By Jon Camp, Vegan Outreach Executive Vice President

Whether you’re new to vegan eating or are a long-time vegan looking to shake things up in your kitchen, eating vegan just got a lot easier, thanks to Lighter, a Boston start-up. Lighter provides a personal nutritionist who creates your custom menus and has all your groceries delivered right to your door. The company is on a mission to make healthy eating convenient, affordable, and delicious.

How it works is: You sign up for a meal plan, and once a week, Lighter delivers a week’s worth of groceries and the recipes for however many meals you selected. You can select which ingredients you don’t wish to be in your recipes, the ideal amount of prep time you’d like, and you can pause your plan for as long as you need.

Around a month ago, I decided to give this a shot. I opted for the plan that provides 9 meals a week. I asked that olives (yuck) not be included in my recipes, but that anything else was fair game, and that prep time for my average meal be 15-30 minutes. I pay $65 a week, and each Monday, a friendly individual knocks on my door with a bag full of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, spices, and some snacks. I receive an email with my recipes for the week, and I’m all set.

Some of my favorite meals so far have “Quick Thai Chickpeas,” “Pasta Puttanesca,” and “Zesty Sweet Potatoes & Black Beans.” Not only are these meals more consistently delicious, interesting, and healthy than what I had been eating in my pre-Lighter days, they’re remarkably simple to make and I’m not having to hem and haw over what I’m going to eat or where I’m going to find the recipe. I’m a busy guy, and I’m not known for my culinary creativity. Having a variety of pre-designed healthy meals has been a big boon to my wellbeing; I feel great while on the plan, and I’ve shed a few pounds that I had been wanting to shed.

Lighter now delivers in: Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

To learn more, visit www.lighterculture.com.

Activists Taylor Holman, Brian Alexander, Alix Pulido, and David Pinski are four of this semester’s most prolific Adopt a College leafleters: Taylor has handed out 8,390 booklets at 16 different schools; Brian, 8,101 booklets at 12 schools; Alix, 7,987 booklets at 12 schools; and David, 7,541 booklets at 9 schools!

Above (from left) are David at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and Alix, Brian, and Taylor at Chaffey College.

On February 16, Taylor and Brian teamed up at Los Angeles Pierce College (above) and set a new one-day record for the campus, handing out 1,189 booklets!

On January 27, Alix, David, VO Outreach Coordinator Steven Litrov, and fellow activists handed out 3,370 booklets at Cal State Fullerton. Steven reports:

We heard from several vegans and vegetarians on this bustling day! Alix invited her mom, Gina [above], to leaflet for a couple of hours (she did awesome), and two members of the Herbivore Club on campus joined for about an hour, too. One of the members, Javier Chavez [below], said he was influenced by a leaflet received at Mt. San Antonio College to make the switch!

David, Steven, and fellow activists reached more than 4,100 students at Cal State Northridge on January 25. Steven writes:

Huge day here on the first day of the quarter! Had a ton of volunteer help, including Laura Sanchez [above, left], who stuck it out all day long with a smile despite the weather, aches, and huge crowds. David Pinski [above, right] continues to impress with his persistence and ultra-straight arms and smiles. We were also joined by first-time leafleters Yuliana Miranda [below, left] and Pamela Whistley [below, right, and first from the left with Laura and David], who rocked it for a couple hours towards the end of the day.

We met two students who had been influenced to go veg from leaflets, including our volunteer Yuliana, who was leafleted at this school four to five years ago and initially didn’t read the booklet, because of the frightening images, but later did and did more research. Then Laura met another student in passing who went veg after getting a leaflet – awesome!

Both Yuliana and Javier not only changed their diets after receiving booklets, but also became Adopt a College leafleters! If you’d like to get booklets into more students’ hands, please consider taking part in VO’s Team Vegan campaign.

The more money raised, the more animals spared from suffering. And now through June 30, all donations up to $200,000 will be matched, dollar for dollar!

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Our Team Vegan matching drive started yesterday (Did you get our email? If not, sign up here!) and every donation to Vegan Outreach will be doubled!

A few generous donors have pledged to match donations up to $200,000! That’s $400,000 we could raise for animals–with your help.

What we raise during this Team Vegan drive will determine the work we can (or can’t) do this year. We depend on your donations to inspire more people to go vegan–people like Antonio.

Antonio received a booklet from VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Márquez, at Universidad de Guanajuato. Antionio told Emmanuel about how he ate vegetarian for a while but went back to eating animals. Emmanuel gave him a booklet and told him about the Spanish section of the VO website for recipes and nutrition info.

Now Antonio is going vegan!

We hear from people like Antonio all the time, and it’s because of folks like you whose donations make outreach possible.

Now, with our Team Vegan matching challenge, you can inspire twice as many people to go vegan, which means twice as many animals spared!

Please donate right now to keep Vegan Outreach going.

Thank you!

By Katia Rodriguez, Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

What a great week!

Last month, when we were tabling at an event, we met a vegetarian teacher who expressed her interest on VO’s work. She invited us to the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) high school campuses and an affiliated high school to participate during Earth Week events. We were able to set up a table, leaflet around campus, and give presentations during UDEM’s Earth Week, where we shared with the students how we can help the planet with our food choices since factory farming is destroying our planet.

The students had three different presentations they could choose and our presentations were the first to be filled on every campus!

Below are some pictures of the presentations.

We set up a table where both students and teachers stopped by asking for advice on how to modify their eating habits, where to find vegan products, and how to get involved with VO. Whenever the table wasn’t busy, I walked around and distributed leaflets.

On two different occasions, volunteer Ana joined me and I learned something new that motivated me even more during the week: she went vegan more than 2 years ago after receiving VO’s ¿Por qué vegetariano? leaflet and now she is volunteering for VO! It was amazing to see the power of leafleting!

We gave a total of eight presentations where we reached more than 400 students! I wasn’t sure what to expect, since it was our first time visiting this institution. I couldn’t believe how receptive, positive, interactive, and interested students were while I was speaking.

During this time, some students were taking notes, visiting our website, and taking pictures of the presentation. Every single student received a leaflet and I saw most of them reading it from start to finish. I was happy to have three vegans and two vegetarians in the audience. At least three students reached out to me at every campus after the presentations to tell me they want to go vegetarian or vegan and would love to receive more information.

David Carter was a highlight during the conference—I use him as an example when mentioning that vegans can be healthy and that there are successful vegan athletes. Some students googled David and they were showing his picture around the room and they couldn’t believe he was vegan! They loved the fact that he is an NFL player that helps animals.

It was an incredible week with lots of positive responses and great news for animals. I feel very motivated and I can’t wait to go back!

By Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development

Beginning May 1st–and through June 30th–dozens of animal activists from all over the world will team up to raise much-needed funds for Vegan Outreach. This team-driven fundraising drive, called Team Vegan, is what fuels VO’s Fall outreach! It’s very important, and your participation is what determines its success.

Many have already joined, but we need your help too, to make this the biggest Team Vegan ever! Here are the top ten reasons you should sign up now:

1. Donations will be doubled. A few incredibly generous philanthropists have agreed to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000. That’s $400,000 we can raise for animals–our biggest Team Vegan drive in history!

2. Our work depends on you. The money raised during Team Vegan will fuel our Fall outreach–and we have ambitious plans! We need your help to make them happen.

3. Farmed animals depend on us. VO’s work for farmed animals requires two things: the hard work of our Outreach Coordinators, and the donations that make their work possible. The money you raise will inspire and help people go vegan, sparing countless animals from a lifetime of misery.

4. You can win prizes! Each of the top five volunteer fundraisers will receive a $100 gift card to Vegan Essentials, Pangea, or The Vegetarian Site. And folks who raise at least $500 by June 30 will receive a Team Vegan jersey or cap!

5. You could start off with $100! A very generous donor has agreed to “seed the pots” of Team Vegan fundraisers who sign up and have a picture uploaded and a blurb written by May 20th.

6. It’s great motivation to be fit! While you certainly don’t have to, many Team Vegan members choose an activity to go along with their fundraising efforts. You could run a race, swim a lap for every dollar you raise, or plan a leafleting trip by bike! The options are endless and can give you that needed push to get moving! After all, it’s for the animals.

7. You’ll be representing VO. Since 1993, Vegan Outreach has been inspiring people to go vegan and then helping them do it! We reach thousands of young people every week with accurate and persuasive information about the vegan lifestyle.

8. You’ll be part of an incredible team. Work alongside (and compete with!) the likes of VO President Jack Norris and VO Motivational Speaker and Diversity Specialist David Carter! You’ll be helping them–and dozens of other activists–make a positive impact for animals.

9. It’s easy! Each week, you’ll receive an email from me–Lisa–with tidbits of inspiration, tips about effective fundraising, and some fun surprises!

10. It’s inspiring! You will be surprised and delighted by the generosity of your friends and family, I promise you! They’ll give because they want to support you, and what a great way to do so. More donations = more outreach = less suffering!

Clearly, signing up for Team Vegan is a win for everyone involved. Email me at [email protected] with questions, or sign up now to help reduce animal suffering with your own Team Vegan fundraising page!