As of December 4, Steve Erlsten, VO’s Northern California Outreach Coordinator, has already placed Vegan Outreach booklets into the hands of 71,590 students at 99 different schools this semester!

Above is Steve with Taylor Walton, a Fresno State student he met in September:

Taylor stopped by to ask if I needed some help. The second big rush was about to start, so I gave her some booklets and let her hand out as many as she could without much instruction. Once the class change died down I asked if she had leafleted before, and we started talking about activism. When I asked if she was vegan, her response made my day.

She said she decided to go vegan this morning after getting a booklet from me! She had been trying not to think about how the animals are treated, but the booklet made that impossible. On her first day as a vegan she handed out 500 booklets!

When we were finished, she asked to take a photo of me for a class art project. She is going to sketch people who have had an impact on her life – including me.

Taylor not only went vegan and volunteered on the spot, but also joined Steve in setting a new leafleting record for her campus!

Now you can inspire twice as many new vegans – and new vegan activists: Have your donation matched today and double your impact for animals!

VO Outreach Coordinator Lori Stultz has personally handed booklets to 52,082 students at 67 different schools this semester!

Lori kicked off the semester in California, where she single-handedly reached more than 5,500 students her first three days in action! Below (from left) are a couple of the students who were inspired to go vegan after receiving booklets at Cerritos College; and Conner, a new vegetarian Lori met at SUNY New Paltz: “He said that he hoped to one day make the full transition to an animal-free diet. When I offered him a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, he said it was exactly what he needed at this point in his journey.”

In October, Lori teamed with Adopt a College volunteers Steph Chocko and Kathy Carlsson at Stony Brook University, where they reached 2,000 students in a single day: “One student came back to us after receiving a Compassionate Choices booklet, floored by the information. He told us he’d never eat another pig, especially after reading about Emily. He was about to go home and make oatmeal for breakfast and asked us what he should use in place of cows’ milk. I gave him a Guide and had an enjoyable conversation with him about the wide variety of dairy-milk alternatives.”

Now you can spare twice as many farmed animals from suffering: Donate today and receive dollar-for-dollar matching!

You probably know about VO’s current matching donation drive — any donation made this month will be matched dollar-for-dollar!

But did you know that if you donate appreciated stock to VO, you won’t have to pay taxes on the gain and you’ll get to claim the value of the stock as a tax deduction?!*

Your donation of stock this month will be a double win for VO with your gift matched 100%, and a double win for you on your taxes!

If you’re able to make a stock donation, please contact Lisa Rimmert, Director of Development, at [email protected].

Don’t delay if you’d like a deduction for 2015! Thank you!

*View IRS Publication 526 for details and speak to a financial adviser.

Lana Smithson (below, left), VO’s New England Outreach Coordinator, has personally handed booklets to 13,855 students at 37 different schools this semester! And VO’s New York City Outreach Coordinator, Eileen Botti (below, right), has placed booklets into the hands of 8,492 students at 17 campuses this fall!

On September 25, Lana reached 855 students at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh: “A nice young man said the information was really good and just what he had been looking for lately. I heard from a few more grateful students and then met one who said she went veg a year ago after getting a booklet from me. I got her picture [below].”

Support Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College leafleting program: Take advantage of our year-end matching campaign and have your donation doubled today!

Interested in mentoring a new or aspiring vegetarian or vegan?

While we can always use mentors anywhere, we are in special need for mentors in the following states:

Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Idaho
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

If you live in any of these states and are willing to help out, please fill out our vegan mentor survey by clicking here.

By Toni Okamoto

Remember Josh Fernandez from our series How Do You Vegan: The Brand New Vegan Edition? He was very new to veganism and was concerned that he may keel over on mile 25 of his first marathon as a vegan. He wrote:

“Another problem with veganism is that I’m a marathoner, sometimes clocking in at about 60 miles per week, and I told myself that if I only eat plant-based food I would most likely keel over on mile 25.

I haven’t actually tested that theory yet, but I will find out on December 6, when I run my first marathon as a vegan. And mark my words: If that happens, on my death bed I will write another blog post for Vegan Outreach, entitled, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE, BUTCHER A COW AND EAT IT IMMEDIATELY.”

I’m kidding.”

Well, I am happy to announce that not only did he live to show that vegans can run marathons … but he also qualified for the Boston Marathon with the time of 3 hours and 11 minutes! That’s a 7 minute and 19 second pace per mile!! AANNND, best of all, after he left everyone in the dust, he walked around in his Vegan Outreach hoodie! Representin’.

Congratulations, Josh!

Sam Tucker, VO’s Australia & New Zealand Outreach Coordinator, has traveled to 35 different campuses this semester, reaching 35,225 students with Vegan Outreach booklets!

Above is Sam at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, NZ, where he handed out 1,352 Your Choice booklets this fall: “I met three vegetarians, all of whom were interested in cutting out dairy and eggs but didn’t know how to approach it, so I gave them a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and told them to send me an email if they had any questions.”

On October 22, Sam teamed with volunteers Jessica Pilla and Monnica Lee at the University of Adelaide; together they were able to get out 2,200 booklets, more than doubling the previous campus record: “Massive day of outreach – we ran into lots of vegans, vegetarians and people who read the booklet, were disgusted by what they saw and wanted Guides to take the next steps towards a cruelty-free diet. It was Monnica’s first time ever leafleting but she was a natural, Jessica had helped out at Flinders University on Monday but had never leafleted before that either; they both did really, really well! Afterwards, I came home to two more email requests for Guides.”

Today, your donation to Vegan Outreach will inspire twice as many new vegans: Donate now to receive dollar-for-dollar matching!

Green Festival Expo is coming to Portland Dec 11th – 13th at the Oregon Convention Center for the first time in Green Festival’s 14 year history, and guess who will be there? Yep! Vegan Outreach!

Green Festival Expo is the largest and longest-running sustainability event in the United States with a mission to bring together the world’s most trusted companies, engaging speakers, national and local innovative businesses, conscious consumers and pioneering thinkers in one place to promote the best in sustainability and green living. What better place to do it than one of the most vegan friendly cities in the world, Portland, Oregon?!

During the 3-day expo there will be B2B mentoring sessions for green business owners, an interactive family fun area for kids to learn all about reducing their carbon footprint and over 50 inspirational speakers.

Green Festival Expo is now featuring a Portland Local Market Place on the floor where attendees will be able to shop locally, taste vegan and vegetarian food and enjoy organic products close to home.

Bike to the expo, park at the Green Festival Bike Valet and receive FREE admission! Youth 16 and under are granted free admission as well.  Hours open to the public are: Friday 12pm – 6pm, Saturday 10am – 6pm & Sunday 10am – 5pm. SHOP. TASTE. ENJOY!  And be sure to visit Northwest Outreach Coordinator Jose Elias and the Vegan Outreach table!

Activists Barbara Bear, Rachel Shippee, and Alex Greenwood are three of the Adopt a College program’s most prolific leafleters.

So far this semester, Barbara Bear has personally handed booklets to 8,299 students. She also recently passed 100,000 booklets handed out over the course of her leafleting career! Above (from left) are Barbara (in hat) with Hannah, a vegan student who wants to volunteer after getting an Even If You Like Meat at Ventura College; Sindy, an Oxnard College student who got a booklet at Warped Tour, then watched Earthlings online, and has been veg ever since; Miriam, another student Barbara met at Oxnard College, who found a VO booklet in class last semester and decided it was a sign that she should go veg; and activist Beate Wolfe (far right) with Spencer, a student at Santa Barbara City College who said that getting a Your Choice from Barbara and Beate prompted her to go back to being veg!

Rachel Shippee has leafleted campuses in both Illinois and Mexico City this fall, reaching 8,019 students! Above (from left) is Rachel with a few of the 13,300 students that she and fellow activists reached at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México on October 15: Ana is a vegetarian who took booklets to share with her family, Helena is a vegan who helped leaflet on the spot, and Roxana decided to go vegetarian after reading a booklet!

Alex Greenwood (above) has leafleted 11 different Ontario campuses this semester, placing booklets directly into the hands of 7,624 students! On October 27, Alex reached 450 people at the University of Toronto: “A student said that she got a leaflet from me yesterday, was very interested in it and was going to stop eating red meat. We talked about how there is even more suffering in chicken, and she got a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating.”

Through December, your donations to Vegan Outreach will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $225,000: Donate now to spare twice as many animals from suffering!

On Monday, November 30th, Vegan Outreach lost a dear friend and a hero to the animals – Karen Oberg, volunteer and mother to John Oberg, VO’s Director of Communications. Karen lost her long battle with cancer.

The first time I met Karen, a few of us had just finished leafleting the Warped Tour in Detroit, and we came back to sleep at her place, which was nearby. We were tired and hungry, and we arrived to a bounty of cooked veggie burgers, homemade fries, and fixin’s that Karen joyously offered us, which we happily devoured. And little did we know that when we all slept in beds that night, Karen quietly went off to a room and slept on the floor. She gave us all the available beds and didn’t even let us know of the sacrifice she made for us.

Karen was also a dedicated VO leafleter. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, she would still join John for leafleting, putting in some impressive days of outreach. On a leafleting outing just this past September, she personally handed out over 800 booklets — from a wheelchair!

How John treated Karen during this time was the stuff of legend. John moved back to Michigan to be there for his mom and was with her at all times, taking her to appointments, to concerts, sports events, etc. Here’s a heartwarming video of John catching a fly ball at a Detroit Tigers game and giving the ball to Karen. John truly set the gold standard for how we should treat our loved ones during a time of illness.

Karen will be remembered as someone who showered others with kindness, generosity, joy, and humor in the face of great adversity. Thank you for all you did to bring more compassion into this world, Karen.

We at Vegan Outreach will miss you immensely.

– Jon Camp