The Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC) has announced a new web page to empower advocates across the country to educate their communities about the animal welfare, social justice, and environmental impacts of factory farming.

Their page provides a one­ stop-shop for people who want to spread awareness, complete with public speaking tips, FAQ, and form letters for contacting local schools and community groups.

“After giving hundreds of presentations to thousands of people across the country, I have seen time and time again that given the right information, in the right context, people are grateful to learn the truth and are eager to make meaningful changes,” said Katie Cantrell, Executive Director and founder of FFAC.

People who are interested in educating their communities can visit www.ffacoalition.org/give_a_presentation to sign up and access resources.

By Lori Stultz, Outreach Coordinator

After wrapping up my time on the road last fall semester, I started a winter break “To Do” list that, not surprisingly, ended up being rather extensive. It wasn’t a chore list by any means—aside from “clean car” and “repack,” which were listed at the bottom (and have yet to get done). Rather, it was a list of simple activities that I was not able to do or wasn’t able to do very often while on tour.  I am happy to report today, a few days before I take off for spring semester, that I checked off a good number of things on that list, including:

• Hug my dog, Oliver, until he can’t stand me anymore
• Make fun vegan dinners for my family and friends
• Visit with family members and friends whom I had not seen since August
• Take long afternoon naps
• Go to the movies
• Sit and do the daily word scrambles while drinking my morning cup of coffee

I am lucky to have such a nice home environment to return to—so nice that I actually feel compelled to make a list of how I want to make the most of my time. Aside from the smaller, more mundane activities, I did a few other things that made my time at home really special.

The first weekend after returning home, the wonderful Lisa Rimmert, Vegan Outreach’s Director of Development, organized a beautiful, fun vegan wine and cheese event in Boulder, CO. The evening was full of good conversation and great vegan food and wine, but, most importantly, the event helped VO meet our end-of-the-year fundraising goal of $470,000. I was honored to speak at the event alongside Lisa and Marc Bekoff (who I highly suggest you google right now if you haven’t heard of him). The charming space this event was held in was provided by Vickerey, a Boulder-based, vegan, eco-friendly clothing and accessory company.  It is always a powerful experience to be in the company of so many like-minded people who have the same goal in mind: helping animals.

Before I got hired with Vegan Outreach, I did a lot of dog-sitting in and around the Boulder area. I was happy when my friend Megan contacted me and asked me to stay with her pup, Frank, while she and her husband were out of town during the holidays. Christmas through New Years I got to stay with this love-bug, who I simply adore (note: I only take selfies when there is a dog involved). Definitely a highlight of my winter break.

Another memorable part of my break was driving up to Colorado Springs to spend the day with Lisa, my friend Jason, and good friends, and long-time Vegan Outreach supporters, Alison and Kevin Mercer. We all grabbed ourselves a warm coffee drink, except Lisa, who opted for a bottle of chocolate cashew milk, and walked around a neat little town near Colorado Springs called Manitou Springs. The afternoon ended with a short hike up to cool bridge called Rainbow Falls and lunch at a vegan-friendly pizza restaurant called Poor Richards.

 

Last weekend, I teamed up with Lisa (are you sensing a theme here—I simply love spending time with her) and Alex Beck from The Humane League and headed out to Pearl Street, a popular hang-out area/tourist attraction in Boulder, and did some outreach. I’m not sure if it hit 25 degrees that day, but that did not stop us from passing out 300 leaflets to those spending the afternoon on Pearl Street. A few days later, Alex and I teamed up again, along with several volunteers, and we passed out 2,000 leaflets at the University of Colorado-Boulder. It felt great to get out there and do some outreach after not doing any leafleting for a few weeks.

Lastly, I hosted a small dinner party for a few friends who are always up for trying my vegan cooking. This time I made Vegan Cincinnati Chili, a signature dish of the city my grandfather, father, and boss, Jack Norris, all lived in for at least a few years of their childhood/adolescents. For those of you who don’t know, Cincinnati chili is basically chili made with spaghetti noodles. I know it sounds odd, but it was delicious! My friends raved about it all night. I used a recipe from Jack and Alex (Jack’s spouse and VO’s Organizational Development Consultant) recipe which can be found here. Dinner party or no dinner party, I highly recommend you try it out!

Now, I will take these memories with me as I set off for my spring semester tour! My first stop is Flagstaff, Arizona, followed by Phoenix and then Tucson. As happy as I’ve been spending time at home, I am also really looking forward to getting back out on the road! I am anticipating another great semester, and I can’t wait to share my experiences along the way. And for any readers who are living in Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, or Wyoming, and are interested in getting out to do some outreach this semester, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I would be happy to provide more information about my leafleting schedule because I LOVE VOLUNTEERS! It makes our impact for the animals twice (or three, four, five times) as effective!

Until next time…

 

For only $2, you can now stream the popular documentary Speciesism on Amazon! Click the image above to watch the trailer, and check out the synopsis below!

Speciesism: The Movie, from the website:

Modern farms are struggling to keep a secret. Most of the animals used for food in the United States are raised in giant, bizarre “factory farms,” hidden deep in remote areas of the countryside. Speciesism: The Movie director Mark Devries set out to investigate. The documentary takes viewers on a sometimes funny, sometimes frightening adventure, crawling through the bushes that hide these factories, flying in airplanes above their toxic “manure lagoons,” and coming face-to-face with their owners.

(click image to play video)

By Toni Okamoto

Michelle Cehn, founder of World of Vegan, is a very dear friend of mine. We’re both obsessed with being productive 100% of our lives, so it’s only natural that we’d create a way to efficiently use our time stuck in traffic together.

We decided to create Traffic Talk – a new Q&A series where we answer your questions about vegan food and lifestyle. In our first episode, we answer questions about transitioning to veganism, talk about budget foods, and give tips on how to handle silly comments. Give it a listen, and please let us know (in the comments below) any questions you’d like to have answered.

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

This November, we began a two-month fundraising campaign to raise $225,000–to be matched for a total of $450,000 for outreach. We’ve never tried to raise this much before, and we were nervous. But we knew we had to try, because the truth is we needed the funds to continue our leafleting at its current level–which has grown steadily every semester–and to introduce new programs in 2016 that will help more animals than ever.

We needed support for our work, and about nine hundred generous individuals stepped up to provide it. December 31 marked the end of our campaign, and we raised more than $240,000. We raised $15,000 more than the goal we set–the goal that, in mid November, made us nervous!

Because of your generosity, we get to put $465,000–almost half a million dollars–toward animal activism in 2016. You can proudly say that you’re part of something big. We’re changing the way people eat, changing the way people think about farmed animals, changing the world!

Our victories are your victories. Every success story you see from us is because you stepped up now to make a difference.

Every person who goes vegan after learning about animal ag from of a VO booklet. You did that.

Every vegan who feels alone in their community–who is on the fence about returning to eating animals but decides to remain true to her values thanks to the support of a mentor. You did that.

Every person who dips their toes into the water of animal activism by leafleting for the first time, and then goes on to start petitions, implement Meatless Monday in their community, or lead an animal group. You did that.

Thank you for making my day.

Thank you for changing the world.

Vic Sjodin, VO’s Director of International Outreach, has personally reached 34,697 students at 71 different schools this semester!

Above (from left) is Vic with Eve Massie and Kimberly Moffatt at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, where they got booklets into the hands of 3,850 students in a single day; and Vic in action at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, sporting his VO hoodie paired with a kilt!

On September 28, Vic and Kimberly teamed with Alexandra Meeks (above, right), Sally Thompson, Jane Land, Dara Wetton, and Bethany Mills (above, left), reaching 4,000 students at Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds in England:

Today was the biggest leafleting day so far in UK history. Lots of readers, conversations started, and people coming back for more literature and/or questions.

My three favorite interactions were with Bethany, who was vegan and jumped right in and helped leaflet for over an hour, and wants to get more involved and loved leafleting. We had a long talk with Gabriel [below, right], who is committed to going vegan after reading the booklet in class; we gave him lots of information and encouragement. We also met Tara [below, left], who said she doesn’t think she can ever eat meat again after reading the booklet. We spoke for over 15 minutes, and she thanked us for the booklets and asked for more to show her friends.

Outreach in the UK is going phenomenal so far!! So happy because of VO supporters we can expand this lifesaving and effective work across the pond!

Less than two days left to receive dollar-for-dollar matching: Donate now to reach twice as many students in 2016!

With the number of farmed animals killed in the world today, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that every single animal we spare from a lifetime of misery is a victory. Animals don’t suffer as a group, they suffer as individuals. And that means the part each of us can play will make all the difference in the world—in proportion to the effort we put forward.

You can persuade more people to spare animals from suffering!

Donate $20 or more today and we’ll send you a book to spread compassion even further!* “It’s Easy To Start Eating Vegan,” by Rebecca Gilbert, makes a great gift for friends or family members interested in making more animal-friendly food choices.

Please spare as many animals as you can. Donate today and get a copy of “It’s Easy To Start Eating Vegan.”

*US only. While supplies last.

VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Marquez (above, left), has personally reached 68,412 students at 61 different schools this semester! And Adopt a College activist Katia Rodriguez (above, right) has leafleted 7 of Mexico’s campuses this fall, handing out 11,601 booklets as a volunteer!

Emmanuel, Katia (above, left), Edgar Jimenez (above, right), Monse Iga, Miriam Reyes, and fellow activists reached 3,100 students at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey:

We had the support of a lot of people who came to help, like Fernanda Rios (she is 13 years old), Leonardo Rios (her brother, who is 10), and their mom, Elaine Cuevas [below, left]. They are all vegan but were looking to do more for the animals, so they leafleted for the first time and rocked, reaching a lot of students with a big smile; nobody was able to refuse taking a booklet from them.

Carlos Contreras came to help once again, and he met Sara [below, right], who decided to go vegetarian after reading a booklet.

At the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Campus Ciencias de la Salud, Katia reached 1,600 students:

Gabriela [below, left] received a leaflet and asked if I’d heard about a special date that was coming up, where people from different places were going to leaflet; she saw AnimaNaturalis’ Facebook post about FARM and wants to leaflet for World Day for Farmed Animals, so she took 100 leaflets – she’s trying to go vegetarian.

I offered a leaflet to a guy; he said no in a rude way and walked away. Then, he came back to where I was standing and asked for a leaflet, said he was sorry for rejecting it and explained why he did it: he said he kind of knew what the content was going to be about, and that he knows eating animals is wrong, but he has been avoiding reading more about it; he said it was time to face the truth, so he took the leaflet and continued walking.

At UANL Campus Mederos, Katia had help from Andrea Reyes (below, right), and together they reached 1,100 students: “At 11:00 am, Andrea showed up and volunteered; while chatting with her, she told me she received one of these leaflets there last semester – she was already a vegetarian, but the Fresco leaflet made her vegan.”

Emmanuel and Katia reached 800 students at Preparatoria 15 Unidad Madero:

An easy day of outreach but with good experiences at this high school. Many students were reading the information, and we were able to hear groups talking about it; we noticed how impressed they were. A group even gathered around me and started asking questions [below, left]. I felt the majority of the students were very receptive and reacted to the info according to their values.

At the Universidad Emiliano Zapata (below, right), Emmanuel and Katia got Fresco booklets into the hands of 1,800 students:

The UNEZ is a university with a college and a high school, located in an area of Monterrey with a not very high income. The principal of the high school granted us permission to leaflet inside the school and even suggested we visit the classrooms, meaning that each booklet we handed out today was followed by a positive explanation with personal examples and a veg eating myths-busting speech.

Katia joined me, and to be honest, we didn’t have very high expectations on the response of the students, but were about to have a very good surprise. We visited 37 classrooms that had between 12 and 68 students. We planned to take five minutes in each classroom to visit as many as possible, but the kids were so engaged and curious that they were asking a lot of questions, so we spent 10 to 15 minutes in each instead; and even some teachers were interested and happy that we were there.

The majority of the students didn’t know a vegetarian, but we ran into four within the day, and all of them were men. After the talk, we asked for a raise of hands from those interested in changing their diets or eating veg, and an average of four to five in each group did so.

The administration was so happy to have us that they invited us to come back to visit the college and also give presentations for them and the high school students too. The day was exhausting, moving from building to building, going up and down the stairs with heavy backpacks full of booklets, but we ended up very excited and with big smiles on our faces.

Less than a week left to double your impact for farmed animals: Donate now to receive dollar-for-dollar matching!

Kimberly Moffatt is one of the Adopt a College program’s top two volunteers this semester – touring the United Kingdom, Southern California, and the Southwest, she’s handed booklets to 37,657 students at 62 different schools!

Above is Kimberly at the University of Aberdeen – one of three campuses in Aberdeen, Scotland that she leafleted with Ashleigh Christie and VO’s Director of International Outreach, Vic Sjodin, on September 21. Together, they got booklets into the hands of 2,205 students!

Above (from left) are Kimberly, Eve Massie, Ell’e Chambers, Emily Payne, Vic Sjodin, and Popi Raja Peppas at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Along with volunteers Jim Curzon and Michael Green, they handed out 2,800 booklets there and at the University of Brighton on October 12. Below (from left) are a few of the people they reached on campus: a chaplain who asked for 20 more booklets to share with people in his department; a student who wanted to go veg; and Emily, a student who was set to go vegan after receiving a booklet!

On November 10, Kimberly single-handedly reached 1,101 students at the University of Texas at El Paso:

I had an extremely high take-rate, and the students were super friendly.… I had a brief conversation with a student who wanted to go vegan, so I gave him an eating guide, which he was super excited about.

Inspire twice as many new vegans in 2016: Have your donation doubled today!