Welcome to another edition of our Supporter Spotlight posts!

Keyur and Shilpa Shah are vegan business owners who do so much for animals, including support Vegan Outreach’s grassroots activism around the world. Meet the Shahs!

Tell us about yourselves, Keyur and Shilpa.

We are an energetic family of five! A perfect weekend would include a morning walk with the kids and our rescue dog, some Frisbee football in the afternoon, and hosting friends and family for dinner in the evening.

Share with us the story of your “vegan journeys.”

It all started with the saying “Live and let live.” That philosophy stuck with us, and we realized we couldn’t make another being suffer for our benefit. Once we let go of the thought that we were giving up our favorite foods, it was super easy to adjust our diets. We started thinking of it more as a choice to try new foods, and we actually began to eat more variety than ever before. To be perfectly honest, the first 2 years were difficult. It felt like withdrawal, it felt like we didn’t fit in. But then we began to feel confident in our choices and didn’t impose ourselves on others. That’s when we became more accepted while also being a positive influence in many others’ decisions to take the same journey! Here we are 9 years later…man does time fly!

People always mention how ironic it is that animals were never really Keyur’s thing. He never liked the idea of a pet, or fur around the house. But something about the process of breeding, killing, and eating them was very hurtful to him. So even though animals aren’t cute and cuddly in Keyur’s eyes, suffering for any being can’t be justified. Animals do deserve the same chance at life we do.

Shilpa’s always had a connection with animals. She’s loved the idea to care for one but felt sad with the idea of breeding. We took a dog off death row and he’s been a joy to have!

Tell us about your vegan-owned business!

We were married in 2002 on a tight budget, so we hand made our invitations. We got so many inquiries of where we purchased them that we decided to open our own online business, www.paperandmore.com. We focus on high quality, budget friendly specialty papers, pocket cards, envelopes, and accessories. We personally take care of our customers from start to finish. We’re excited to now offer print services too.

We take pride in the fact that we fill orders quickly while also providing each customer individual attention. We work together with our customers as a team to create exactly what they are looking for to make their special day a classy event!

How did you first get involved with Vegan Outreach?

We ran across Jack Norris hosting a booth at a Veg Fest in 2007. We were new to vegan eating and were looking into financially supporting animals. VO’s booklets popped out to us and we loved the idea of printing these leaflets and handing them out to students…best idea ever! Since then we’ve been close friends with Jack and Team VO!

You’ve supported VO for years. What inspires this?

Just the simpleness…the honesty, the compassion, the collaboration. No job is too small for even the President of VO. They have it worked out to where it all just makes good, honest sense. We know our hard earned money is going straight to helping the animals.

What advice would you give to someone reading this who is considering adopting a vegan diet?

Believe in yourself. Remind yourself the reasons you thought to explore this road. Be kind and forgiving to yourself. And most of all, have fun, enjoy all the new foods, and meet more like minded people!

Finally, share with us your absolute favorite meal.

Hmm…goodness, we can’t choose just one! We always have to toss a coin on deciding to go eat falafel or Thai food.

Thank you, Keyur and Shilpa Shah, for all you do for animals!

By Toni Okamoto

One of my favorite female artists has officially announced her vegan diet on Good Morning America this week! Although she is promoting veganism for health reasons, I believe it is a good step towards introducing her millions of fans to a life that reduces animal suffering.

Ten years ago I became vegetarian specifically to enhance my speed and strength in running, and now I dedicate my life to animal rights. Even though it started out as a health diet change for me, it evolved into something so much more. We can hope the same for Beyonce, and for now, support her promotion of the vegan diet to the masses!

This semester, VO Outreach Coordinator Steven Litrov has leafleted 36 different schools, placing booklets into the hands of more than 25,000 students!

John Sakars, Alex Greenwood, Serena Catania, and I had a pretty huge record-breaking day at the University of Western Ontario! Lots of great interactions from professors and students alike.

Alex spoke with a student who previously struggled as a vegan and was pleased to get a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and some suggestions. We both spoke to a sociology professor [below, left] who just had someone give a greatly received presentation on factory farming in her class, and she is interested in trying it herself with the help of the Guide and her vegan daughter and granddaughter! John spoke with a student towards the end of the day who concluded they were ready to make the switch. And I briefly spoke with a professor [below, right] who said he’s been using these booklets in his class for years to bring awareness to the ethical dilemma of eating animals, so I gave him some more!

To raise funds for next semester’s outreach, Steven will bike 50 miles for each donation made to his Team Vegan page and leaflet wherever he goes!

Through the end of June, 75% of your purchase of select prints and paintings from the Art from the Heart collection will be donated to Vegan Outreach. Let’s meet the person behind this art and this generous donation, Deidra Smith.

Tell us about yourself and your art, Deidra.

I grew up in Indiana. My art began as childhood portraits of Pagesus, and Flicka from the book “My Friend Flicka,” because my favorite books were about animals. When I graduated college, I studied with an artist named Riley Bertram, in Brown County, which is known for art. He offered to show my work in his gallery.

After college I decided I wanted to be close to Rocky Mountain wildlife. But first, I toured Kenya with The Humane Society of the United States. After that immersion in wildlife, I quickly moved to Colorado and spent many weekends in Rocky Mountain National Park. I never wanted to live anywhere else. The birds and squirrels I feed, and the cats and dog who needed a home, share mine in Loveland, east of the Park. Nearby lakes mean we’re also blessed with large birds from egrets to pelicans. We even had a moose staying by the lake one summer.

How did you come to be vegan?

I stopped eating meat because my parents took me to get a turkey for Thanksgiving, and I realized people were beheading live animals. I probably learned about dairy and egg production from John Robbins’ books Diet for a New America and May All Be Fed: a Diet for a New World. I saw John speak in Boulder, CO, and got the Denver PBS station to air his video. There was a lot of discrimination against vegetarians back then, and Robbins’ presentation was one of the best times of my life. He included a meal and talked about global ramifications of using animals’ bodies in food production.

Tell us about your fundraiser for Vegan Outreach.

From global warming to torture to pollution to disease, there’s no better way to improve and save life on Earth than by helping people become vegan. I’m trying to use my art to help do that.

Choosing to be vegan has the power to reach far beyond your life and time. By deciding to be vegan, you stand up for sustainability over extinction, you speak out for kindness over cruelty, and you choose hope over despair. Supporting Vegan Outreach is the ultimate declaration of hope that a just, safe and peaceful world is possible for all.

I’ve painted a portrait of Little Tyke, the real-life lion who woke up the world by refusing to eat meat. I hope you will support Vegan Outreach and enjoy these rare paintings and prints of Little Tyke and her friend Becky the lamb, along with the story of their friendship. You can also choose from a gallery of animal portraits and prints showing that love dwells in every heart. For this special fundraiser, you may also request a painting of your own companion animal or a subject not yet in the gallery.

Check out Deidra’s Art From The Heart here. Thank you, Deidra!

This semester, Vegan Outreach’s Australia & New Zealand Outreach Coordinator, Sam Tucker, has leafleted 34 different schools, placing booklets into the hands of more than 26,000 students!

Before arriving to the University of Queensland, I had been in contact with the UQ Veg Society and they had organized a bake sale and stall for the day. The Veg Society was full of awesome people; Joaquina and Cam helped leaflet with me for a bit but mostly focused on conversations with people. This actually worked really well because that way I could focus on getting the basic information to as many people as possible, and those who wanted to know more could talk to the UQ Veg Society.

A lot of people actually went to the stall after reading through the booklet, to ask about things like how to get all the nutrients they need on a vegan diet, etc. Cam was nailing the conversations: I overheard him talking to a couple of guys who said they only ate “local meat” – about the conditions on free-range farms, how animals are still killed either way, etc. – and the guys seemed really receptive.

I came home to emails from people asking for a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, saying they got a booklet on campus and wanted help with taking the next step towards a cruelty-free diet. Overall, having the stall and bake sale worked really well as we could engage people at all different levels and even show them how delicious vegan food can really be.

Help create more vegans: Donate to Team Vegan and receive dollar-for-dollar matching today!

By Lisa Rimmert, Donor Relations Manager

Of all the tasty vegan cheeses on the market these days, Miyoko’s Kitchen cheeses are definitely among my favorites. On a trip to San Francisco a few months ago, I got to try several of their flavors, and I was blown away!

Luckily, Miyoko’s cheeses are available for online order anywhere in the U.S. – and what’s even more lucky is that during June, orders will support the work of Vegan Outreach!

Our friends at Miyoko’s Kitchen will donate 1% of online sales to VO. So you can buy cheese and support grassroots animal activism at the same time!

As if that wasn’t enough! Order Miyoko’s cheeses for 15% off this month, using the discount code VO15. I’m definitely placing my order soon, starting with the Double Cream Sundried Tomato Garlic (pictured above). Or maybe the Aged English Smoked Farmhouse. Or the Classic Double Cream Chive. Or…

Order your vegan cheese now from Miyoko’s Kitchen. All products are free of animal products and gluten, and made from organic ingredients. Thank you for supporting Vegan Outreach, and enjoy!

This semester, Vegan Outreach intern Carlos Contreras has leafleted 80 different schools, reaching more than 56,000 students; VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Marquez, has leafleted 83 campuses, placing booklets into the hands of over 64,000 students; and Mexico’s most prolific Adopt a College volunteer, Katia Rodriguez, has leafleted 10 different schools, reaching more than 10,000 students!

Today I had the chance to work with the owners of a new vegetarian / vegan restaurant at an event that was held where I study; this event was focused on environmental-related topics. They were selling vegan food since 9:00 am at the main hallway; I started leafleting after exams somewhere around 12:00 pm. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to hand out as many leaflets as I was hoping, since students were just taking exams and leaving home afterwards, but surprisingly, there was a 100% take rate, and 505 students and attendants were reached.

A good amount of people that received leaflets decided to try vegan food, so it was a win-win situation: they read about veganism and tried vegan food right after doing it; people were really open. Four people that I reached were already vegan or vegetarian, and some others – especially moms – asked basic questions about veganism, since their sons / daughters decided to turn vegan recently.

—Katia Rodriguez, 4/21/15

Today was an amazing day. We visited the BUAP with a lot of support from local activists. There were so many good things that it was hard to keep track of them: literally thousands of people reading the leaflets all over the campus, countless people asking for more info, and conversations that ended in people willing to give veg eating a try.

Aurelio [below, left] is a vegan chef that helps through developing easy recipes. Cesar [below, center] is a high school professor who after a long talk told me he changed his perception of animals and started to look at them as subjects instead of objects; he will start moving to vegan eating and took a bunch of leaflets for his students. Elena [below, right] was already aware of the plight of animals in farms; she is a vegetarian but now she is going vegan. It was incredible.

—Team Vegan member Emmanuel Marquez, 5/18/15

Support VO’s Adopt a College leafleting program: Have your donation doubled today! The more money raised, the more animals spared from suffering.

We’re excited to announce that Adopt a College activists have set a new semester leafleting record! As of today, we’ve personally handed a booklet to 1,061,466 students at 1,037 schools this spring semester. And the semester isn’t over yet!

This is the second time in a row that we’ve reached more than a million students in a single semester. Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers and employees who got out in all weather conditions, day after day, to reach so many young minds with the plight of farmed animals. And thank you to our thoughtful donors whose contributions make this work possible.

Set More Records via Team Vegan

Dozens of activists have been working hard to raise money for VO’s Team Vegan matching campaign. Thanks to their dedication – and to the generosity of hundreds of donors – Team Vegan has so far raised more than $61,000! These funds are vital, as they fuel our Adopt a College outreach for the fall.

If you want to see VO continue its record-setting outreach, please consider donating to Team Vegan today. Help us reach our goal of $150,000 – matched to become $300,000 – so we can spread compassion to more people than ever!

Give now at TeamVegan.org.

Today is the last day to get $100 added to your Team Vegan campaign – bringing you closer to raising $500 and winning a coveted Team Vegan cap!

Thanks to a generous donor, your campaign will get $100 of “seed money” if you sign up for Team Vegan and post a photo and text by today, May 20. Raise $500 total between now and the end of the campaign on June 30, and receive a Team Vegan cap like those pictured above.

So far – since May 1 – VO supporters have donated more than $41,000 to fund our effective grassroots, person-to-person activism. Together, we’re exposing the horrors of animal ag, inspiring more people to adopt a cruelty-free lifestyle, and reducing the suffering of animals.

And every dollar raised up to $150,000 will be doubled, thanks to a handful of generous donors who have pledged to match it. That means you can enable twice as much outreach and inspire twice as many people to make positive changes for animals!

Together we have accomplished so much. But we need your help now to raise $150,000 for animals – which will be matched to become $300,000.

Help us reduce as much suffering as we can.

Join 80 fellow animal advocates by signing up for Team Vegan today.

Two years ago, Ashley was handed a Vegan Outreach booklet. Not only did she go vegan, she also started handing out VO booklets herself! Click the image above to hear her story.

VO’s grassroots, person-to-person approach means that not only do people learn about factory farming and cruelty-free eating – they also get to meet and interact with a friendly animal activist, ask questions, and get tips and advice on the spot!

And since VO leaflets even in really remote areas, we’re reaching people who are meeting an animal activist for the first time!

Celebrate Ashley and all the others who have gone vegan and become activists upon receiving a VO booklet. Donate to our Team Vegan campaign and your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar, doubling your impact for animals!

Choose a Team Vegan member to donate to, or make a general donation at TeamVegan.biz. Thank you for helping us to reduce animal suffering!