, “I do like meat, but I don’t like this cruelty. What can we do as poor college students?” I told her how the vegetarian option is sometimes the cheaper one, and gave the example of Chipotle. She said she was planning to go there later and would get the veggie burrito instead. When I told her it comes with free guac, she shouted a very enthusiastic “Yes!”
—Team Vegan member Fred Tyler, 4/18/11

Nikki opens eyes at Fullerton College (above) and UCLA (below).

Fellow Team Vegan member Yvonne and I gambled that night classes at Pasadena Community College would be worth it, and we won! Nearly 2,000 students were reached, and we were profusely thanked by this young crowd! Dialogue of the night:
     Me: “Info to help animals?”
     Him: “I don’t speak English.”
     Me: “That’s ok, I don’t either. And these aren’t written in English.”
     Him: “OK, I’ll read it.”
—Team Vegan member Nikki Benoit, 5/16/11

Joe took a personal day from work so we could leaflet the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Despite the cold temps and rain, the students were quite receptive. Heard from tons of vegan and veg students; this is a very veg-friendly campus, lots of food offerings and an active student group. Other people expressed interest in the animals and going veg. A man told me his son went vegetarian due to receiving our booklet previously.
—Team Vegan members Leslie Patterson and Joe Espinosa, 4/28/11

What an outstanding four days with Wink and fellow Team Vegan member Scout! We reached just shy of 7,000 students across Georgia! So many great stories; e.g., I had a hugely productive conversation today with a guy who was moved by the booklet and was asking about what to eat.
—Team Vegan member Jon Camp, 4/28/11

I got a request from our local 10-year-old activist & animal hero, Spencer. He wanted to leaflet, so of course I was up for that. Not many at the University of South Florida could resist his request to help animals!
—Team Vegan member Lana Smithson, 4/29/11

Great acceptance at Cabrillo College and Monterey High School; tons of people were already veg! I opened with, “I bet you have a big heart. Yeah, you look like you care about animals.” And to my surprise, lots of people would say, “Yes I do! I’m vegetarian!” Loads of people stopped to talk from anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. I had quite a few productive conversations with people who weren’t veg (yet) but didn’t like what they saw. Many Guides went to people who had read the booklet in class and came back wanting more info. It was great to have so many conversations.
     I handed one leaflet to Macie, and she told me she was vegan. I then gave her a Guide and she said she already had it, and that she knew Vegan Outreach! I asked her if she had some time to help out and she did. She said she’s been wanting to leaflet so I’m glad I was able to leaflet with her and provide some guidance for her first time. Not like she needed it though; she took right to it, walking up to people and saying, “Do you want to help animals?” I was glad to have her help!
—Team Vegan member Brian Grupe, 5/2/11

Team Vegan member Vic Sjodin sends this picture of Annie, who got a booklet at Penn in 2005 and has been vegan ever since!

Good reception at the University of the Pacific, where I met one very interested woman who wanted all the resources I could give her.
     Students were also receptive at San Joaquin Delta College. There was an event going on for the LGBTQQIA Day of Silence, so I took leaflets over to the table and talked to some people about the interconnections between societal oppressions. I also had good conversations with aspiring vegans / vegetarians!
—Team Vegan member Jeni Haines, 4/14/11

Worthwhile leafleting at the Coheed and Cambria concert. A staff member started joking about veganism and talking about human teeth, evolution, etc. Instead of getting into those debates, I just simply said, “This booklet isn’t about our teeth or whether humans can or cannot digest meat, it’s about the fact that every time we eat, we can make a choice to reduce suffering in the world – it’s that simple.” He agreed. For the rest of my leafleting, we’d chat when I’d finished a part of the line and he agreed with me about a lot of things.
—Team Vegan member Kenny Torrella, 4/30/11

	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