By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

When I think back on my journey to veganism, I feel an extreme amount of gratitude for the local vegan group that was already established in the city I was living in. I had people around me who could answer my questions and recommend different resources to help me better understand the wide scale violence against animals.

Thankfully, I never lacked a community or felt completely alone. And having met many other vegans over the course of my vegan journey, I know my experience is not typical. A good majority of them are quick to tell me how they feel lonely and isolated.

That’s why I’m taking the time to introduce Vegr, a soon-to-launch online tool where vegans will be able to connect with other vegans based on specific interests and locations. Whether you’re looking for a vegan running partner, someone to share vegan recipes with, or you’re needing advice on how to organize a circus protest, Vegr will be able to meet those needs.

And while Vegr can act as a tool for vegans to seek out a like-minded romantic partner, its primary goal is to provide resources for those wanting to find and build a vegan community.

Founders, Gerry Warren and Alex Moller describe it best—

The world does not need another dating app. Vegr is a tool. A tool that will be used to connect plant-based people all over the world… and pave a road for, as they put it, ‘us to meet more of us.‘

Before sending you off to the Vegr website, here are a few other things you should know—

• Vegr is in the process of building an online movement before launching an Indiegogo campaign. The goal of the campaign is to bring the Vegr project to life to then deliver it to the vegan community and backers who believe the world benefits when the plant-based community is united.
• They’ve been featured in large media publications, including Vegan Magazine, About Time Magazine, Global Vegans, Living Clean Now, and Gary TV.
• Vegr plans to give 10% of their profits to support vegan related causes.

We’ll announce the launch of Vegr’s Indiegogo campaign in the coming months, as well as the release of the tool itself. In the meantime, check them out their website, Facebook page, and other various social media channels.

By Janet Kearney, Guest Contributor

It’s that time of year again. Parents jaded from the long days of summer, buying backpacks and notebooks, checking bus schedules, and daydreaming about the glass of wine they’ll be treating themselves to after all is said and done.

Yep, it’s back to school season.

As vegans with young children, we also have the added worry of school lunches and influences from our kids’ friends.

My son, Oliver, is starting Pre-K this year. At age four, he is aware that we don’t eat animal products, but he also doesn’t fully understand everything about veganism. Kids want to be like their friends, and my husband and I worry that he might get picked on for his packed vegan meal while his friends eat the macaroni and cheese served at the school cafeteria. Or that he might be bashful on Fridays explaining why he doesn’t participate in “Pizza Friday.”

The last few weeks, my husband and I have been preparing Oliver—and ourselves—for dealing with school and food. We’ve done a few things to help make the situation easier, and I thought it might be helpful if I share a few suggestions.

Everyone is Different and That’s OK!
We spoke to my son about how some of his friends have allergies and can’t eat certain foods. We explained that, like his friends with food allergies, he doesn’t eat certain foods, and that it’s OK to be different.

A community member on the Vegan and Pregnancy Facebook page shared with the group how she tells her kids that the dinosaurs were all different—some were herbivores and some were omnivores. We shared this analogy with Oliver and now he thinks he’s a herbivore giant. When his friends ask him why he isn’t eating something they’re eating, he proudly tells them that he’s a dinosaur and roars.

Coming up with something creative and fun that your kids can relate to and tell their friends may help eliminate feelings of confusion or “differentness.”

Teach Them About Food
When I go grocery shopping, I’ll show Oliver the different foods our family chooses not to eat, like fish sticks and chicken nuggets, and gently explain to him why we don’t buy them. I encourage him to help get the foods we do eat—by letting him grab them off the shelves—and that helps him visually remember those items.

It might be helpful for you, like it has been for us, to encourage your child to participate in the grocery shopping. Not only will it help them understand why the family chooses not to eat animal products, but it may also help them feel empowered and proud of the vegan foods that are packed in their lunch boxes.

Meal Plan
Try to plan meals with your kids on the weekends before mid-week stressors pop up and you find yourself scrambling to put together a nutritious lunch that your kids will eat. Ask them to tell you what they want and don’t want to eat for the week.

Similar to involving them in the grocery shopping, it may help your kids feel more comfortable and confident at lunch time. It will also be less stressful for you as the parent because there’s a better chance they’ll eat their lunch and feel satisfied through the rest of the school day.

I’m also sensing a lot of cupcake requests—sorry!

Reach Out
Don’t be afraid to tell teachers, other school staff members, and the parents of your kids’ friends that your child is vegan. You can ask staff to watch your child a little closer during meal times. You can also let the school nurse know that there might be tummy pain if your child accidentally ingests dairy or other animal foods they don’t normally eat.

There will most likely be mistakes and stumbling along the way, but this isn’t about perfection. It can be a challenge to raise vegan children in a non-vegan world. And one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to know that you’re not alone. For more tips and discussions about raising vegan children, check out the Vegan Pregnancy and Parenting Facebook page and the newly launched accompanying website.

Janet is the Founder of the Vegan Pregnancy and Parenting Facebook page—which has 27,000+ members—as well as one of the contributors to the Vegan Pregnancy and Parenting website. For more information about Janet and these vegan parenting resources, check out her recent interview with Vegan Outreach.

By Josie Moody, Office Manager

I’m still totally in love with one of Vegan Outreach’s most popular pieces of merchandise, created by VO donor David Barnett, the PopSocket!

What’s a PopSocket? It’s a flat piece of plastic that you stick to the back of your mobile device. You pop it up to create a grip to help you hold onto your phone, to act as a stand for your device, or to wrap your earbuds around to keep them accessible and to keep them from getting tangled. Learn more about it here.

PopSockets were created with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. Since going live in 2014, they’ve been the recipients of much acclaim—from NPR calling them “cool” to the Wall Street Journal noting that they’re the “best that they’ve seen” for creating an instant kickstand for your device.

What has been the best part of my PopSocket experience thus far? Something I’d never even considered—meeting more vegans! In one night, I met two vegans because they saw my customized Vegan Outreach PopSocket!

You too can show your support for Vegan Outreach by purchasing one of our custom PopSockets from the Vegan Outreach website for $10.

By Kimberly Moffatt, Outreach Coordinator

Costa Rica is a country I’ve wanted to visit for years, and I finally made it there this summer. I had the joy of sharing the experience with my partner, Jon.

In the first of this two part series, I’ll share about our vegan eating experiences while touring this beautiful country. In part two, I’ll give the details about the activities we did in between eating!

The first day, we flew into the country’s capital, San José. We stayed in an Airbnb and had access to a kitchen. We made rice and lentils that evening. In the morning we took a bus to La Fortuna, where we stayed at local lodge in the jungle. We had our own bungalow and pool—and the most amazing view of the beautiful Arenal Volcano!

The lodge provided breakfast each morning that consisted of rice and beans, fried plantains, fresh fruit, juice, and delicious Costa Rican coffee. Before digging in, we made sure the rice and beans weren’t made with lard or chicken stock (as that’s pretty common).

While staying in La Fortuna, we did the Two Volcano Extreme Hike. Lunch was provided for us, and consisted of fruit juice, fresh fruit, chips, and a sandwich made with veggies and mushrooms. It wasn’t the most exciting lunch, but for us, it was better than non-vegan food or going hungry! We also found a local fruit market and decided to try a few fruits we’d never had before.

Thanks to Happy Cow, we found a sushi restaurant nearby called Kappa Sushi. The restaurant offered a full vegan menu—including a sushi boat! It had a mixture of plantain rolls, fried tofu skins, vegetable rolls, and other vegan items.

The next day we headed to Monteverde. We checked into our hostel, Monteverde Backpackers—and to our surprise—it had a full kitchen! We walked to a nearby grocery store to pick up a few items, and we ended up chatting with another traveler who invited us to continue our chat over a meal. We cooked green beans, potato and bean tacos, broccoli, and we prepared a small salad with papaya. Our meals for the next few days were roughly the same.

The last few days of our trip were open, so we decided, last minute, to head to Manuel Antonio. Our final hostel also had a kitchen, so we made our favorite bean and potato tacos, and enjoyed more plantain chips than we care to admit.

Manuel Antonio State Park was closed on the Monday we planned to visit, so instead we explored the small town and enjoyed espresso at a local restaurant. There was a coffee shop near our hostel, and it offered soy and almond milk. I ordered a black cold brew and Jon enjoyed a fresh coconut. There weren’t many options to eat in this tourist town, so we cooked for ourselves the remainder of our stay.

While it’s a bit trickier eating out, the grocery stores always offered a wide variety of whole foods—ideal if you have a kitchen—and many packaged vegan items. You can buy soy and almond milk, as well as other specialty foods. However, the prices on those items tend to be marked up quite a bit.

If you’re vegan and interested in going to Costa Rica, rest assured that—even if you have to get a little creative—you can enjoy the beautiful environment and eat completely vegan! I’d recommend staying in a few places where you can cook your own food and pack vegan snack foods for the times you need fuel in a pinch—Jon and I packed a lot of granola, and Clif and LUNA bars for snacking.

And now that you’ve got the scoop on the vegan grub, we’ll see you back here in a few weeks when I share all the fun activities we did while touring the country!

By Taylor Radig, Campaigns Manager

Less than four months ago, WisePies worked with our campaigns team to add vegan cheese to their Tempe, AZ location. The option was so successful that WisePies agreed it was time to offer vegan cheese—Violife—at all ten of their locations.

“Our guests asked for a vegan and dairy-free alternative, and based on their feedback, it is now available in all of our locations,” stated WisePies Pizza & Salad VP of Marketing, Season Elliott. “The Violife brand of dairy-free cheese won overwhelmingly in our blind taste test with close to 70% of guests selecting it. We’re excited to add yet another healthy alternative to our menu.”

To order a vegan pizza at WisePies, order your pie on the traditional or wheat crust with their roasted red bell pepper marinara. Top it with a variety of delicious vegetable and herb toppings.

WisePies currently has locations in New Mexico and Arizona. Within the next year, they’ll be expanding to Nevada, Louisiana, and Texas, where they’ll also be serving the new cheese option.

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

This summer, friend of Vegan Outreach, Mack ARA Freeman, rode his bicycle 880 miles to raise money for animals. Leaving Friday, June 16, he started on the Lewis & Clark Mississippi Bridge in St. Louis, MO, and biked all the way to Ontario, Canada, ending on Sunday, July 2!

I asked Mack about his trip, and you won’t want to miss what he had to say! And if you feel inspired, we’d love to accept a donation in his honor.

Lisa Rimmert: What made you decide to take this bike trip, and what inspired you to use it to raise money for animals?

Mack ARA Freeman: This 2017 Great Lakes/Canada ride was actually my fourth bicycle trip in the past five years. I’d been trying to find a way to help raise funds for valuable animal groups. And then it hit me, I could do it by riding my bike long distances—even though at the age of 58 I’d never done any kind of biking.

In 2013, for my first effort at raising donations for animal rights and welfare organizations, I rode the famous Missouri Katy Bike Trail from St. Louis to Kansas and back. The next year on my way from St. Louis to Mississippi, my ride was cut short due to a bike crash, so I tried again in 2015. That time I made it to Mississippi, reaching the Hope Animal Sanctuary on my 60th birthday!

Last year, I turned my bicycle north from St. Louis and didn’t stop riding until I reached the shore of Lake Superior between Wisconsin and Minnesota—an 820-mile ride. Last summer, I was invited to a Vegan Outreach fundraiser at the home of a friend, and it was then that I thought of riding for Vegan Outreach in 2017.

This year I wanted to “top” my 2016 ride, so I thought I would try to bike to the other end of Lake Superior and pedal all the way to Canada. And that is what I did! I rode through central Illinois and eastern Wisconsin, taking my bicycle on the S.S. Badger—a coal burning steamship—across Lake Michigan. I continued up the northwest side of lower Michigan, into the state’s Upper Peninsula. Finally, I rode across the International Bridge into Canada. I arrived on July 2—my 17th consecutive day of bicycling!

Lisa: What was the hardest part of your journey?

Mack: It would be impossible to recount a cross-state, multiple highway bicycle ride without acknowledging all the animals who had met their demise on the roads, shoulders, and brush along the way. Encountering animal misery while biking through endless rural counties takes a toll on even the most hardened traveler. I’ve made a point to always whisper sad “sorries” to every animal that had crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

I was honored to visit with many peaceful, loving, gentle animals, and to say quiet affirmations as we looked each other in the eyes. I knew one of us would carry on with life and thrive—and the other would be heartlessly removed from the life they deserved to live.

Lisa: What was your favorite part of the trip?

Mack: Switching gears—pun intended—some of my favorite times included:

• I bicycled 13 miles at breakneck speed—for me—from Sheboygan to Cleveland, WI. I took no water breaks and beat a major evening thunderstorm. I biked into the driveway of my bed and breakfast just as the first heavy raindrops began pelting the ground.
• The next day, June 25, I took the 60-mile ferry ride across Lake Michigan. How great it was to relax and enjoy the great ride across that Great Lake!
• I treasured meeting all the farmed animals that made it to the fences and gates to say “hello.” I stopped for every individual and herded animal. Many of them walked—and some even ran—to meet me! Talk about an unforgettable experience. I met mostly cows, but there were also horses, mules, goats, ducks, and even feral cats.
• And, of course, it felt amazing to bike over the bridge into Canada and reach my goal after 17 perfect days on the road. My air pump never left my bike rack! Tears began streaming down my face in contemplation of my accomplishment.

Lisa: What did you eat on the road?

Mack: You guessed right if you think it’s hard to find vegan food on the road while biking through Corn Cob, America, but I prevailed! For breakfast or lunch in motels or diners, I’d have my standard fare of unbuttered toast with jam, baked potato, or hash browns cooked in veggie oil, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and lots of fruit cups and vegetable slices.

For dinners, I ordered spaghetti with marinara whenever I could—often double orders for carbohydrate building. If no spaghetti was available, then I’d eat meatless chili or milk free soups. Sometimes I would hit Subway for a foot-long Italian bread sandwich, stuffed with tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and covered in mustard. If a store was near my lodging, I would see what vegan food was available. Once I bought a package of Gardein burgers and ate all four patties! Another time I found a half gallon of Blue Diamond chocolate almond milk. I filled my two bottles with it for the road and drank the rest right there!

Lisa: Do you have plans for any future rides?

Mack: Yes. In 2018, I hope to raise money for animals by riding from St. Louis to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In 2019, at age 65, I plan to ride to the Florida Gulf Coast. I’ll bike along the entire stretch of the panhandle—all the way to the Atlantic Ocean! And if I have any breath left in 2020, maybe Mexico!

Lisa: Thank you, Mack, for your longtime activism and dedication to making the world better for animals!

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Vegan Outreach in honor of Mack’s activism for animals. Thank you!