Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Activist Profile: Cobie deLespinasse

Continuing our series of activist profiles, we meet Cobie deLespinasse! Here is an excerpt from her profile:

Who is a major influence in your life?

3. Vegan Outreach has been a major influence: Most important is what the organization does for the animals, but they also give us leafleters a chance to make a big difference. Vegan Outreach has helped make the past few years a very exciting time for me.

What would you say to individuals hesitant about leafleting?

I was hesitant about leafleting, for two reasons. First, I am awkward and often forget to make eye contact. Before I started leafleting, I wondered whether I should practice making eye contact for a few months before I tried to leaflet, because I was afraid I couldn’t be effective. Then I decided to go ahead and try leafleting, and many people took the booklets from me. I’ve been leafleting ever since. The fact is that most of the however-many-thousand booklets I gave out, I actually didn’t make eye contact with the people, and if I can improve on this in the future it will surely increase the take rate. But I’m very glad I didn’t wait to start leafleting until I was perfect.

The second reason I was hesitant about leafleting was that, although I had been vegan for the animals for more than a decade, I wasn’t sure when I started leafleting what I thought about the so-called “humane meat” issue. But I decided that people should have an opportunity to find out about what was happening to the animals, and I didn’t need to wait to start leafleting until I understood every aspect of animal issues.

Some suggestions: Try reading the Notes from Our Members in Vegan Outreach’s enewsletters, or suggestions on the Adopt a College and Vegan Outreach websites, to get some ideas on how to leaflet. Join the Adopt a College leafleting list to get support from others. One thing that may have helped me was that the first several times I leafleted were at showings of Food, Inc. at a fairly small movie theater where I usually handed out 20 or fewer booklets; I wasn’t trying to leaflet for hours.

Full interview here.

From “Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!” & Jack Norris RD Blogs

• Don’t Have a Cow! accepted for HS newspaper
• Interview with Jack: Why Vegan Outreach
• Which Do You Love, Which Do You Eat?
• Registration Open for AR2012; Matt and Jon will be speaking
• More NPR on Veg Meat
• What “Family Farms” Are Proud Of
• Resistant Bacteria and Meat

Product of the Week

Cobie: “I like SO Delicious soy ice cream. One of my former housemates used to politely laugh at how frequently she saw me eating soy ice cream.”

Please submit your favorite products; you can view previous entries here.

Notes from Our Members

Another University of Nevada, Reno student learns the truth from Anita Dombovari.

It’s good to be reminded that although most of the bad news about animal mistreatment relates to incidents, the good news tends to be more about trends. Must have something to do with the direction that the arc of history bends towards!
—CT, 3/21/12

Two days in February:

Monster day of outreach with Diane and Vic – we reached over 2,300 students at West Valley College and San Jose City College. Many comments, and one woman said she was changing over to vegan.
     Today at Evergreen Valley College, Diane, Jessica, Jeni, and I set a new record – nearly 2,000 more students reached! We all had a ton of conversations today. So many on this campus are wiling to change and already making changes. Awesome to witness.
—Brian Grupe, 2/1/12

Beautiful day leafleting with Lisa at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Lisa had a conversation with one man who said, “No thanks, I like meat.” She replied, “Then this brochure is for you! The title is Even If You Like Meat!” He came back and spoke to her and after the conversation he said that he would cut down on meat, possibly doing a “meat out” day each week. Amazing work.
—Katie Pryor, 2/1/12

UConvert: Karen met Albana, who went veg two years ago after getting a VO booklet at the University of Connecticut.

At the University of Illinois at Chicago, I spoke with a Muslim student who had gotten the booklet and came back to talk. She was quite disturbed at the way laying hens are treated. I shared with her that seeing the way birds are treated in modern farming is what originally moved me out of agriculture and onto animal protection work, as it makes clear that there is nothing animal agriculture will not do to animals to cut costs / improve profits.
—Joe Espinosa, 2/1/12

Kimberly, Joanna, and I had an awesome time leafleting Grand Central Station. Great conversations with people interested in going veg!
—Victoria Randall, 2/2/12

While leafleting Brooklyn’s Boys and Girls High School, a parent or teacher said she wanted to go veg. She had good questions and planned to do it once and for all. Later, a guy passing who read my sweatshirt asked for a vegan booklet.
—Casey Constable, 2/2/12

891 Even If You Like Meat booklets and 9 Guides at Northern Illinois University. I had several quality conversations with students who claimed “it’s just too hard to be vegan.” I explained it isn’t about being perfect, it’s about reducing the amount of suffering in the world and living in tune with your values. Once you explore vegan options, a whole new world of food opens before you, and the choice becomes easy. At the end of my day, a school newspaper reporter came out and interviewed me for a story.
—Jon Bockman, 2/1/12

Eleanor Thomas opens another mind at Sierra College.

I had a rewarding day of outreach at CCBC today. I saw a girl reading a booklet with a look of shock and disgust on her face. I went over and talked to her. Reading the Compassionate Choices pushed her over the edge and she went vegetarian on the spot! In addition, I sparked up some good conversations with people about everything from ritual slaughter to organic farms.
—Aaron Ross, 2/2/12

I love leafleting Georgetown – full of such smart and inquisitive folks. Kitty met a young woman who went vegan as a result of us being there a year ago, a vegetarian who got the Even If today and is seriously considering going vegan as a result, and a professor who is currently writing a book on animal rights. I met a woman who wants me to put her in touch with the Georgetown animal advocate I know, and a professor who took down my contact info because one of her students wants to start a club on campus.
—Jon Camp, 2/2/12

Many conversations at Clark Atlanta and Georgia State. I met one student who was absolutely thrilled to get a leaflet and wants to get involved. I also met a professor who’s been vegan for 31 years! At GS, I’ve never gotten so many contacts in 2.5 hours time.
—Jeff Boghosian, 2/2/12

Over 1,600 students at Miami Dade’s North and Kendall campuses! Outreach was amazing – so many positive and productive interactions! I saw LOTS of people reading the booklet: Sitting and reading. Walking and reading. Standing in groups and discussing it. A number of people said they wanted to eat fewer animal products. One guy said, “This is going to be in my head now. I didn’t know how bad things are.” A girl waved her booklet in the air and said, “This is a sign! I was thinking about going vegan! This is THE sign!” A different girl said to her boyfriend, “That’s it! We’re going TOFU! These pictures are just too sad.” An older woman stopped to talk. She said she’s been vegetarian since age 13, and her family has always given her a really hard time about it. She was so thankful that this outreach is going on.
—Lana Smithson, 2/2/12

	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