Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

	Above: Nathan Shin leaflets the Chicago Warped Tour stop. Below: Dave Coman-Hidy, Taylor, Ashley Rackl, and Stewart Thorpe reach Warped Tour fans in Salt Lake City.

Sizzling Summer!

Thought the heat waves across the country were caused by global warming?

Au contraire!

Vegan Outreach activists have been burning it up this summer, seeking out concerts, festivals, walkathons, college’s summer sessions, and any other places they can find interested people.

To date, activists have reached 422,118 new people this summer!

Congratulations to the amazing activists who’ve been on fire for the animals – and all the donors who print and ship these booklets! Because of your efforts and generosity, lives are changing every day, with requests for VO’s Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating pouring in via texts, voicemails, and online messages!

Our Work = More Payoff

“Tyson Foods Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings and lowered its full-year outlook due to weak U.S. demand for meat.”

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

• Another Billionaire for the Animals
• A New World, If We Build It

Be a Part of Hotel Vegan Outreach!

Jon Camp, Vegan Outreach’s Director of Outreach and World’s Most Courteous Houseguest, is looking for housing for his upcoming tour:

Sep 24 and 25 – near Morehead or Richmond, KY
Oct 15, 16, and 17 – NW Louisiana
Nov 6 and 7 – SW Louisiana

If you can help, please email jon(at)veganoutreach(dot)org.

If you’re interested in possibly housing activists in the future, please email anne(at)veganoutreach(dot)org. Thanks!

Notes from Our Members

Nikki: “Roberto Sanchez (left) and Gary Gonzalez (right), both goin’ veg! CoC FTW!”

Every time I visit the College of the Canyons, the students and staff blow the roof off m’hat rack. THEY’RE BOOMIN’! The readiness is here!
     Rabbit’s a 3-year vegan who’s alllll up in the know about the big picture, so she hopped in to help. Collected her contact info as well as 8 other rabidly interested students. While chatting with Roberto, I kept leafleting and met Gary [right]! He’s now on the path, and stopped to thank us for getting the word out. Many changes are coming out of this young man! And no, I wasn’t shocked when Erika walked up to me crying, saying the booklet drove her to tears such that she had to leave class. We chatted about milk and eggs, and she’s gearing up for the vegan swing!
     Today at Riverside Community College, I met someone who initially refused a booklet, saying God gave us animals to eat. I said, “God didn’t give males testicles so we could chop them off without painkillers.” He agreed how the animals are treated is not cool. I said, “Well it’s happening on our watch, we’re supporting it or we’re not. Which would God expect from his people?” He then took a booklet.
—Nikki Benoit, 5/16/12

I reached 300 people at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. Had a TON of great conversations with people, including a group of about 5 kids (who looked to be about 13). They took the booklets, started reading, and then came back multiple times that evening to point out things in the booklet and ask me questions (e.g., “What are they doing here?!” – pointing to the pic of a baby chick having her beak cut off). They all vowed to stop eating chicken and eggs and said they want to try to be vegetarians. Yay!
—Kim Dreher, 6/9/12

After receiving booklets from Casey in Times Square, Debra (above) is “sooo going veg now!” and Cliff (below) is also working toward veg!

Reached over 1,000 more students at Diablo Valley College on this exhausting but awesome day. A number of people thanked me and many commented that they had read the booklet and it was very interesting / disturbing / informative. I ran into a student who was on his way to give his presentation about the inhumane treatment of farm animals. He asked for 20 Compassionate Choices to give to his class. He was really excited that we had our chance encounter since he now had great info to pass to each student to go along with his presentation. Met a few vegans and vegetarians which is always nice, considering I used to meet NO veggies on this campus a few years ago.
     The students at Hartnell and Gavilan Colleges were incredibly receptive; I feel like just about everyone who takes a booklet genuinely wants it. Towards the end of my time at Hartnell I had two separate instances of students saying, “Oh sweet, I was hoping I’d get one of these, everyone has one!” That’s the buzz effect baby, woo! Met a few vegetarians. I heard more about class papers and presentations once again. This seems to be happening almost every time I leaflet lately.
     Fantastic day at De Anza College today, where I was joined by Diane, Jessica, and Gunita! Jessica reported: “A professor returned and requested more copies to give to her students. Later, a man expressed interest in volunteering for Vegan Outreach.” Heard from quite a few vegetarians and lots of people mentioning they had received one in the past. We engaged them as much as possible with the old Casey line, “So what did you think of it?” and everyone said it was bad and nearly all said they were planning to change their diet in some way or had already done so. Woo!
—Brian Grupe, 5/23/12

High take rate at Chemeketa Community College, and I can’t recall any snide comments at all. One guy refused at first, saying he likes meat. Pointing to the title (Even If You Like Meat), I explained that the booklet is written for people like him, not vegans. The whole group smiled and he took the booklet.
     Another guy said he used to work for a chicken place and he doesn’t eat chicken anymore. He got a Guide. Yet another guy said he worked at a pig place and a chicken place and he is practically vegetarian after that. He also got a Guide. He told me that when he worked at the pig facility, he had to pick up giant barrels of dead chickens from a chicken farm. The dead chickens were fed to the pigs that then end up being eaten.
—Nettie Schwager, 5/9/12

A huge new record – Jon, the Cornell Vegan Society, and I reached 2,547 students at Cornell University! I met more veg students than ever before – dozens of them! Jon had a really constructive discussion with a group of ag students [right], and we got loads of good feedback. For example, one guy took a booklet, walked a bit, then turned around and ran to Jon exclaiming, “I’ve been waiting for vegetarians to put out a message like this for years!” (the meat-reduction approach versus all-or-nothing). And I met Leah, a girl who received a booklet earlier in the day; she said she read through it and now wants to become a vegetarian. She happily took a Guide.
—John Oberg, 5/2/12

Rob and I decided to put our newly matching Team Vegan shirts to use and leaflet the local dog walk fundraiser [right, with Syba]. Very warm receptions with quite a few high school / college-aged walkers. Awesome use of only 25 minutes. Got lots of comments on the shirts about town after leafleting as well!
—Eleni Vlachos, 6/2/12

Pam and Jovan joined me to leaflet a concert in Millennium Park – great demographic. We heard from a plethora of vegans and vegetarians, as well as a few people who want to get involved with activism. A cop even rolled over on his Segway to get a booklet, telling me he was vegan.
—Leslie Patterson, 6/18/12

Above: Joe Espinosa brings VO’s lit to the Printers Row Lit Fest. Below: Leslie Patterson leaflets the Chicago Warped Tour stop.

Leslie informed me about a festival which advertised with the tag line, “Get Lit!” Assuming it was an event that would have an endless supply of beer, I was thrilled to have a chance to attend this event [right]. Arriving at the location, I saw row upon row of books and, realizing my foolish misunderstanding, began to leaflet – everyone there could read and certainly eats, so each person was an opportunity for a major victory for animals. I am confident that our booklet was the most viewed title at the event. Heard from 5 vegans and 30 vegetarians. Also spoke with a 71-year-old man who, despite having a background in animal agriculture (like me), went vegetarian after getting one of our booklets in the past.
—Joe Espinosa, 6/10/12

I broke my record at Livingstone College, a private, religious, historically black college. A huge increase in interest this time around! The admin and faculty members were very happy that I was there (and one remembered the lit from five years ago). One administrator explained they’ve changed food service providers because of student demand; they now have a vegetarian line every day, although some students told me they wanted some of the vegan meats listed in the Guide. A super experience!
     At Johnson C. Smith University, I talked to lots of admin and faculty members who gladly took information on this private, historically black college campus, including two of the track and field coaches who valued what I was doing. Two security guards and two police officers happily took information. A great use of time.
     Handed out the most Guides I ever have before at Central Piedmont Community College, on my way to setting a huge new record for the school. Many people approached me for more information after having gotten a Compassionate Choices earlier, with African-American male students being the number-one segment pledging to work towards a vegetarian or vegan diet. One gentleman is going to go vegetarian within a matter of months, and then work on going vegan; another student is going to start by going vegan on Thursdays. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses were so excited to receive literature and start making dietary changes. They said that I looked very healthy and young for my age which brightened my day. I even had an administrator come over to apologize for his somewhat cold attitude earlier and happily accept all three pieces of lit, promising to read them from cover to cover. I could go on and on…it was that good of a day!
—Anon, 5/3/12

	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