By Nzinga Young, Greater NYC Community Engagement and Events Coordinator

At Vegan Outreach, volunteers are the some of the most important members of our team. You can find them leafleting college campuses, tabling at local events, and using their unique talents to raise funds for Team Vegan—our annual team fundraising campaign.

Today we meet one of Vegan Outreach’s indispensable volunteers, Merari Ordaz—a holistic health practitioner who lives in Bakersfield, CA. Merari and her father run YORNS, a holistic health center where they help clients address their health concerns with plants.

“I think vegan is the best way to be healthy, not just physically, but emotionally,” Merari says. “I take care of my home, my body, so I can take care of the home, our planet.”

Her vegan journey began in 1998 when her father became more aware of the positive health effects a vegan diet can have for humans. He wanted to make a change in his family’s health, so he removed all meat from the household.

Merari had the opportunity to learn about holistic health alongside her father. “Being homeschooled gave me the opportunity to travel with my dad as he was learning. I attended a doctors’ conference, and there was a video shown on how animals are killed for food. That’s when I told my sister, ‘I’m going vegan.’ ”

Nine years later, Merari is still a proud vegan who spreads the message every chance she gets. She hands out leaflets and plays vegan documentaries in her family’s office so clients can learn the ethical side of adopting a vegan lifestyle.

“I’m really happy as a vegan, and I like to share it with everyone.”

Recently, Merari traveled to Japan to participate in an international competition for Karate. She received her diploma for a first-degree black belt and brought home a silver medal in combat.

Earlier in the year, Merari was the keynote speaker at an event held for the Wendale Davis Foundation. After giving her speech, she and a few friends and family members performed an incredible dance routine—sporting their vegan outreach t-shirts!

We thank Merari for all she does to spread the word about veganism. Her positivity, dedication, and can-do attitude are an inspiration to us all.

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 Melissa Li, Vegan Outreach Board Member

Finally—a vegan with a sense of humor!

I’m joking, of course, but as many of us know, vegans are often accused of taking things too seriously and lacking a sense of humor.

In The Skeptical Vegan, Eric Lindstrom proves that one can be vegan and also skilled at making other people laugh. Providing hilarious anecdotes and advice, he details the journey from someone who could’ve easily entered—and won—a chicken wing eating contest to a full-time animal advocate.

The author makes it clear from the beginning that he didn’t go vegan to improve his health, or out of love for animals. His vegan journey started because he made a bet with his girlfriend—now wife—that he could eat vegan for 30 days. If he won the bet, they agreed he wouldn’t have to do house chores for three months.

A few examples of humorous topics in the book include a classification system for different types of vegans—the Freegan Vegan, the Beegan Vegan, and others most people have probably never heard of—and eating vegan at popular fast-food chains.

Reflecting on his vegan journey, Lindstrom describes what it’s like for an over-the-top meat-eater to overcome the challenges of becoming vegan. And although he mentions his personal history of hypertension and high cholesterol, he doesn’t lead heavily with discussions about the health benefits of eating a vegan diet, animal rights, or other dietary ethics—which makes this a great introductory and non-threatening resource for vegan skeptics!

In the midst of reading Lindstrom’s book, I had the pleasure of attending the 2017 Animal Rights National Conference. To my surprise, he was one of the speakers at the conference. His presentation was titled, “The Power of Art and Photography,” and he discussed his individual advocacy. Later in the conference, he was one of the emcees for the closing banquet. He had a comedic timing that was instantaneous and spontaneous, making the audience burst out in laughter.

After a previous career as a content strategist at Cornell University, Lindstrom is now the marketing director for Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). His book doesn’t delve into his current work with FARM, but it compellingly narrates a life transformed by veganism. And with a sense of humor firmly intact!

To get your own copy, of The Skeptical Vegan, click here. You won’t regret it!

Vegan Outreach has conducted a large randomized, prospective study examining diet changes three to five months after reading a variety of booklets promoting veganism and awareness of animal suffering.

We compared four booklets: Your Choice, Even If You Like Meat, Speciesism, and A Simple Way to Live (focused on chicken reduction).

Although few significant differences between booklets were observable in a population of this size (n=1,539), large, measurable decreases in animal consumption were readily seen.

The study also showed that people who newly avoid eating mammals due to reading the booklets are also likely to avoid eating chickens.

In this population, an average of one person reduced their consumption of all non-vegan foods to less than once per week for every 75 Vegan Outreach booklets read.

Details Here

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!

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.

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!