By Jamila Alfred, VO Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

As the first black outreach coordinator, hired to help with Vegan Outreach’s focus on diversity and inclusion, I was extremely excited, yet nervous, for my first college leafleting tour.

Much to my delight, I was assigned to leaflet at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the Southeast. I knew I would be perfect for the job.

I graduated from an HBCU—Bowie State University—last spring. I understand the importance of attending educational institutions where you’re surrounded by people who want you to succeed, especially because of the color of your skin.

Although I was a commuter and didn’t participate in many social activities on campus, the sense of community in my learning environment definitely pushed me to excel. Now, I want to return the love I received from my people to others beyond my school.

When I graduated I promised myself I wouldn’t take a job until I found the career of my dreams—spreading the vegan message to my brothers and sisters.

I’m now living my dream.

The first leafletings I did at HBCUs in Maryland and DC went smoothly since I was still in my bubble and understood local customs. As I moved south, the sizes of these institutions got smaller and smaller and were in more isolated areas.

Outside of these schools, in their respective towns, I couldn’t help but notice the curious stares and the Confederate flags. I didn’t want to think much about it because I was on a mission and didn’t want any concern to sink in on this grassroots expedition, but let’s just say these places were probably not the best place for a black woman with locs to be at night.

While having a lot of fun, the trip took an ugly turn when my car broke down in Smithfield, NC. This is when I truly realized I was no longer home.

The stares and tensions were menacing as I walked about in a shopping center, desperate to find vegan food. Luckily I was able to find some, but with rude customer service. After a very expensive and time-consuming repair to my vehicle, I rushed out of that town so fast. I was emotionally exhausted.

That experience lingered with me the rest of the week until my car broke down again in rural Albany, GA. Luckily, my car had enough life to get me to a nearby gas station, but the gawks from white townsfolk intimidated me.

Determined to have my car fixed, I walked up to the only friendly face in the area who just so happened to be a black man. He directed me to a nearby tire shop where the front desk workers were white and the car repair employees were black. That wouldn’t have been a weird coincidence if the man at the front desk didn’t go out of his way to not look me in the eye while speaking to me, or if one of the women didn’t look square at my name on my ID and call me “Jamaica.” I wasn’t amused.

After this, my trip got better, but I continued to feel like I was different from what is preferable. It wasn’t until my first day leafleting in Atlanta, GA when the stress from my car issues completely melted away. A big thank you to Muki Pederson and her husband for treating me like a princess! I was able to fully relax thanks to their warm hospitality.

Just being in the Atlanta area for a few days made me feel a sense of community with my brothers and sisters—from the schools I leafleted to the city streets. And did I mention the food was fantastic? Every restaurant I dined at was black-owned, scrumptious, and oh-so easy to find.

Unfortunately, I had to end my tour almost two weeks early. I was truly looking forward to finishing this trip with a bang—which I totally did in Atlanta—but the obvious risks, along with racial tensions in the South with the upcoming election, became an inevitable issue.

Although there’s many things I’d do differently about this tour, I’m proud of my courage for speaking up for the animals despite safety risks, especially as someone who’s new to leafleting. I proved to myself that I’m capable of anything and won’t allow racial intimidation to deter me from including the black community in the vegan movement. No one can stop me!

After I returned home, I went straight to working on local community engagement projects. The goal is to create new support systems for people of color who want to go vegan. People of color are typically left out of the equation when it comes to helping people transition to a vegan lifestyle, which is shameful because veganism benefits everyone.

Along with that, my goal is to build a community for vegans who are struggling with the lifestyle. It’s quite common that many vegans experience recidivism in their journeys, and I’ll make it my business to help them stay put.

The trip was a learning experience for Vegan Outreach as well as myself. I had to drive through unfriendly rural areas where the typical white male leafleter would have been safe. As a queer, black woman traveling alone, the threat of a racially-based attack was all too real. And in some places, I could feel that I was not welcomed.

Becoming a more diverse organization means learning, listening, and making adjustments. Campaigns involving one type of employee might not be effective, or even safe. Therefore, Vegan Outreach has decided that in the future I’ll have an intern with me for all of my touring.

We’re excited for my 2017 outreach! Please contact me at [email protected] if you’re interested in accompanying me on my tour!

We’re happy to present our brand-new Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating booklet!

The Guide includes easy, tasty recipes for people moving towards a vegan diet, and other helpful tips on how to live a compassionate lifestyle. Guides are typically handed out to people we come across while leafleting who express interest. Because the Guide has information on why dairy causes suffering to cows, we especially like to get them into the hands of anyone who tells us they’re vegetarian. And if someone says they don’t want to take one of our other booklets due to the graphic pictures, we’re able to offer them a Guide.

One big change from the old Guide is that the booklet is now the same size as all of our other booklets – 16 pages. This has reduced the cost of printing, shipping, and overhead. In the past, due to the increased cost, we asked people not to leaflet with the Guide, but now if people feel that a crowd is particularly educated and would benefit most from a Guide, it won’t be any more expensive than one of our other booklets. Another change is that the nutrition section is much condensed, hopefully giving people what they need to know in a more concise, less scary way.

We hope you’ll like the new Guide! You can download a PDF from our Booklet PDFs page or order print copies from our Order Form.

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development, and Taylor Radig, Campaigns Manager

Recently, we visited the Central American country of Belize. We didn’t go together, although that would have been a blast—rather, we traveled with our respective partners. We both had such an unbelievable (unBelizeable) time!

We’ve received a lot of questions about what we did there and whether it’s hard to find vegan food, so we decided to team up and write a two-part blog post about our travels. This one, my friends, is all about food! To give two perspectives, you’ll hear from each of us about our experiences and recommendations. We hope you get to visit Belize at some point in your lives—and while we’d both describe it as “once in a lifetime,” we both plan on returning soon!

Lisa Rimmert

My husband Brad and I like to eat at restaurants. I knew this would be a bit of a challenge in Belize, but I was up to the task. Overall, I would describe eating vegan in Belize as easy enough, but pretty unexciting. A vegan certainly won’t starve in Belize—there’s rice, beans, and of course a wide variety of fruits. But most of the restaurant owners don’t get too creative with veggies. Typical finds in Belize eateries include iceberg lettuce salads, rice, steamed vegetables, fruits, and sometimes pasta.

That said, there were two restaurants in Belize that really stood out to me as great options for vegans in Belize—Vegan Bites in Belize City and Veggie Garden in Belmopan.

When you fly into Belize, you land in Belize City. Most people say to leave the city as soon as you can—and I agree—as the most interesting sights and activities are beyond city limits. We stayed in Belize City our first and last nights in the country, so we’d be nearby the airport. I was delighted to discover the hotel we chose is just next door to a vegan eatery called Vegan Bites!

Vegan Bites is a food hut located among others in BTL Park, an oceanside recreation area and the landing site of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis in 1927. Vegan Bites is open for lunch and dinner, though your lunch will provide enough food to eat leftovers for dinner!

The staff was very friendly, and they politely explained what dishes were available that day. There were about ten options ranging from cooked greens to bean dishes to vegan meats. Everything looked so good, and I had trouble deciding! Brad and I chose similar items, including two vegan meat dishes and a veggie dish, and we each got a fresh juice.

The food at Vegan Bites was excellent and very filling, and we got to enjoy it with a view of the Caribbean Sea!

My second favorite restaurant, Veggie Garden, is located in Belmopan, the capital city. Belmopan is about an hour west of Belize City on the way to San Ignacio, a must-visit for tourists. Veggie Garden is a Chinese restaurant tucked away just off Hummingbird Highway. You have to be looking for it to find it, and you should be!

The service was great in this eclectic restaurant that seemed to double as a store. We ordered spring rolls, fresh juices, sweet and sour soy meat, and curry veggies. It was all very tasty. My favorites were the pitaya juice and the sweet and sour soy meat, which Brad described as “like candy!” We enjoyed the meal, and he enjoyed the leftovers for dinner!

Vegan Bites and Veggie Garden were my two favorite places to eat in Belize, but I also want to mention a few other places that we, unfortunately, didn’t get a chance to try—Casa Cafe in Belmopan and Roots Wraps & Smoothies in San Ignacio. Both sounded like fantastic options for vegan food.

Taylor Radig

Before we took off to Belize, my partner Ezra and I did a hefty amount of research, especially on vegan food options. The main purpose of our trip was to do as much scuba diving as possible, which we knew was going to get expensive. We read online that food was pricey on the islands off the coast of Belize and that vegan options were less than popular. On top of that, we knew that we’d need to be eating high-calorie snacks in between our dives to avoid getting fatigued underwater—something that surprisingly can pose serious risks. Typically, we don’t mind spending money on local vegan fare here in Denver, CO, but for this trip, we decided to try to limit our food expenses to the bare necessities.

A couple days before our trip, Ezra and I went to a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store and then to a local vegan market to find some goodies to take with us. We bought about five of the dried green chile white bean soups, a big bag of Leahey Gardens’ Cheese Type Broccoli Soup and a few bags of their Red Beans and Rice. I eat both of these products at home and highly recommend them as a delicious option that travels well! We also made sure to pack a few of the Clif protein bars that we could take on the boat out to the dive sites.

On both of the main islands off the coast of Belize—Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye—there are small grocery stores everywhere that had a surprisingly fair amount of vegan options. We found items like meat-free soups, tofu, ingredients for a hearty pasta or Mexican dish, chips, salad dressing, and even a variety of flavored almond and soy milks—pretty much everything you’d need for either a balanced vegan diet or an exciting junk food journey!

Outside of the food we packed, I was ecstatic with the amounts of fresh coconuts and fruit juice that was available around the islands. While walking around Caye Caulker, we spotted a tiny shop that offered fresh juice. The juice was made throughout the day and the shop was run by local women, so how could we not? We ended up buying a big bottle of their watermelon, apple, and grapefruit juice.

Our favorite restaurant in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye was Caliente. I ordered the veggie burrito without cheese or sour cream, and Ezra ordered their fajitas plate. Not only were they delicious, but we were able to eat out on the beach, which allowed us to meet some adorable street dogs.

While Belize isn’t best known for its amazing vegan food, it was by far one of our favorite vacation spots. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post, when we tell you about the incredible activities we took part in—including swimming with sharks and feeding howler monkeys! You better Belize it!

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development, and Taylor Radig, Campaigns Manager

In our last blog post, we shared some great ways to eat vegan in Belize. In this post, we’ll tell you some of our favorite activities in the country. You’ve probably guessed already that most of them involve animals. Sometimes it’s difficult to take animal-centered excursions without participating in their commodification or exploitation, so we want to share with you some of our animal-friendly Belize adventures. Let’s go!

Taylor Radig

Shortly after booking our trip to Belize, my partner, Ezra, and I decided to get scuba certified, which ended up being our favorite part of our trip. Although we had taken a scuba diving course and practiced in a pool, it was our first time going deep into the ocean. We were lucky to find an awesome dive shop on Ambergris Caye island that had incredible divemasters that helped ease our nerves. It only took one dive and we were hooked! We saw amazing schools of fish, turtles, and stingrays that our divemasters pointed out to us through underwater sign language we learned.

On our second dive, our divemaster called us over to a small sunken ship to show us a nurse shark that was sleeping inside. He later explained that the shark was well-known among local divers and the ship was his regular napping spot. He preemptively warned that we may see nurse sharks, but reassured us that they keep their distance and aren’t dangerous.

During one of our dives, two playful nurse sharks were swimming so close to us that Ezra brushed up against one. Other than your regulator that helps you breathe, it’s almost dead silent underwater, so we had to keep our eyes open to ensure our fins didn’t hit them.

To get a more holistic feel for Belize, we rented a car to travel further inland to Belmopan. We booked a cave kayaking trip with a local family-owned business called Maya Guide Adventures. When our guide Marcos got out to put his car into four-wheel drive, we knew we were in for an experience. The trek took us through an hour of rough terrain alongside the rainforest until we got to a river that led us through the rainforest and into the caves. Marcos took us through three different caves and told us how he had discovered parts of them over the years through his cave exploring hobby.

In a few parts of the caves, the water levels had gotten so high that we had to get off our kayaks and squeeze between the walls of the cave one by one. Being in a dark cave with bats, only a headlamp for light, and then maneuvering my way through tight spaces definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but boy was it worth it!

At the end of our trip, Marcos was kind enough to bring us vegan burritos with homemade tortillas his family made. We shared some BBQ jackfruit we brought with Marcos and he loved it! On our way back, we ended up getting the truck stuck in a mud pit in front of some members of an Amish community, which actually turned out to be another fun adventure. Marcos even let me use his machete to cut dried brush to push under the truck’s wheels to get traction. Finally, a kind local who worked on the farm came with a tractor and pulled us out.

Lisa Rimmert

One of our top priorities in Belize was to see howler monkeys, and it was frustrating to keep seeing the zoo recommended on every travel website. Luckily, about an hour north of Belize City there’s a howler monkey sanctuary, also known to locals as the Baboon Sanctuary—though the inhabitants are indeed howler monkeys, and “baboon” is just an affectionate name the locals call them.

My husband, Brad, and I, entirely by accident, ended up visiting the sanctuary at the perfect time—around 9 am. Many cruise ship groups come for tours later in the day, and the monkeys are less interested in engaging as the day goes on. Since we arrived early, we had the privilege of seeing our tour guide, Royce, call the monkeys down and having them eat fruits from our hands. It was incredible being that close, having them grab our hands, and watching them travel through the trees.

Royce and his family help take care of the sanctuary, which is basically a network of citizens who have agreed to protect the monkeys from threats like deforestation. What I loved about the sanctuary—and Royce in particular—was that he worked with a family of monkeys for seven years to gain their trust without being intrusive. They did things like build rope bridges from tall trees to shorter trees and shrubs, so the monkeys could access certain fruits without having to travel by land (as they prefer to stay in the trees). The family of monkeys we fed is the one trusting enough of humans to come eat out of our hands, but Royce said it’s a very rare situation and when the matriarch dies the trust will probably die with her. We felt incredibly lucky to experience them up-close, and we’ll never forget it!

There are street dogs all over Belize, which was sometimes difficult to see. On Caye Caulker, an island off the east coast of Belize, there’s a man named Kenny who runs the Caye Caulker Animal Shelter. It’s a small, one-person operation, but Kenny does wonderful, much-needed work to rescue and house animals. I read online that visitors can walk dogs, so, of course, I added that to our agenda! At sunset, we visited Kenny’s place—the backyard of what I think is his house—and took a cute brown pup out for a walk around the beaches. It was fun for us and gave the dog some exercise—win-win!

From Caye Caulker, we took a snorkeling trip with Raggamuffin Tours to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Coral Gardens. Since Taylor already told you about diving in Belize, I’ll keep this short and just highlight a couple things.

Seeing and swimming with sharks, stingrays, and various fishes was an awesome experience. It made me appreciate them even more, and it reaffirmed my belief that they deserve protection as much as pigs and cows and dogs do.

The folks at Raggamuffin were fantastic, and I’d highly recommend going with them if you ever travel to Belize! However, their vegan lunch left much to be desired—I ate a salad and rice! Luckily, Brad packed a few Clif bars for us to eat too. The reason I’m mentioning the lunch at all is that I was delightfully surprised that there were three other vegans on our boat—out of about 15 people!

If you have a chance to visit the western part of Belize, I recommend doing so. After all, it’s only about 80 miles from Belize City on the east coast! Brad and I rented a car in Belize City and drove to San Ignacio, where we spent about four days. And we loved every one!

We visited the Green Iguana Conservation Project, a little sanctuary at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel. They rescue green iguanas—animals that are plentiful in Belize and are at risk of being kept and cared for inadequately as pets, being killed for sport, or being eaten. At the sanctuary, we were able to hold iguanas, pet and feed them, and learn about their plight in Belize. It was fantastic!

A few other activities we did in and around San Ignacio didn’t necessarily involve animals, but they’re good ways to fill time and were very vegan-friendly. In San Ignacio, we visited AJAW Chocolate & Crafts and saw a demonstration of chocolate-making that originated with the early Mayans.

We got to taste it in the form of chocolate beverages we made for ourselves—and since they don’t add milk, it was all vegan except for optionally adding honey. We also did tastings at two hot sauce companies—Marie Sharp’s and Hot Mama’s. Marie Sharp’s is a brand you’ll see all over the place in Belize. And even though it’s tasty, we preferred Hot Mama’s. We brought a bunch home to eat! Most of the hot sauces and jams sold by these companies are vegan, but be careful of honey and cream in some jams.

While staying in San Ignacio, we took three trips to see Mayan ruins—the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, Xunantunich, and Caracol. One trip we made by ourselves, but the other two were with local tour companies. We ordered vegan lunches in advance, and we were pleasantly surprised by how good they were. In both cases, the tour operators’ wives prepared the meals for us. I could tell they went out of their way to figure out what would make a good, filling meal for vegans. We were very appreciative!

Belize’s beautiful beaches, animal sanctuaries, and cave adventures are just a few reasons why it’s the perfect vacation spot for anyone looking for a little relaxation or adventure. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about our experiences and have convinced you to take a take a trip of your own! If you have any questions about veganizing your trip to Belize, feel free to contact us at [email protected] and [email protected]!

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Raising money for the work of Vegan Outreach is a team effort all year long—and in May and June, our team gets even bigger!

Dozens of Team Vegan members—volunteers who set up their own fundraising campaigns—have come together this month to ensure VO’s work can continue and remain strong through the rest of the year.

And thanks to our anonymous challenge donors, all of your donations to Team Vegan will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $235,000!

As you may have guessed by now, there are two great ways for you to join Team Vegan!

1. Register for your own fundraising page. Visit the Team Vegan website and click on “Register for Your Own Page” to get started. You’ll get to upload a photo and tell potential donors who you are and why you joined Team Vegan. Choose a personal fundraising goal, and you’re off! Take a look at Eric Day’s page for a great example.

2. Make a donation! Choose a Team Vegan member or make a general donation—either way, your money will be doubled thanks to our wonderful match donors!

Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions, and thank you for joining Team Vegan!

By Pooja Rathor, India Outreach Coordinator

Banaras

My Vegan Outreach leafleting tour in India started at the end of February in Banaras, a city located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. I met my friend and VO Intern, Saurabh Sonkar, and together we reached 6,000 people! We leafleted at the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University)/IIT BHU, Vishwanath Temple—which is located inside the IIT BHU campus—and Ramnagar Fort. Saurabh and I had several encouraging conversations, and the energy was very positive overall.

One of the uplifting conversations I recall was with a BHU student—he told me he knew about the cruelty in the beef industry, but he’d never thought about how that abuse connected to the dairy industry.

We leafleted on Saurabh’s motorbike during the class changes! It was both fun and effective! We also enjoyed the fresh orange juice from the BHU campus and a spiced samosa chole (a pastry filled with potatoes and veggies, topped with chickpeas).

Jaipur

A few weeks later, Saurabh and I traveled to Jaipur. Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan state, located in northern India. The temperature reached 104°F, but despite the heat, we reached 5,800 people.

I have two favorite moments from doing outreach in this city. The first was when we leafleted at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, where the Rajasthan festival was taking place. We met a group of young students who were surprised by the realities of the dairy and meat industries. They were so moved that they offered to help spread more information at their campus and hostel.

My second favorite memory from Jaipur was when we met a local police officer who told us that he doesn’t like the leather belt and shoes that he has to wear as part of his uniform. He said he’d be happy if the requirements changed.

To remedy the heat, we drank large glasses of sugarcane juice, orange juice, and shaved ice with some sweet flavored syrup. Overall, Jaipur was very good to us!

Indore

April was another great month of outreach! Indore is a city located in central India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Saurabh and I leafleted at five large colleges, a large coaching institute, and one small school. One of the highlights was when we met the school principals of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore School of Social Work, and Lakshmi Narain College of Technology. We were pleased to hear that these schools were supportive of our work!

In addition to campus outreach, we leafleted at a mall and an animal shelter that housed more than 150 dogs, 10 cows, a few peacocks, and other types of animals. We gave out nearly 7,000 booklets combined!

To our surprise, we found that Indore offers a variety of fresh juices at very cheap prices. Saurabh and I came across a vegetarian restaurant called Banana Leaf, which had plenty of delicious vegan options.

I’m now in the process of planning my next leafleting events. Saurabh returned home to Banaras after we wrapped up our time in Indore—he was a great intern! When I met him just last year, he was eating meat. And since then, he’s opted for a more animal-friendly diet! We plan to do more outreach together in the future.

I want to say thank you to the donors who help fund my work—it’s very important we keep spreading the vegan message here in India.

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

VegKitchen—a comprehensive online resource for all things vegan—recently reached out to Vegan Outreach and asked if we’d be up to doing a Q and A about the organization and the outreach we do. We professionally and somewhat calmly replied, “Um…Heck yes!”

We’d like to share the interview with you—our wonderful supporters and volunteers—because it’s a great overview of Vegan Outreach’s history, overall mission, and why we’ve focused on leafleting over the years.

Whether you’ve been following our work since 1993, or this is your first time on our website, we think you’ll enjoy reading the interview as much as we enjoyed answering it!

And we’d like to send a huge thank you to VegKitchen for featuring Vegan Outreach!

Excerpt:

VegKitchen got a chance to ask VO how they operate, why they’ve been so effective, and how others can get involved in helping them promote a compassionate plant-based diet, one person at a time.

Click here for the full article.