You want only the best and most relevant information in your inbox, so we’re transforming our Vegan Living and Advocacy Blog into our new Action Alerts email list!
Our Action Alerts will tell you quick, impactful ways to help animals, including requests to—
Sign a petition for more vegan menu options
Post on a company’s social media page for vegan versions of your favorite meals
Volunteer for leafleting, vegan food events, or campaigns
Being vegan doesn’t mean giving up the Thanksgiving foods you once loved. On the contrary, it’s a great opportunity to introduce delicious vegan dishes to your friends and family and create new animal-friendly traditions!
We’ve scoured the depths of the internet to bring you recipes for the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Use it thelp you with your holiday meal planning!
Take less than a minute to ask Morningstar Farms to make their Garden Patty vegan!
Morningstar Farms has been known for making delicious vegetarian alternatives to animal proteins. However, many people are disappointed that most of their products contain eggs and dairy—including the Garden Veggie Burger sold in stores and at Burger King.
Thousands of vegans around the US would love to purchase more Morningstar Farms products, including supporting the hearty veggie burger at Burger King that’s so widely available.
Have you been wanting to go vegan, but you’re not sure where to start? I was in the exact same boat back in 2009 when I saw undercover investigation videos about cruelty on factory farms. It was at that moment I knew I could no longer support this horror.
But I had absolutely no idea how to go vegan! I’d tried a few times before, but each time I’d end up right back where I was originally—eating animal products.
Luckily, I got help from my sister who’d been vegan for a few months. She gave me tips on how to make vegan meals and where to look for vegan products in the grocery store. Only then was I prepared to go fully vegan! And having a mentor made my transition not only easier, but fun.
Maybe you’re like me and need a little assistance? Or maybe you’re the only vegan or vegetarian you know and would like a friend to share recipes with? Guess what? We’ve got good news for you!
Vegan Outreach’s Vegan Mentor Program (VMP)—Programa Mentor Vegano en Espanol—was launched in September 2014 and has matched over 4,000 mentees with vegan mentors. We’ve got mentors in approximately 60 countries and 1,100 cities! The program is free—making it accessible to anyone who’s interested in animal-free eating.
Still not sure the program is for you? Well, here are four reasons why joining the VMP may be a good idea for your veg goals!
It’s Customized
When a mentee signs up, we’ll check to see if there’s a mentor in your area.
I try to match by location so our mentors and mentees can have real-life relationships! Most mentors and mentees want to meet in person after the initial email introduction and always seem thrilled and surprised when they find out they live close to one another, very often in the same city. -Jean Bettanny, Vegan Mentor Program Coordinator
The way mentors and mentees are matched is tailored to the participants’ wants and needs! For example, if a mentee really enjoys cooking, we’ll try to find a mentor that also likes to cook and may want to cook a meal together! Matching is also based on age and lifestyle.
We keep in touch! Every now and then our Vegan Mentor Program Coordinator will check in to make sure participants are getting what they want out of the program.
Meaningful Connections
Since we match mentors and mentees based on compatibility, you’ll likely build a great relationship with your mentor. Our mentors and mentees have connected on social media, gone grocery shopping together, met up at restaurants, and even traveled across several states to spend the holidays with each other!
Check out these recent quotes from mentees and prepare to be inspired!
[My mentor] has been really supportive in sending me encouragement and ideas. She has been supportive without me feeling like she’s judging me for not being all the way there yet. She’s connected with me on Instagram and sends me recipes and meal planning ideas. -E.B.
[My mentor] is AMAZING! She is always there when I need her. We text constantly, she’s so supportive and she puts veganism into a real life perspective. She never thinks my questions are too small. She does her very best to help me, and she’s an amazing friend. Thank you!!! -S.C.
Delicious Food Tips
Photo Credit: Kate Lewis
Mentors are usually up to speed on vegan food! Whether it’s sharing recipes or suggesting the latest products, helping to navigate grocery store aisles, or recommending local vegan-friendly restaurants, mentors are ready to help.
We hear all of the time from our mentees about the wonderful food their mentors have helped them find!
I have been doing so well with my new eating habits, healthy lifestyle, and new outlook on life. There are endless possibilities for what I can eat, and even quite a few restaurants that have vegan options! Who knew?! It’s wonderful! -K.V.
Living in Line With Your Values
Photo Credit: Archant CM Ltd.
Choosing to eat more vegan food is all about living your values! And joining the VMP means you’ll form a connection with someone who shares the same values—reducing animal suffering—along with getting one-on-one support to live a compassionate lifestyle.
Running the Vegan Mentor Program is such a fulfilling part of my life. It’s been so wonderful welcoming and introducing thousands of mentees to more humane and compassionate lifestyles, and seeing them flourish! -Jean Bettanny, Vegan Mentor Program Coordinator
Have you ever been frustrated that Morningstar Farms’ products are vegetarian, but not vegan?
You can help change that in less than a minute with the click of a button!
We’ve pre-written an email to Morningstar’s Consumer Affairs department. All you need to do is sign the email and boom—Morningstar Farms will hear from yet another customer wanting them to ditch the eggs and dairy in their Garden Veggie Burger—and hopefully their other products!
Thousands of people have already signed the petition, calling on them to make this burger vegan. Sending this email will make sure they continue to hear important feedback from their customers.
Vegan Outreach is thrilled to announce that we worked with international pizza chain—Piola—to add Follow Your Heart’s Mozzarella Cheese to the menu at ten of their US locations.
With Piola’s large global presence, we hope this change will send an important message to other chain restaurants—cheeseless pizza is a thing of the past for dairy-free diners. The demand for vegan options is booming, and thankfully Piola was in full agreement when we approached their corporate team.
We know their vegan and dairy-free customers are excited for this change, and we’re confident the option will be successful.
The vegan cheese is available at the following locations:
Together, we’ve been asking vegetarian food brand, Morningstar Farms, to ditch the dairy and eggs—starting with their Garden Veggie Burger. They’re responding!
Morningstar just veganized three of their products—the Buffalo Wings, Buffalo Chik Patties, and Chik’n Nuggets!
Our campaign has garnered nearly 7,000 petition signatures, hundreds of comments on Morningstar’s social media pages, and over a thousand emails asking them to make the change—from dedicated activists, like you!
This change by Morningstar Farms will remove an enormous amount of animal products from the supply chain every year—making a big difference for animals.
Thank you for taking action to veganize Morningstar’s products! This huge step wouldn’t have happened without your dedication!
Now, let’s keep the momentum going! Use our pre-written email to thank Morningstar and request that the Garden Veggie Burger—sold at Burger King—be next on the list to veganize!
All the work Vegan Outreach does for animals is thanks to the generosity of the donors who fund it—from our successful campaign to get vegan cheese in Piola, to the grassroots outreach we do on college campuses worldwide!
We’re ready to do even more to spread veganism, but we need your help to do it!
A generous donor has pledged to cover all our overhead costs for the fall, so 100% of your donations in May will go directly to fund outreach that makes people vegan!
With overhead costs covered, 100% of your donation will go directly to:
Pay for booklets that inspire students to become vegan
Feed delicious vegan food to non-vegans, changing their perceptions and opening their minds to veganism
Put vegan options on restaurant menus, making vegan eating easier for everyone
Connect people struggling to go vegan with mentors, so they don’t fall back into eating animals
Several donors have already stepped up, but reaching our goal by May 31 is not a guarantee.
You could be the reason we meet our goal. You could be the reason more people go vegan!
Every time a student is handed a Vegan Outreach leaflet, it’s because someone like you made a donation in response to a request like this.
All the work Vegan Outreach does for animals is fueled by donations. We’ve done a lot of good together—this Spring semester we’ve handed leaflets to 822,916 students and showed 7,924 students virtual reality slaughterhouse footage.
But there’s so much more to do, and we need your help!
Without you, this work for animals is at risk of slowing—or even stopping.
A generous donor has pledged to cover all our overhead costs for the fall, so 100% of your donations by May 31 will go directly to fund outreach that makes people vegan!
