By Roxanne Hill, Community Engagement and Events Manager

Vegan Outreach recently hosted its first ever Vegan Meat and Cheese Tasting at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.

The mostly non-veg crowd came to the event with curious minds—many wondering what vegan meats and cheeses could possibly be made of. As the guests lined up to savor the delicious feast, they became even more curious as they surveyed the platters of bagels with vegan cream cheese and the array of vegan meats. The meat trays were a delicious display of cold cuts, mini hot dogs and hamburgers, chicken salad, meat and bean casserole, and kebabs.

The attendees also took in the platters of vegan cheeses, which were overflowing with brie, cheddar, goat cheese, pepper jack, ricotta, and veganzola. To the omnivore’s eye, all of the food looked very similar to non-vegan meats and cheeses. During the event, the guests learned that vegan meats can be made from a range of plant-based ingredients, such as soy, peas, and wheat gluten. And they also learned that vegan cheeses can be made from nuts, seeds, chickpeas, potatoes, and tapioca starch.

Judging from their enthusiastic comments about the event, I think it’s safe to say people left feeling satisfied and amazed at what their taste buds had just experienced. Comments ranged from, “This chicken salad is delicious—it tastes just like chicken!” to, “This tastes and smells like meat!” Some of our guests even expressed a desire to start incorporating more plant-based foods into their meals.

Many thanks to the companies who supported us and contributed to the success of this event—Tofurky, Beyond Meat, Daiya, Field Roast, Follow Your Heart, Miyoko’s Kitchen, Treeline, and Vromage—L.A.’s Non-Dairy Cheese Shop.

Team Vegan has ended, and thanks to hundreds of generous donors, we raised $225,000 for Vegan Outreach—and it will be matched!

We also teamed up with the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC), who raised almost $3,500—and that will be matched too!

Because of your donations, we’ll be able to reach thousands of people this year with persuasive information about the importance of choosing a vegan lifestyle.

A special thanks to Vegan Outreach’s top fundraisers: Steve Ann Chambers, Nzinga Young, Eric Day, Roxanne Hill, Alex Bury, Mohan Gurunathan, Lisa Rimmert, Yuri Mitzkewich, Vic Sjodin, Lauren Sprang, Emmanuel Márquez, Gwenna Hunter, Jevranne Martel, Jennifer Mennuti, Sean Hennessy, Pooja Rathor, Katia Rodríguez, and Katie Cantrell for FFAC.

And of course, a huge thank you goes to the wonderful group of match donors!

Together, we’re building a better world for animals. Thank you all for making this possible!

By Jack Norris, Registered Dietitian, Executive Director

Longtime vegan activists, Carol J. Adams, Patti Breitman, and Ginny Messina, MPH, RD, have written a fascinating book, Even Vegans Die.

The title and cover are meant to parody the New York Times bestseller How Not to Die, by Michael Greger, MD—Dr. Greger even writes the foreword to Even Vegans Die!

The chapters When You Have a Terminal Illness and Protecting Your Legacy of Kindness are filled with invaluable tips that many of us haven’t considered and which will make our deaths much easier for our loved ones.

For example, have you taken the time to set up plans for the care of your companion animals once you’re gone? If not, you should read this book! Even if you’re not sick, you never know what might happen and you want to make sure your animal friends will be well cared for. Even Vegans Die will get you started.

Important topics that Even Vegans Die addresses are fat-shaming and health-shaming in the vegan movement. In the chapter, How Shame and Blame Affect Our Health and Our Advocacy, the authors describe how people often don’t feel welcome in our movement because they don’t fit the stereotype many of us are trying to present of a vegan diet leading to weight loss.

And if someone’s unlucky enough to get an illness like cancer, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes—they’ll have an extra burden of feeling like they’ve let the animals down. An excerpt:

A constricted and restrictive view of who is allowed to speak for animals reduces the impact of our vegan community. The shame and blame that often accompany obesity or chronic disease has the unfortunate result of turning animal activists into non-activists.

Even Vegans Die has inspired me—and others at Vegan Outreach—to portray veganism as welcoming to people of all shapes and sizes and we’re in the process of doing more of that in our materials.

When the beloved activist, Lisa Shapiro, passed away from cancer two years ago, I made a Facebook post in memoriam. A fellow vegan asked how Lisa could have gotten cancer if she was vegan. This person wasn’t being purposefully insensitive—she was serious.

I explained that evidence shows vegans have about a 15-20% lower risk of cancer than meat-eaters due to our diet, but, as Even Vegans Die points out, a vegan diet cannot guarantee that you won’t get a chronic disease. No one should feel shame when they get sick.

Even Vegans Die recommends that people follow mainstream medical advice on getting health screenings—advice I also heed as I recently had my first colonoscopy and am glad I did.

Even Vegans Die is a quick, captivating read and I highly encourage all animal advocates to read it—both young or old, vegan or non-vegan!

More than 500 people have donated to our Team Vegan matching challenge since May 1—and their donations will all be doubled!

With just a few days left, we have $83,000 more to raise to match all $235,000. Will you help us get there so we can do as much outreach as possible for animals?

Giving today is:

• Easy—Even $10 helps! That’s just a couple of soy lattes!
• Safe—Our online form is secure, and we never share donor info with other groups.
• Fun—Look through a few profiles to see what I mean!
• Important—Here are just a few examples of what you make happen by donating.

We need your help now to spread compassion and work toward a vegan world as quickly as we can!

Donate today to your favorite Team Vegan member and have your donation doubled!

Thank you!

Vegan Outreach is thrilled to be working with the family-oriented East Coast pizza chain Coal Fire. After meeting with them to discuss the growing demand for vegan options in their region, they decided to roll out Daiya cheese to all eight of their locations!

“Coal Fire makes it a priority to have different options for all types of food lovers. We pride ourselves on now offering Daiya cheese and hope that our vegan clients are pleased with the new option on our menu,” said Coal’s Fire Marketing Director, Lindsay King.

Customers can enjoy a delicious vegan cheese pizza on their gluten-free crust—their regular crust is not vegan—with the classic sauce and endless combinations of veggies. If you’d like to start your meal with an appetizer, try their Greek salad or field greens salad without cheese, and even the roasted veggie coalby sandwich without goat cheese!

Welcome to Part III of the Spring 2017 Top Leafleters series! The past two weeks we’ve turned the spotlight toward the spring semester’s top 15 leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each activist to share their favorite memory of the semester, and we think their responses will leave you feeling very optimistic about the future of veganism.

If you didn’t read Part I and Part II, make sure you check them out!

Sam Tucker, Australia and New Zealand Outreach Coordinator

“On the first day of the semester, I set a personal record for the most leaflets I’d ever handed out in a single day—2,500 leaflets at Monash University!

“Then later in the semester that a student contacted Vegan Outreach to tell us they’d received a leaflet at Monash, and for the next couple of days it was all they could think about. They said the booklet was ‘equal parts informative, empowering, distressing, and also able to give me the basic tools to change my lifestyle to one that I am proud and in control of.’ ”

Sam leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 50,017 leaflets.

Yuri Mitzkewich, Southeast Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was from Texas A&M University in College Station. I leafleted with local volunteers and the Vegetarian/Vegan Aggies student group. They all did amazing work getting student after student to come over to our table to talk and view Animal Equality’s iAnimal Virtual Reality video. Most of the conversations ended with people thanking us for being there and stating that they planned to change their eating habits to help animals.”

Yuri leafleted at 68 schools this semester and distributed 50,587 leaflets.

Jevranne Martel, Canada Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory is from the University of Toronto Mississauga. I was given a fair bit of support from both the students and faculty. One student stopped and told me he’d been wanting to make some positive changes in his life after having some recent health scares. He admitted the cruelty we inflict on farmed animals is unnecessary and wrong. He left with a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and a few other resources I recommended.”

Jevranne leafleted at 61 schools this semester and distributed 35,879 leaflets.

Emmanuel Márquez, Mexico Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite outreach memory was at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. I met a student who told me she’d recently started to reduce her meat consumption and planned to go completely vegan. We talked for some time, and I helped clear up some of the doubts she had about going vegan. I gave her a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and information about some resources Vegan Outreach has for new vegans, like the Vegan Mentor Program. She was very grateful.

“I had several people stop and thank me for advocating for animals. And I heard from students who were already vegan or vegetarian and wanted to help leaflet next time I’m at the university.”

Emmanuel leafleted at 72 schools this semester and distributed 37,616 leaflets.

Steve Erlsten, Northern California Outreach Coordinator

“One highlight of the semester was meeting a student who said she’d been hoping to run into activists on campus. She’d been wanting to go vegan and was excited to take a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating!”

Steve leafleted at 97 schools this semester and distributed 77,110 leaflets.

Join me in giving one last shout out to these dedicated and passionate activists! They all work tirelessly to raise awareness about farmed animals and about how people can make positive changes for the world by choosing a veg lifestyle!

We’re officially wrapping up the school year by turning the spotlight toward the spring semester’s top 15 leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each activist to share their favorite memory of the semester, and I think their responses will make you smile just as big as we did.

If you didn’t see Part I of this three-part series, make sure you get caught up! Today we’ll hear from more of the top activists who went above and beyond to help raise awareness about farmed animals.

Sean Hennessy, Greater Ohio Outreach Coordinator

“We don’t always see our impact immediately when leafleting because dietary change is often a complex process, but one exception came when I was leafleting at Clarion University. Within hours of handing a student a leaflet, she came back and told me she planned to go vegetarian and work her way toward going fully vegan.”

Sean leafleted at 43 schools this semester and distributed 32,962 leaflets.

Katia Rodríguez, Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

“One of my favorite leafleting moments from the spring semester was at my alma mater, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León where several volunteers, VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator Emmanuel Márquez, and I handed out 22,805 leaflets in a single day!

“We met a young student who, after reading a leaflet, expressed his gratitude and told us that he planned to go vegan. He was already excited about cooking new recipes and sharing them with family and friends as a way to help motivate them to go vegan.”

Katia leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 18,426 leaflets.

Chris Shapard, Outreach Coordinator

“One memory that stands out is when I was leafleting at Montana State University. There was a religious student group doing outreach in the quad, which was where I was handing out leaflets. One of the group members walked past me and shouted back, “I love chicken—it’s delicious! God put chickens on earth for us to eat!” Later in the day, I ended up having a conversation with her and we talked about how unnatural factory farming is and how the suffering inflicted on animals is unnecessary. The interaction quickly went from confrontational to conversational. We ended with some light conversation and even some laughter.”

Chris leafleted at 20 schools this semester and distributed 12,144 leaflets.

Rachel Shippee, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was from Kalamazoo Valley Community College when a student stopped to tell me that the leaflet I’d given him was another ‘sign’ he’d recently received that was pointing him toward veganism. A few of his friends had gone vegan and his girlfriend was vegan. Getting the leaflet was the final push he needed to commit.”

Rachel leafleted at 19 schools this semester and distributed 18,034 leaflets.

John Deetjen, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite leafleting experience this semester was at South Dakota State University, which is located in a small town called Brookings. The town is surrounded by miles of rural Midwestern farmland—not the first place you’d imagine finding an audience interested in learning about veganism. To my surprise, I met a student who, after reading the leaflet, decided to go vegan on the spot! And with the help of our Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, I’m confident he’s on the path to vegan eating! This goes to show that there are people in all sorts of places just waiting for the information to make the change.”

John leafleted at 73 schools this semester and distributed 33,955 leaflets.

We’ll return next week with the final Part III of this three-part series for more leafleting highest achievements from the spring semester!

Summer break is officially in full swing, but before our dedicated Outreach Coordinators and volunteers head to the pool to relax—after months of traveling and distributing leaflets on college campuses across the world—we wanted to show them some love by turning the spotlight toward the semester’s top leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each of them to share their favorite memory from the spring semester, and here’s what they had to say!

Alexis Clark, Outreach Coordinator

“While leafleting Rutgers University—my alma mater—I was approached by one student who had received a leaflet earlier in the day. She told me that she’d just asked for almond milk in the coffee she ordered and intended to continue doing so because of our leaflet! Nothing beats seeing little victories of our work first hand!”

Alexis leafleted at 48 schools this semester and distributed 25,959 leaflets.

Cristina Myers, Outreach Coordinator

“The best moment this semester was when two students from Paine College read the leaflet I’d given them and came back and asked for more booklets to share. They told me they’d made the decision to go vegetarian and immediately started helping me distribute leaflets to other students.”

Cristina leafleted at 42 schools this semester and distributed 28,939 leaflets.

Kimberly Moffatt, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was leafleting Monroe Community College with various members of the Rochester Vegan Society. We met students who were vegan and other students and teachers who were very interested in the information we were handing out. We had many impactful and productive conversations!”

Kimberly leafleted at 64 schools this semester and distributed 30,021 leaflets.

Lana Smithson, New England Outreach Coordinator

“I’m happy I was able to get three videos of students saying the leaflet influenced them to go vegan. One of them said it influenced her mom as well—the ripple effect!

“I’m also happy I had the opportunity to do several humane education presentations, including one to 70 students. I heard some good feedback from a staff member who said the presentation influenced some students to rethink their food choices.”

Lana leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 13,010 leaflets.

Joselyn Aguilar — Mexico City, MX

“Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Márquez, and I were in the state of Aguascalientes last March, and a student approached us to ask for a leaflet. He said he was happy we were passing out information about animals and that he was in the process of going vegan. He told me, ‘At first I wanted to go vegan because of the pollution the meat industry produces, but when I found out how animals are treated on factory farms, I went vegan for them.’ ”

Joselyn leafleted at 44 schools this semester and distributed 25,284 leaflets.

Don’t go too far—we’ll be back next week with Part II of this three-part series where we’ll hear more stories of success from the spring semester! And the week after that will be the final Part III.