By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

Awareness about the benefits of choosing a vegan lifestyle—for the animals, the environment, and personal health—is growing!

Much of the change can be explained by large public education programs, such as the distribution of 30 million VO booklets, as well as big name celebrities and large companies getting involved in promoting vegan living.

Also playing a huge role are the normal, everyday people who—through their daily actions—play a crucial part in raising awareness about veganism. Their personal influence over friends and neighbors creates powerful change. It’s hard to beat the power of a friend sharing a vegan pie with you!

Now, we’d like to highlight the every “Day” family of Eric and Wendy Gabbe Day, whose efforts of raising awareness about veganism have made a tremendous impact!

Parents of two thriving, young children who never seem to stop moving, Eric and Wendy still find time to teach cooking classes, make videos, care for an adorable rescued mutt named Clover, tend a fabulous organic garden, homeschool their kids, and so much more…phew!

Eric and Wendy played a critical role in creating the movie, Vegan: Everyday Stories, that screened throughout the country exposing thousands to compassionate living, and Wendy has contributed delicious recipes to Vegan Outreach’s Vegan Living and Advocacy Blog. Wendy has created these recipes herself and hosts her own website, Lively Days, which provides kid-friendly vegan recipes.

A few months ago, as we were putting together our What is Speciesism booklet, we couldn’t find good pictures for most of the food we wanted to showcase and our print deadline was quickly approaching. We reached out to Eric and Wendy, and within a few short days, they’d taken an entire set of mouth-watering, professional food pictures!

Thank you, Eric and Wendy, for being such amazing everyday vegans—you’re making a huge difference for the animals!

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

If you’re trying to cut dairy out of your diet, it won’t be much of a sacrifice with all the great plant-based cheeses on the market today!

There’s such a wide variety and—thanks to websites like Vegan Essentials—they’re even accessible to those who don’t live near a grocery store that carries them.

Right now, get 10% off your order of vegan cheese—and any other vegan products—from our friends at Vegan Essentials!

Use the discount code “VO” for 10% off your order.

I recommend starting with Field Roast’s Vegan Chao Cheese Slices and Kite Hill’s Artisan Vegan Cream Cheese Style Spreads.

While you’re shopping, check out Vegan Essentials’ selection of vegan meats, like Gardein’s Crispy Chick’n Sliders, Match Meat’s vegan Ground Beef, and, of course, Tofurky’s delicious Deli Slices.

Enjoy your vegan meats and cheeses, and let us know how they tasted!

By Vic Sjodin, VO Director of Outreach

The fall semester has officially started at many colleges and universities across the country, which means ample opportunity for animal advocates to get out there and do outreach to an open-minded crowd of people.

Whether you’re new to leafleting or you’ve been leafleting for years, we want to give you a few easy-to-implement, time-tested tips that are guaranteed to help you leaflet like a pro.

Smile and Say Hello

A warm greeting and a friendly smile will undoubtedly increase the number of booklets you hand out. You can also try saying statements like, “Info on helping animals.” or “Help stop suffering.”

People who are new to leafleting will often say these statements as questions—”Would you like some info on how to help animals?” Doing this will actually decrease the number of booklets people take from you. Tweaking something so little can increase your take rate dramatically.

Extend Arm Fully

You’ll want to lean a little towards the receiver and extend your arm fully, locking your arm straight out when handing off the booklet. Do your best to pass the booklet right into the receiver’s hand.

If you have your arm close to your body and bent at 90 degrees, you won’t appear as confident. This is another small change that will make a huge difference!

For a bonus tip—make sure to square your shoulders and face the person walking toward you. Hand the booklet forward, slightly to the left or the right of your body. Be mindful not to hand out booklets with your arm to the side of your body.

Thank People Who Take a Booklet

Saying “Thank you!” or “Have a nice day!” or even “You’re the best!” with a little enthusiasm will have a profound cumulative effect by keeping the momentum of leaflet takers going. The person who took your booklet will appreciate the kindness, and, more importantly, the next person approaching will take note of your kindness and likely grab the booklet you’re offering.

Once a few people start taking booklets, more and more people will take them as they see others doing it. This simple act can often double or triple your take rate when done with warmth and sincerity.

Watch a Demonstration

Want to see these tips in action? Check out this video—a recording of Vegan Outreach’s first Facebook Live leafleting demonstration.

Have more questions about leafleting? Check out our detailed Helpful Tips page on the Adopt A College Website.

Want to get involved and start leafleting? This is how to get started.

Good luck and happy leafleting!

By Kimberly Moffatt, Outreach Coordinator

A few weeks ago, I detailed my vegan food adventures for the early summer trip my partner and I took to the beautiful country of Costa Rica. This week, I’ll fill you in on the types of activities we did while visiting.

As many of you can probably relate, we didn’t want to go to tourist attractions that exploited animals or humans. We were careful in our planning and found some fun activities that allowed us to explore different parts of the country and see many different types of animals in their natural environment.

Jon and I knew that we wanted to hike, spend a lot of time outdoors, and hang around the beach, so we decided to start off by doing the Two Volcano Extreme Hike in Fortuna. There were three guides that took us on a 12-mile hike through Cerro Chato—a dormant volcano—which offered incredible views of Arenal Volcano.

When we got to the top of Cerro Chato, we scrambled down to Emerald Lake for a quick dip and lunch break. After splashing around in the lake, we spent a good three hours hiking back down to what looked like the gallimimus herd flocking scene in Jurassic Park. We had one more view of the Arenal Volcano before we were taken to a hot spring to relax.

Our next stop was Monteverde, where we did a night hike to see nocturnal animals. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the ecosystems and animals in the area. We saw many spiders and frogs, a sleeping motmot bird, and two kinkajous. The next day, we hiked the Sky Walk Hanging Bridges, and let me tell you, it’s a surreal world up there.

In between each bridge, we walked through lush jungles. We saw a family of howler monkeys moving through the treetops, hummingbirds—who were not shy at all, toucans, and other types of birds. On the taller bridges, we watched the clouds roll in and out, and we were blown away by the beauty.

At the end of our trip, we decided to head to the town of Manuel Antonio. We spent an entire day wandering around, enjoying the beach, and hiking in Manuel Antonio National Park. The trails were relatively easy and we saw a lot of wildlife, including a poison arrow frog, sloths, squirrel monkeys, raccoons, a coati, iguanas, and capuchins—just to name a few. The beaches were beautiful, as were the views from higher elevations. We relaxed on the beach and watched raccoons and capuchins try to steal people’s belongings and food.

Overall, Costa Rica is a great place to visit! There are several animal and human-friendly activities to do. And with a little bit of preparation, there’s good vegan food to enjoy while touring the country. If you’re like me and enjoy traveling, I highly recommend adding Costa Rica to your list of places to go! You won’t be disappointed!

On Saturday, August 12, Vegan Outreach staff, board members, and donors attended a workshop by racial and social justice educator, Dr. Robin DiAngelo, and Liz Ross, co-founder and director of Vegan Advocacy Initiative.

It was ironic to leave the workshop and find out that—while we were talking about how to challenge racism—a crowd of white supremacists was rallying in Charlottesville, VA.

Of course, we’re appalled by blatant racism, but it’s easy to forget that racism is a systemic issue that operates in subtle ways that are largely invisible. It’s not about good or bad intentions—it’s about the systems we live and work within and the unconscious biases that, by definition, we don’t even know we have.

Until it’s pointed out, it’s not obvious how much easier being white can make moving through society. White people usually don’t have to be afraid of the police when engaging in activities such as leafleting or protesting. White people don’t have to deal with residents wondering why they might be in a wealthy neighborhood, or whether their race will be a problem in a job interview.

We don’t know the right words to say, but we believe that not speaking out against racism is the worst choice we could make. It’s uncomfortable to talk about, but being silent only maintains the status quo. By feeling this discomfort and acknowledging these issues we’re widening our capacity for compassion.

Here’s what that looks like for Vegan Outreach—

There will always be room to grow and more to learn. None of us can individually end racism, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but we can each play a role by doing something.