By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Raising money for the work of Vegan Outreach is a team effort all year long. From Josie Moody, who does a thousand jobs including keeping our donor records updated, to Alex Bury, who since January has been providing expertise in a variety of ways, to our Outreach Coordinators and other staff who are out there talking to the masses about VO’s work and why we do it. It really takes a village, and I’m so lucky to work with brilliant and compassionate people like these.

I’m even luckier that in May and June, our team gets even bigger–thanks to the volunteers of Team Vegan! This fundraising campaign, in which all donations are matched by a small group of philanthropists, brings together folks from all walks of life to raise funds for VO’s work. From activists to athletes to VO staff and everything in between, dozens of folks roll up their sleeves and make a huge difference for animals.

How does it work? Simply visit the Team Vegan website and click “Register” to get started. You’ll choose a username, a photo, and a fundraising goal, and you’ll write a little about who you are and why you care about spreading compassion for animals. I’m here to help–with writing this text, or deciding the best ways to ask friends and family to donate. Some Team Vegan members choose an activity to go along with their fundraising–running a 5K, leafleting, or doing anything else you want.

For inspiration, check out what some Team Vegan members are doing:

VO’s Director of Outreach, Vic Sjodin, has been in a cast for the last two months. For every $50 donation to his page, he will walk one mile! He’s raising money for animals as he literally gets back on his feet after an injury. Go Vic!

VO Board Member Melissa Li enlisted her beloved Chihuahua, Pablo, to help her raise funds. If he makes his goal, Pablo will participate in a doggy dash or help Melissa leaflet.

Ricky McCallum wants to help Vegan Outreach while helping friends, family, and neighbors with their computer issues! He suggests a $20-per-hour donation to his Team Vegan page. So creative!

Emily and Brian are a father-daughter fundraising team. While they’re not sure yet what activity they want to do, they’re not wasting any time before starting to raise funds. Their Team Vegan page is up and running with a great photo and story to inspire donations!

Get in on the fun now! Register for your own Team Vegan page today.

Thank you!

Activists Taylor Holman, Brian Alexander, Alix Pulido, and David Pinski are four of this semester’s most prolific Adopt a College leafleters: Taylor has handed out 8,390 booklets at 16 different schools; Brian, 8,101 booklets at 12 schools; Alix, 7,987 booklets at 12 schools; and David, 7,541 booklets at 9 schools!

Above (from left) are David at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and Alix, Brian, and Taylor at Chaffey College.

On February 16, Taylor and Brian teamed up at Los Angeles Pierce College (above) and set a new one-day record for the campus, handing out 1,189 booklets!

On January 27, Alix, David, VO Outreach Coordinator Steven Litrov, and fellow activists handed out 3,370 booklets at Cal State Fullerton. Steven reports:

We heard from several vegans and vegetarians on this bustling day! Alix invited her mom, Gina [above], to leaflet for a couple of hours (she did awesome), and two members of the Herbivore Club on campus joined for about an hour, too. One of the members, Javier Chavez [below], said he was influenced by a leaflet received at Mt. San Antonio College to make the switch!

David, Steven, and fellow activists reached more than 4,100 students at Cal State Northridge on January 25. Steven writes:

Huge day here on the first day of the quarter! Had a ton of volunteer help, including Laura Sanchez [above, left], who stuck it out all day long with a smile despite the weather, aches, and huge crowds. David Pinski [above, right] continues to impress with his persistence and ultra-straight arms and smiles. We were also joined by first-time leafleters Yuliana Miranda [below, left] and Pamela Whistley [below, right, and first from the left with Laura and David], who rocked it for a couple hours towards the end of the day.

We met two students who had been influenced to go veg from leaflets, including our volunteer Yuliana, who was leafleted at this school four to five years ago and initially didn’t read the booklet, because of the frightening images, but later did and did more research. Then Laura met another student in passing who went veg after getting a leaflet – awesome!

Both Yuliana and Javier not only changed their diets after receiving booklets, but also became Adopt a College leafleters! If you’d like to get booklets into more students’ hands, please consider taking part in VO’s Team Vegan campaign.

The more money raised, the more animals spared from suffering. And now through June 30, all donations up to $200,000 will be matched, dollar for dollar!

By Alex Bury, Organizational Development Consultant

Rachel Donovan is a longtime Vegan Outreach donor, activist, Team Vegan fundraiser, and organizer.

The first time Rachel and I met was romantically confusing. We both attended an event hosted by a fabulous local donor. Rachel was hoping to meet a vegan guy named Alex who posted to the San Francisco Bay Area Vegetarian list. I, on the other hand, was not there to meet anyone, especially Jack Norris, who I considered much too serious for my tastes. I planned to spend most of the event ignoring him and hanging out with my friends.

By the end of the event, Rachel had made her first donation to VO, had forgiven me for leading her to believe there was a new vegan guy in town, and I had told my friends, “I’m going to marry Jack.”

Rachel is involved in veg advocacy in many ways and succeeded at getting everyone in her office to celebrate Oakland Veg Week.

Rachel recently started the busy Facebook group Let’s Go Vegan-ish. I love what she’s doing with it! It’s a warm and welcoming way to introduce people to plant-based eating. She posts restaurant tips, travel food, new products, and more. She gives people permission to do the best they can and not give up if they fall off the wagon for a while.

If you’re vegan, please join Rachel’s group and post in it to inspire people who are thinking about going veg!

While VO is expanding our Vegan Mentor Program, Rachel’s Facebook group is another important tool to fight the veg recidivism problem. Here is my interview with Rachel—

Alex Bury: Tell us a little about yourself. I hope you’ll include something about your amazing job.

Rachel Donovan: I’m a civil engineer who really wanted to be an artist and illustrator of children’s books. Maybe I’ll still get to do that some day, but for right now I’m a bridge inspector.

If you look up, you might see me climbing or rappelling with my compadres. Besides work, I’m into sleeping, reading books, rock climbing, swing dancing, and going on urban hikes and bike rides. Plus, my sweetheart plays bass in a David Bowie cover band, and I’m his biggest groupie!

Alex: Tell us about Let’s Go Vegan-ish!

Rachel: Prior to July 2005, I had enjoyed the food at vegan events, but I had been turned off from going vegan because it seemed too rigid. When I read Erik Marcus’ book Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money, I felt compelled to go vegan. I tried being a strict vegan for a few years. There were occasions when it seemed silly to insist on being vegan, but I insisted anyway…and I felt bad about hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and other problems that sometimes arose.

Being super strict became more challenging when I moved in with my partner in 2008. He is not vegan, and he does most of the grocery shopping and cooking. Although he’s very careful to make everything vegan, sometimes a non-vegan ingredient gets overlooked and he takes it really hard. I never wanted to have to tell him that we needed to throw out the entire dish.

Over the years, I had seen many instances when it would be useful and practical to be more flexible and in fact knowingly consume non-vegan things once in awhile. However, I struggled with this because based on books I’ve read and interactions I’ve had with other vegans, the logic runs like this: if you care about animals, you’ll be vegan, and if you knowingly consume non-vegan products (no matter how infrequently), then you’re not vegan. I felt stuck.

In 2009, I read The Animal Activist’s Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today’s World, by Matt Ball and Bruce Friedrich. I read it twice and highlighted and starred several passages. If you have access to the book, check out pages 55 to 60, the section entitled, “Personal Purity vs. Effectiveness for the Animals.” You would not believe the excitement I felt as I read these paragraphs, which explain why, for helpful animal advocacy, we need not be “all or nothing” vegans. My heart was jumping up and down…”Yes! This is it!”

Since that time, I’ve been looking for a community that promotes vegan ideals while embracing and welcoming those who have not and perhaps will not (for whatever reason) make a pledge to go 100% vegan all the time. This is what I call going vegan-ish, or “as vegan as you wanna be.” I felt there should be a place where people could ask honest questions about the how’s and why’s of making vegan choices, without being judged for being too vegan or not vegan enough. As a result, I started Let’s Go Vegan-ish—first as a blog, then as a Facebook community page, and now as a Facebook public group! Right now we have 200+ members. I hope that more people will join the group and feel comfortable asking questions and sharing great vegan finds. I would like the information we share to be welcoming, thought provoking, and inspirational for people no matter where they may live.

Alex: How did you get involved in the world of animal protection? How about with Vegan Outreach?

Rachel: This article in the January 2002 edition of E Magazine, “The Case Against Meat” was what got me started. I had been a long-time environmentalist, but I never thought about the connection to animal agriculture before reading that article. Upon reading the article, I became vegetarian-ish. Most people thought I was vegetarian because they never saw me eating meat, but in fact I wasn’t. I had not made any vow to stop eating meat. I had simply read the article and thought, “OK! Just as I avoid car and air travel, I should also not eat meat unless there’s no other option!” As it turns out, there was nearly always a vegetarian option wherever I went, so indeed I appeared to be vegetarian.

To learn more about vegetarian foods, I joined Bay Area Vegetarians. It was through Bay Area Vegetarians that I received an advance reading copy (in brown paper cover) of Meat Market by Eric Marcus in 2005. And that’s when I went vegan for the animals—or, more precisely, vegan-ish!

I first learned about Vegan Outreach at a Bay Area Vegetarians event in February 2007. Upon seeing Jack Norris’ presentation on vegan diets and the work Vegan Outreach is doing, I knew right away that this was an organization I wanted to support.

Alex: You’ve been donating to VO since 2007! That’s amazing. Thank you! What first inspired you to give, and what has kept you doing so?

Rachel: I support Vegan Outreach because they have a pragmatic approach to opening hearts and minds about how we can make a difference in this world. I truly believe that the shift we are seeing toward vegan products being more available in the U.S. is connected to Vegan Outreach’s work. Flyers such as VO’s Even If You Like Meat encourage people to make vegan choices when possible, even if they do still eat meat sometimes.

I feel these kind of incremental changes are what will make the difference. If we can decrease the demand for meat, eggs, and dairy, to only 10% of what it is today, or 5% or 1%—imagine the billions of animals who will be spared a lifetime of suffering. Imagine how much lighter the world will feel when it no longer bears the burden of so much pain and suffering.

When it comes to activism for the animals, I believe strongly in philanthropy. I do like to participate in activism when I can, but generally it’s more effective for me to spend my time working to earn money. This allows me to donate more to charitable organizations, including Vegan Outreach.

I would like to be like Cesar Chavez and pass away having very little money to my name because I gave it all away in my lifetime. If I do pass away unexpectedly, don’t worry I do have Vegan Outreach listed as one of the benefactors for whatever is left in my bank account!

Alex: Thank you so much, Rachel, that’s really awesome about your will!

Rachel, you have stepped up many times over the years to help us meet a challenge match or pull off an event. You’re a huge part of Vegan Outreach and I hope you know how much we all appreciate you. Thank you.

One last question: What is your favorite vegan meal?

Rachel: Vegan buffalo wings, vegan Reuben sandwich, and vegan chocolate peanut butter milkshakes from The Chicago Diner!

Alex: Rachel, I’m grateful we met, to know you still, and to work with you to help animals. Thanks for a wonderful interview and stay safe when you’re up on the bridges!

Readers—please contact Vegan Outreach if you’d like to make VO a beneficiary in your will.

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Our Team Vegan matching drive started yesterday (Did you get our email? If not, sign up here!) and every donation to Vegan Outreach will be doubled!

A few generous donors have pledged to match donations up to $200,000! That’s $400,000 we could raise for animals–with your help.

What we raise during this Team Vegan drive will determine the work we can (or can’t) do this year. We depend on your donations to inspire more people to go vegan–people like Antonio.

Antonio received a booklet from VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Márquez, at Universidad de Guanajuato. Antionio told Emmanuel about how he ate vegetarian for a while but went back to eating animals. Emmanuel gave him a booklet and told him about the Spanish section of the VO website for recipes and nutrition info.

Now Antonio is going vegan!

We hear from people like Antonio all the time, and it’s because of folks like you whose donations make outreach possible.

Now, with our Team Vegan matching challenge, you can inspire twice as many people to go vegan, which means twice as many animals spared!

Please donate right now to keep Vegan Outreach going.

Thank you!

By Lauren Sprang, Vegan Outreach Board Member

In early April, my husband and I left Oregon on our way to Utah and we stopped over in Boise, Idaho.

Food

I’d done my research on HappyCow, so as soon as we arrived we walked downtown to the single vegan restaurant: Leaf Teahouse. Owner Susan Judge helped us decide what to order and we had a great conversation about veganism.

The food at Leaf Teahouse is tasty, filling, and not too heavy. They offer sandwiches, soups, salads, and noodle bowls with proteins like beans and tofu—and oodles of tea. It was refreshing to have so many healthful options.

Leaf Teahouse also offers house-made tea cookies, small enough that we tried them all! On another visit we couldn’t resist the scones with clotted cream and jam, as well as the scone pudding—yes, all vegan! Yum!

On another morning—because we needed more sweets—we tried Guru Donuts, which offers half a dozen vegan flavors. We split a chocolate donut and enjoyed it with coffee. It was light and delicious.

Another restaurant that was recommended to us, but that we didn’t try, is BBQ4LIFE. It’s what it sounds like—a BBQ meat joint, except with a variety of vegan options, including sandwiches, nachos, coleslaw, potato salad, cornbread, mac and cheese, cake, and bread pudding.

Exploring

Boise has a population of 214,237 with 664,422 in the metro area and it’s the most populous city in the state. Cities of a comparable size include Scottsdale, AZ and Rochester, NY. It’s growing, though, and construction was all around us, especially on Capitol Blvd.

When we walked by the Capitol Building, we wandered up to it and happily discovered that we could explore the beautiful building unsupervised.

Just a half a mile from the capital is the 89 acre Julia Davis Park, situated next to the Boise River and Greenbelt. It’s home to many attractions, including the Boise Art Museum, Discovery Center of Idaho, Idaho Black History Museum, Idaho Historical Museum, a rose garden, and a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

The Boise Art Museum was the perfect size and price: interesting and well laid-out exhibits, $6 per person, and we finished our visit in about 90 minutes.

At the Idaho Black History Museum, we were greeted by board member Phillip Thompson. The museum is housed inside St. Paul Baptist Church, which was constructed in 1921 and is one of the oldest structures built by African Americans in Idaho. The museum highlights the invisible black Idahoans of history, as well as paintings by artist Pablo Rodriguez, Jr. that depict Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Obama.

The federal government has often chosen Boise as a location for war refugees and thus it’s more religiously diverse that you might think, including a growing Muslim population. The religious community also includes the oldest synagogue building in continuous use west of the Mississippi and a temple dedicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mr. Thompson left a positive impression of life in Boise, especially with his mother, Cherie Buckner-Webb as Idaho’s first African American legislator. She currently serves as Senate Minority Caucus Chair and as a State Director for Women in Government.

Last on our walk was the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, which is on the other side of Capitol Blvd. We lingered at this memorial and its water feature, which reflects sunlight off the quotes from human rights activists inscribed in stone. It’s a peaceful, lovely spot.

Boise isn’t a city that most would consider a destination, but if you have a day, you can see a lot. It’s accessible, clean, and quiet, with its own art and pub scene, and despite the animal agriculture in the surrounding countryside, the city itself has good vegan options, including a Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

Vegan Eateries

Leaf Teahouse
All vegan cafe and teahouse with house-made pastries, tea service—including English sandwiches, scones, and cookies—and room upstairs to rent for events. Leaf Teahouse is a contemporary tearoom in the heart of downtown Boise, Idaho, committed to providing high quality, loose-leaf teas from around the world.

BBQ4Life
“Boise’s best BBQ and vegan food,” according to the website.

Guru Donuts
Offers a half dozen vegan flavors. They close at 4PM.

Attractions

Julia Davis Park
The city’s oldest park, Julia Davis Park was created thanks to a generous donation of 43 acres of land in 1907 by Thomas Davis as a memorial to his beloved wife, Julia. (The park is now a total of 89 acres and houses several museums.)

Map of Downtown Boise
I used this map to locate all the museums in Julia Davis Park.

Boise Greenbelt
The 25 mile Boise River Greenbelt is one of Boise’s most beloved parks. The tree-lined pathway follows the river through the heart of the city and provides scenic views, wildlife habitat, and pedestrian access to many of the city’s popular riverside parks.

Boise Art Museum
The mission of the Boise Art Museum is to create visual arts experiences, engage people, and inspire learning through exceptional exhibitions, collections, and educational opportunities.

Idaho Black History Museum
Housed in the historic St. Paul Baptist Church building and located in Boise’s Julia Davis Park. The museum presents exhibits and provides educational and community outreach programs including lectures, films, workshops, literacy programs, and musical performances.

Wassmuth Center for Human Rights
Promotes respect for human dignity and diversity through education and to foster individual responsibility to work for justice and peace. The Wassmuth Center constructed and dedicated the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in 2002.

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Beginning May 1st–and through June 30th–dozens of animal activists from all over the world will team up to raise much-needed funds for Vegan Outreach. This team-driven fundraising drive, called Team Vegan, is what fuels VO’s Fall outreach! It’s very important, and your participation is what determines its success.

Many have already joined, but we need your help too, to make this the biggest Team Vegan ever! Here are the top ten reasons you should sign up now:

1. Donations will be doubled. A few incredibly generous philanthropists have agreed to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000. That’s $400,000 we can raise for animals–our biggest Team Vegan drive in history!

2. Our work depends on you. The money raised during Team Vegan will fuel our Fall outreach–and we have ambitious plans! We need your help to make them happen.

3. Farmed animals depend on us. VO’s work for farmed animals requires two things: the hard work of our Outreach Coordinators, and the donations that make their work possible. The money you raise will inspire and help people go vegan, sparing countless animals from a lifetime of misery.

4. You can win prizes! Each of the top five volunteer fundraisers will receive a $100 gift card to Vegan Essentials, Pangea, or The Vegetarian Site. And folks who raise at least $500 by June 30 will receive a Team Vegan jersey or cap!

5. You could start off with $100! A very generous donor has agreed to “seed the pots” of Team Vegan fundraisers who sign up and have a picture uploaded and a blurb written by May 20th.

6. It’s great motivation to be fit! While you certainly don’t have to, many Team Vegan members choose an activity to go along with their fundraising efforts. You could run a race, swim a lap for every dollar you raise, or plan a leafleting trip by bike! The options are endless and can give you that needed push to get moving! After all, it’s for the animals.

7. You’ll be representing VO. Since 1993, Vegan Outreach has been inspiring people to go vegan and then helping them do it! We reach thousands of young people every week with accurate and persuasive information about the vegan lifestyle.

8. You’ll be part of an incredible team. Work alongside (and compete with!) the likes of VO President Jack Norris and VO Motivational Speaker and Diversity Specialist David Carter! You’ll be helping them–and dozens of other activists–make a positive impact for animals.

9. It’s easy! Each week, you’ll receive an email from me–Lisa–with tidbits of inspiration, tips about effective fundraising, and some fun surprises!

10. It’s inspiring! You will be surprised and delighted by the generosity of your friends and family, I promise you! They’ll give because they want to support you, and what a great way to do so. More donations = more outreach = less suffering!

Clearly, signing up for Team Vegan is a win for everyone involved. Email me at [email protected] with questions, or sign up now to help reduce animal suffering with your own Team Vegan fundraising page!

Do you know about The Vegetarian Site? It’s a great website run by wonderful people who care about animals. They have tons of vegan products, including books, vegan food, and even hiking boots. It’s an especially helpful resource for folks who don’t have access to many vegan products locally.

It’s always a great time to buy from The Vegetarian Site, but April is the best time to shop. This month, 10% of your sale will go to Vegan Outreach–to inspire people to go vegan and help them stick with it!

Get what you need at The Vegetarian Site today, and feel great knowing you’re reducing animal suffering while you shop!

Buy vegan goods. Inspire new vegans. What could be better?!

Shop now at The Vegetarian Site!