Jason Oliver and I reached 1,625 students at the City College of San Francisco today. It was Jason’s first college leafleting, but he is an old pro at activism and having persuasive conversations.
I gave a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating to one student who said my “homeboy up the hill” had convinced him, and he is making the switch!
Chris Dietrich, Gunita Singh, Chris Guinn, and I leafleted an Attila concert at the Baltimore Soundstage – they’re a Warped Tour band and we had Warped Tour leaflets! Amazing demographic of course, and 99% take rate. Incredible. During the rush, Chris Guinn heard a girl say: “I’m vegetarian because I got one of these at Warped Tour.” Whoah!!
Long day in cataclysmic traffic but my favorite campus outreach of the semester maybe!!! I spoke to two students at Norco College for about 10 minutes, and they want to try veg eating together – they are so adorable [below, right].
I saw an insane amount of people reading because many of the booklets went to students waiting for class. I overhead several conversations start; and walking back to the car, I saw a cover-to-cover reader – I had run out of Guides by then but pointed out the number on the back to get one and she was stoked.
Wonderful students at Moreno Valley College. I spoke to a group of three [above, left] for a long time and it was awesome – all three were interested in veg eating and were full of kindness and positive energy. It was a real high to meet so many receptive people and have so many conversations today. Schmoozapalooza!
Andy MacKenzie was a rock as usual and has been dressing more conservatively lately to fit in – what a guy!
The take rate at Vanderbilt University was a bit tough, but Rob Gilbride and I met several students who were interested in making changes, and one [right] who was given a VO leaflet two years ago and went vegetarian! Go, AAC!
We also met someone who happened to be giving a talk on the Blue Zone diet (plant based) and was super excited to see us there. One man said Compassionate Choices was “eye opening,” and many thanked us for doing this work.
Anna Durrett and I reached 1,000 students at Southern Illinois University. Anna got a booklet from us in 2008 when she was a student at Mizzou; she looked at the front and back cover only, and then recycled it. Still, after graduating she went vegan, moved to Carbondale, and took over the vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner at SIUC, now the vegan Thanksgiving dinner. This was my fourth time cooking for this event; I made the garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy yesterday after driving in from Cape Girardeau, MO. After the dinner, Anna decided to leaflet the first two class changes with me today before going to work. She did great, and even managed a bike pass and a skateboard pass! Big thanks to Anna for leafleting before work today in the windy 20°F weather!
Kassy Ortega met the woman at right at the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival. She told Kassy, “Vegan Outreach is the reason I became vegan 10 years ago. After I read a pamphlet, it didn’t happen right away, but if it wasn’t for VO, I wouldn’t be vegan today.”
I had a great day at Highline College. I ran into a girl who has been a vegetarian for more than two years now after receiving a VO leaflet on campus. So great!
I also met a guy who has been a pescatarian for a few months. We talked about the egg industry for a while, and he told me he wants to make a gradual shift toward veganism. I had quite a few other nice interactions. I always get so involved in answering people’s questions and am just so thrilled that they are interested in learning more, that I forget to give them a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating! I did remember with one girl who came up to me after seeing people with leaflets around campus. She said she’s been thinking about going vegan for a while but needed that final push to actually do it. She seemed really excited, and I am hopeful that the leaflets will serve as that last push toward going vegan.
I tabled and leafleted indoors at Mineral Area College today. I had conversations with around 60 students; two of them decided to go vegan after visiting at my table. A photo of one of the new vegans is [at right]. One professor came by to let me know I had him convinced that being vegetarian was more ethical.
One student came by my table and after visiting decided to reduce her consumption of animal products to one day per week; she was extremely grateful for me being there raising consciousness. She approached me a second time in the parking lot when I was leaving to again thank me for being there spreading the word.
I went on a road trip to San Francisco State University; fun as always, with the Don. We handed out 1,800 Your Choice booklets and had several nice conversations. One of note: a woman took a leaflet, came back later and thanked me for being there. She said it was a leaflet similar to that one that made her go vegan 7 years ago.
And to everyone who self-identified as a vegan, I said VO is always looking for leafleters!
After leafleting Elgin Community College on Monday, John Jungenberg also reports: “I talked to two students [right] who want to reduce their meat consumption after reading the booklets – I gave them encouragement and Guides!”
Killed it at the College of Lake County today!! We broke the record by over 500!! We had some fantastic conversations, too – Paul had a couple people tell him they would try going veg!
I also got the email address of someone who wants to get involved. It was a great day all around! Thanks to Paul Picklesimer, Araceli Rodriguez, and Alex Corrigan for joining me!
Cobie deLespinasse and I have a tradition of leafleting on my birthday since it is World Vegetarian Day. It was a fitting day for me to set a personal 1-day record. We ran out of booklets early. Had we had more, I could have given out another hundred or two hundred. It was a great day at the University of Oregon, perfect weather.
Thank you to Hannah Dilday, a UO student who leafleted with us this past spring and this fall. She did a great job and was very excited to be leafleting.
I met a guy who wants to go vegan and had a long conversation. And Cobie met a man who went vegetarian 3 years ago after receiving a booklet.
Record day at the University of Maryland in College Park on Monday! Jessica Silva and I started at 8:30 am, and were later joined around 10 am by Aaron Ross, Kate St. John, and Jaime Hecht! Together we reached 5,600 students. It was insane!!!! Team effort to the extreme.
Today we set another campus record: Chloe Falkenheim, Dave Mosick, Stewart Jester, and I [above] reached 4,320 students at Virginia Commonwealth University!
Crazy-tiring day. I picked up Chloe at 6:30 am, we drove to Richmond, banged out over 4,000 booklets with amazing people, and then drove to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg to speak to their veg club. Exhausting, but oh-so-productive. The club is active and was very receptive, so hopefully I’ll have some help for when I come to this school!
On a roll with records thanks to everyone who volunteers to come out and leaflet! I love VCU – there are so many students and so many vegetarians. Chloe met so many students who wanted to start a veg club!
We reached 2,100 students at Florida State University today! Kudos to Jay Quigley from the FSU student organization Ethical Food Association – even though he wasn’t able to be there, he coordinated with volunteers Kyle Sumner, Jenn Egen, and Corey Rowland for the outreach today, and set up lunch and dinner for me to meet EFA folks and other area vegans.
Lots of vegans and vegetarians kept reporting in all day long, including Chris [above], who was one of the last I leafleted for the day. He said that he and his girlfriend were veg and that she wanted to get more active for animals, too. Taking a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating for her, he then told me it was an Even If You Like Meat he’d gotten 6 months back that started the whole thing for them in the first place! No better way could this day have ended for us than with wonderful news like that.
I handed out 200 Your Choice booklets at UCLA’s Bruin Walk. [Above] is a pic proving positively “I was there,” because it’s the Bruin Bear statue come to life – maybe trying to bite or chew off one of my leafleting arms?!Also, the captain of the Bruins for Animals campus club saw me and spoke with me about teamwork. I suggested she contact VO to have them send a speaker, for one example.
It was a fun day, and I am glad I discovered the Bruin Walk area where leafleting outreach is best, with thick streaming crowds of pedestrians. I look forward to future pamphleteering there.
We set a new record at Yuba College yesterday! Aneesa Shah and John were solid leafleters, and I had one of those “this is why I do this” conversations with Giovanni, who went vegetarian last year after I handed him a booklet! I gave him a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating this time!
I left Yuba a few minutes late, so I missed the first half of the 1:15 pm–1:30 pm rush at Chico State, but first-time leafleter Frank Panetta helped me make up for it at the 1:50 pm–2:00 pm rush.
Frank joined me again today at Chico State, and along with Jeannie Trizzino, Nicole, and Marco, we handed out 2,700 Even If You Like Meat booklets! This was the fifth record in five days, and the second big school this week where we hit 20% of the student population. Frank and Jeannie put in long days to put us over the top!
I had a great conversation with Joel, an ag major who put some honest thought into what I was saying. I also heard from quite a few vegetarians and aspiring vegetarians. Jeannie said the percentage of vegans and vegetarians seemed higher than it was a couple of years ago when she leafleted here. The revolution is gaining momentum!
It as a cold day at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, but I reached 1,142 students and met a girl named Alex, who had taken a leaflet from me in the morning and then came back to talk to me during the afternoon. She wants to go vegetarian and get involved – not a bad day to wrap up the month!
John Sakars and I reached 2,500 students at Ryerson University on Tuesday. I had a lovely chat with Cindy and Rakel [above]. Both had lots of questions: Rakel is studying food hygiene, and asked about protein, what a typical day’s meals would be, and if I had enough energy; Cindy had heard about Freelee the Banana Girl and wanted to know if it costs a lot to eat vegan (I explained that staying with the basics of beans, grains, fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds is probably the cheapest and healthiest way to eat; and that more expensive products exist as for any cuisine, but are optional). Although they don’t plan on going vegan, they clearly got interested. We also talked about avoiding chicken and fish as the way to help the most animals.
I also talked with a student who had questions about local farms, humane options, and free range. We talked about how most meat, eggs, and dairy come from factory farms, how there are still problems with small farms, and how cutting back on eating small animals would do more good and be easier than trying to find “humane” options.
I met 5 vegetarians and 8 vegans, and John handed someone a leaflet who said, “This is exactly what I need.” There were also a couple of people there from a student veg group doing some leafleting of their own.
Yesterday at York University, Patti Nyman, Ali Pester, John, and I [below] reached 3,300 students. And today, John and I handed out another 2,058 booklets at the University of Toronto, where a student told John she already had a leaflet and that is the reason she went vegetarian.
It was a blast to be with Richard Wheeler, Berenice Weber, and Krystin Elize at San Diego Mesa College and the University of San Diego. Richard is a marine officer who served in Nam, now soldiering for the animals with gusto. Berenice took half a vacation day, and Krystin sacrificed serious sleep to get up at 5:30 am and has work from 2 pm to 11 pm each day; truly amazing Joe Espinosa–like dedication.
Huge congratulations to Joe on reaching half a million students while working a full-time job – a number that truly inspires, and shows what one person with dedication, heart, fire, consistency, and Coca-Cola can do.
I’m sure many went veg today. Some highlights: We saw numerous readers, and several students came back for more booklets after class. I had a 15-minute conversation with a devout Christian baseball player who was fascinated by the many hidden vegan insights, and was genuinely moved to give not eating others a go. I said, “If you are the kind of person who would consider going through minor inconvenience to stop the incredible suffering of another, then you are likely the kind of person who would go vegan,” and we left good friends.
Another record broken at William Paterson! Mara Collopy and I got to the university at about 7 am to make sure we got parking spots. Caroline Bogart joined us at 12 pm; this was her first time leafleting and she did fantastic – super outgoing, sweet, and smiley. She jumped right in and could have handed out a lot more, but at that point we had already handed out 1,850 booklets and most people said they already got one.
It was Constitution Day at Wright College, with programs including the ACLU talking about free speech. Ironically, a staff person challenged our right to be there but then never returned after saying he was going to security. Guess security told him what day it was!
Jovan Jimenez and I were able to reach 1,200 students. A teacher took 25 booklets to distribute to his class, and another teacher invited us to come back and table for Earth Day.
One student told me she got the leaflet last semester and has since stopped eating meat!
Great take rate at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. I met Emily Kraemer, who has been a vegetarian for seven years and is making the move towards veganism! Upon seeing me leaflet, she instantly asked me how to get involved – looks like an activist in the making if you ask me.
I spent the day at the University of Winnipeg, a small school right in downtown Winnipeg. I got lucky and stumbled upon some start-of-the-year festivities, so there was a lot of foot traffic for the first couple hours of my day. I managed to hand out 750 booklets on my own in the first two hours, and then Nikki Cha joined me for the afternoon and we handed out another 1,000 for a total of 1,750.
Students were curious and receptive! We met Danae and Alankrita, who actually tracked us down after seeing friends with our leaflets and have decided to cut out nearly all the meat in their diets! We also met Prem, who currently only eats small amounts of meat but wants to eliminate it completely! Finally, at the very end of the day I met Alexa, who had received a VO booklet in the past and is re-inspired to eliminate the cruelty in her food choices.
Reached 1,800 students at the University of Southern Mississippi. Awesome college campus this one. Didn’t think it could get any better after yesterday’s reception across the state line in Alabama, but boy was I wrong. Students were in excellent form all day long here, good vibe on campus happening, like a take rate in the 90%+ range. Conversations came out steadily throughout the afternoon, talking everything from vegan relatives, to protein, nutrition and product substitutes, and naturally even to NFL’s David Carter.
Highlight for me though had to be this student named Shannon [above]. She came back after a Your Choice got her interest, wanting to know all about our group and our wonderful mission. Though not a full veg but pescatarian for many years, she got all the goods (a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, veg shopping guide, etc.) and was so enthused she got an AML too before getting back on her way to class. This one I have no doubt will be following up, hopefully getting the word out further at this awesome school of hers.
Today I handed out 1,250 Your Choice booklets at Rowan University. Students were very receptive, and one girl told me she went vegetarian after receiving a leaflet the previous year!
It felt so great to be back on campus with students seeming more receptive than ever to our message. The icing on the cake was that Rosie ([above] whom I met last year and who goes to a high school adjacent to the campus) joined me for her first-time-ever leafleting experience. She loved it and promised to come back for more! She also plans to start an AR group at her high school this year.
Met a couple of vegans and a bunch of students who want to head in that direction. A teaching assistant asked me for a few extra to hand out to students in her class. One guy came back after checking out the Compassionate Choices and inquired about the free Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating offer at the back of the pamphlet. He said he’s changed his diet a lot since last year and is eating “grass-fed beef,” etc. I told him it was his lucky day because I just happened to have a Guide for him and also gave him a Tribe of Heart Humane Myth pamphlet. He was so grateful; it was really sweet to see.
Since this is a 2-year college, we hit a lot of new students and only heard from a few that they had gotten the info last year.
Happy new school year, everyone!
Fall classes started this week at Cuesta College. This was the only opportunity for my 12-year-old daughter to do some college leafleting with me, since her school starts on Monday. Having completed YEA Camp earlier this month, Brooke was ready to do some activism! We brought along her friend Zoe, who had never leafleted before. Both girls did GREAT! Lois , who is 84 years old, did amazing as always. Lois always beats my numbers, and this time my numbers were especially low because I spent time parking the car and retrieving our free-speech permit at the student activities office, while the others jumped into action for the class change. My other excuse is that I spent time taking pictures, with the goal of getting some really great photos to use on our local activist group’s Facebook page.
Speaking of the free-speech permit, for the past three years I have been filling out a permit request form in advance of my leafleting, as required by the school. Today those efforts finally paid off! A student saw the leaflets around campus after we had left and asked the school about our group. She is a vegan and wants to do activism. The school office actually emailed me her information, using the email address I provided on the permit request!
Another really great thing that happened today is a gentleman handed Lois $20 to donate to our group! Wow! That is a first for us! We will pass that donation along to VO when we order more leaflets.
Absolute monster day: 8,760 students reached with a case for veganism at Cal State Northridge – a new all-time VO school record.
Huge thanks to Mu, Dane, David, and Leron [below, left] for coming out early and being so wonderful, and for grinding it out and trusting my orchestrations.
We saw lots of readers, and spoke with several interested folks, including two friends committed to going veg [below, right], and a woman who was inspired to volunteer with VO.
Great sense of teamwork, trust, and selflessness. Feels good to reach so many!
Wow. Number 1 local volunteer Mu Jin Han suggested leafleting the WorldFest. I was pretty skeptical because at a vegfest, isn’t everyone veg already? Au contraire! Maybe 40 percent veg folk to my best estimation, and lots of semi-veg, veg curious, and progressive folks. It got kind of crazy.
First Mu spoke to 3 people for over 10 minutes; then he and I spoke to a young Greenpeace volunteer [Thomas, above], who said, “I really need to go vegan” and was into it. Then we spoke to a family [below, left] for over 20 minutes; their daughter was veg and both parents said they too now wanted to go vegan and had great questions about how to substitute certain things and where to get certain items, etc. Later on I spoke to a WorldFest volunteer [Dave, above], who had given up beef but ate more turkey and chicken as a result. We had a very long conversation during the slow trickle, and I believe he is well on his way.
Several of the people who had gotten Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating booklets while in line came up to us later with questions. Perhaps the best interaction was a Swedish man [Sven, below, right], who spoke to Mu for about 15 minutes; then brought his friend over and they spoke for another half hour solid. Unreal, he said he is on board. Special day.
We ran into Your Choice cover model Hayley; she was great and also discussed future summer leafleting with several newbies, and interacted with numerous local activists and supporters in 9 hours straight of nonstop schmoozing and talking. I also did some recordings on video for two different projects. Fantastic day that blew me away – I highly recommend leafleting local vegfests and specifically offering Guides to any interested parties as they enter. We leafleted very conservatively today, which was a change but fit the tactical situation.
This was the best visit to Dartmouth yet! The reception here has improved tremendously over the years. It’s such a good feeling because this used to be one of the toughest schools to leaflet! Today’s number (616 booklets) is a record here.
One young woman said she grew up in a small farming town with its own slaughterhouse and went vegetarian because of it. One faculty member said she’s veg and thanked me for being there. There were a few high school tours coming through, and some students from each group took leaflets.
At lunchtime, there was a free BBQ set up outside the student center. A sign said, “Movement Against Violence BBQ.” Wow…products of violence (dismembered body parts of beings who didn’t want to die) were being fried and eaten as a way to be against violence!? Well, someday more people will make the connection. I’m glad I was there to give a voice to those victims of violence. And, along with the piles of various meats, at least there was an option of veggie burgers. And inside the dining hall, I have noticed an increase in veggie options such as vegan cutlets, vegan ground beef marinara, vegan cookies, tofu scrambles, etc.
In the evening, the Dartmouth Animal Welfare Group screened Speciesism: The Movie. The director, Mark Devries, was there for Q&A afterward. It was very nice to meet him.
YAY! Best last day of the semester ever! I was joined by amazing volunteers, and had two first-time leafleters today! Jennifer [Richards, above] found me through the VO Facebook page. She reached out to thank me for my leafleting work. I thanked her for her kind words and encouraged her to come out and try it sometime with me since she lives in my area! She agreed, and she loved it! I met Lucy [Whisler] at the Baltimore VegFest. I encouraged her to come out leafleting sometime! She told me she was a student at GMU, and I told her I was leafleting there this week. So she joined in for the last class change as well! She was so excited, and plans on helping me with more leafleting events in the DC area! Yay!
We heard from so many vegetarians and vegans on this campus as usual. One student [Jennifer, above] came up to us and said she went vegetarian for a couple weeks after getting a booklet from us in the past, but she wants to eventually go vegan! I told her about how we don’t believe in the all-or-nothing approach to veganism, and that baby steps are okay to reaching her goals! I told her about chicken and fish, and how she could do the most right now by no longer eating them. She was so excited for the info, and the Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating! She told me she was going to do this, and that she was definitely going to go veg!
Great night in Tinley Park/Chicago with help from awesome local activists! Together we reached just shy of 13,000 Warped Tour attendees!
The highlight of my night was meeting Danay, who went vegan for the animals after getting a booklet from us at Warped last year! She asked me to tag her photo on Twitter and we had a little exchange online after the show – awesome! She tweets about animals a lot, and we follow each other now!
I also met vegetarian Jessica and pescatarian Montserrat [below], who made big changes after getting booklets last year, too. I told Montserrat she has to try Gardein fishless filets!
It’s always great to have these reminders that we are changing the world for animals in a big way out here on the Warped Tour!
I thought it was going to be a slow day leafleting Millersville University the day after Easter, but surprisingly it picked up pretty quickly! I met Jessica, a student who went veg after reading a booklet her brother received from us in the past! YAY! You never know who is reading!
Today I reached 300 students at Lehigh Carbon Community College, which had never been leafleted before. There were so many great moments for such a tiny school! First off, campus police walked over so I thought I was going to get the boot. Turns out, he really liked the booklet! We talked about the transport trucks on the highway, and he compared them to the Holocaust rail cars. Incredible. A student came up to me, told me she read the booklet, cried and is now vowing to never eat meat ever again! Guided. I also heard from a vegetarian! This is definitely an ag area, and there were so many receptive students. Quality, not quantity here.
The highlight at the University of South Dakota was running into Avid, who I met last fall. He came by to say hi, and let me know he’s been vegetarian for 3 months now. He didn’t go veg right away, because he was worried about protein; but after doing more research, he’s a confident and healthy veggie. He’s also started powerlifting.
I also heard from several other vegetarians – much more than last semester. Great day!!
Whoa! I love the students at the gritty El Camino College Compton Center. Outstanding day of small school outreach. I saw so many people sitting outside or in the library foyer reading – it was spectacular to see.
I met Anna [above], who was reading a booklet and walking. She said, “This is really interesting” and we ended up having a long conversation. She volunteered that she had thought about going veg sometimes, and this is exactly the knowledge and info she needed. It was such a nice conversation.
Walking around, I came upon a student tabling. She was busy discussing these issues with another student tabling with her. She asked for more literature, and we had a long talk on cruelty and nutrition – had to channel that inner Jack Norris. That conversation was fantastic. Lastly, near the end of the day, I approached 6 women on the lawn, which led to another long conversation and was the perfect way to end the day.
Hard to articulate, but just a day of outreach that uplifted the soul!
How awesome is this!!! [Genesis, above] went vegan at 5 but she is now 7. She had such a great experience leafleting for the first time, and everyone was very receptive to her. She asked if she could do this every day! We now have a stack of leaflets in the car, and she has been passing them out wherever she goes. Thank you so much, Victor Sjodin and Mu Jin Han, for inspiring her and showing her the ropes. She has found her passion and it’s Vegan Outreach!
I must relate this one story her mom told me: Genesis came home crying one day, and her mom asked why; the kids were waving hot dogs and ham in her face at lunch. Her mom asks, “Are you crying because they are making fun of you?” “Oh no, I’m upset because they don’t get it, they don’t understand they are hurting animals.” Wow.
Fabulous day of outreach with Yuri Mitzkewich, leafleting the Florida Atlantic University campuses in Boca Raton and Davie. At the main campus, we were happy to have smashed the old record by over 700. We heard from folks who had gone vegetarian from getting a Compassionate Choices or Even If You Like Meat in the past, and had conversations that we both confidently feel will end up in new veg*ns. So happy that Yuri could get the day off, because he is such an amazing leafleter!
Today was arguably my best day of leafleting with Vegan Outreach so far (I feel like I’ve said that a few times now, guess it just keeps getting better out here – can’t complain)! I had help from a group of students from Wittenberg University’s WALI veg club who were first-time leafleters – always exciting! Our outreach today was their first organized event and it turned out to be a big success!
We reached almost 400 students – great for a school this small – and our new Your Choice leaflet was really well received! We distributed a good number of Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating booklets and had a number of quality conversations with students interested in making some compassionate changes with their eating.
The highlight of my day was meeting DGlove [above]; we chatted for several minutes about veg nutrition, what to eat, and how to go about making realistic behavioral change. DGlove was super cool and great to talk to, and I can say with confidence that he’ll be making some big changes after our conversation – so awesome!
All in all, a great day of outreach – I’m sure there’ll be several new vegetarians the next time Vegan Outreach visits this campus!
Outstanding day of outreach in San Marcos today – got 2,490 booklets into the hands of students at Texas State! Heard from a girl who is trying to go vegetarian but wasn’t sure how to get started; she got a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and is feeling more confident that she can do it! The highlight was meeting Travis [above], who used to be a vegetarian, and the leaflet reminded him of why he wants to get back into it. He was happy to get a Guide with the tools he needs to get started again.
Today at West Valley College, I talked to one enthusiastic student who is recently vegan and looking forward to using her new Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating to help her parents and siblings go vegan. I also met Lisa, who recently went vegan after meeting our volunteer Belle at a local farmers’ market! The best conversation of the day was with Melinda [above], who thinks it’s cruel to eat animals, and is going to use her Guide to cut out all animal products!
It was a really cold and rainy morning at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. I was really excited that first-time leafleters Tonja, Richard, and Frazer joined Rachael and me. After getting them set up in our usual spot, Rachael and I went exploring and found a 10-story building that was going crazy! It was like a blur of bodies and leaflets. All of a sudden all the booklets were gone! Despite being a little nervous, they had a wonderful time and I think they’ll be leafleting again soon! All together we set an all-time record for any school in Australia – 3,000 VO booklets!
I just leafleted for the first time!!! It went really well – people [at Edith Cowan University in Perth] were very receptive and kind.
I was a bit nervous when I began leafleting for the first time. But I had a great time and I’ll definitely be leafleting for Vegan Outreach again!
I believe that the EIYLM booklet is one of the most complete and easy ways to raise awareness in the importance of adopting a vegan lifestyle. We hope to do more leafleting with this amazing document.
Ten years ago, I took the full-time plunge into the work of Vegan Outreach leafleting. I found it – and still find it – to be such a simple and effective way to make real advances for those whose heartbreaking plight is so often overlooked in our society – farmed animals.
Last Friday at the University of Georgia, I gave out my millionth booklet and a celebratory piece of chocolate cake to the recipient of this booklet. If you think this is a milestone worth celebrating, know that it’s been a team effort. If you’ve ever welcomed me into your home with a place to stay, leafleted with me, sent an encouraging word my way, or sent your hard-earned dollars to Vegan Outreach, this millionth booklet has come about because of you.
I’m profoundly honored to play my humble part in this movement alongside all of you – my kind, smart, and selfless friends. We’re on the right side of history, and one day, genuine concern for all sentient individuals, regardless of what species they belong to, will be the norm. Thanks for bringing this about. Two million or bust!
Very excited that the man who got me leafleting is so close to his goal of a million booklets, astounding.
Jon Bockman [below, right], Rachel Curit, Steven Litrov, and I employed a new strategy at San Diego State and reached 3,060 students, beating the previous record by over 650 booklets. Saw numerous readers. Highlight of day was meeting Autumn [below, left], who came back later in the day; she was so moved by the lit and wants to go vegan. She had lots of questions and we had a long conversation, wonderful.
Mississippi State was fantastic leafleting. With the steady flow throughout the day, I was able to reach 1,800 students.
I met Paris Prince, a professor whose style is as cool as his name. He teaches a class on social responsibility, and he discusses food issues in it. He regretted that he wasn’t discussing it today, as he would have liked for me to have talked with his students. Still, he appeared to discuss the issue in class, as a vegan came up to me afterwards, telling me she heard about me from Paris.
One guy let me know that he went vegan after picking up a booklet many years ago in Seattle. We rock!
Another gorgeous day in southwest Florida and a chance to leaflet with Jon Camp, an amazing animal advocate and good friend. I am in awe that he has done this work semester in and semester out for ten years and find him to be a truly inspirational person with a heart of gold.
As for outreach, it was a stellar day at Florida Gulf Coast University. We handed out 1,290 VO booklets, including 34 copies of the Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, and had some brief but good conversations. Talked to the two vegan students who leafleted with me last semester in December, and they told us that a student came up to them to join their group because they went veg after getting one of the booklets. Also gave a professor 50 Compassionate Choices so she can have her students write papers centered around reasoning and critical thought. Super day!
Vanderbilt was great. I had the help of five VIVA members throughout the day. A young woman said, “I already got one – with Ryan Gosling and Kevin the sad chick. It was like oh my God,” in a manner that indicated she was really moved by the booklet. This is the second time this week in which someone mentioned one of the animals in Your Choice by name.
One of the leafleters today was Alex [above]. In October of 2012, I leafleted him. He let me know he was veg. I gave him a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, and we briefly chatted. Turns out he went vegan as a result.