Chelsea Collins: Spring 2014

Chelsea Collins.

VO Australia Outreach Coordinator, Chelsea Collins, has traveled to 34 different campuses this semester, reaching more than 26,000 students with Vegan Outreach booklets!

On 3/21/14, Chelsea had help from Melissa Kilkelly, and together they reached 1,150 students at Monash University in Caulfield, Victoria:

“Something cool happened: two first-year students came up to me to ask if they could take my photo for their photojournalism class! I obliged and showed them which angle to get for the perfect ‘leafleting pass’ photo, and they were very appreciative. I offered to help them get an article into their student newspaper, which excited them and we exchanged details. I let them know that I was happy to help them out with material for AR pieces any time during their uni days, or later in their careers. They loved it, and I hope they do write a piece!

“At lunchtime, I was joined by the lovely Melissa, a first-time leafleter. She wrote: ‘I actually had a sore jaw from smiling so much after handing booklets out for 2 hours! I had a great first experience leafleting. I’m very much looking forward to helping out again!!!’”

Photojournalism students Ellyse and Georgia. First-time leafleter Melissa Kilkelly.

Chelsea handed out 900 Australian Your Choice booklets at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales on 3/28/14:

“Though the weather wasn’t great, I had a really wonderful day with some great interactions. It was a big success and I can’t wait to come back here next time.

“My absolute highlight of the day was meeting Salim, who came back after taking a booklet and offered to help me leaflet – he even talked his non-veg friend Alexandra into helping him! They took a pack of 50 and went to hand them out at the law building. He came back later on and took another pack of 50 to hand out after his next class. Salim also told me about a café on campus that serves vegetarian and vegan options. I’m looking forward to catching up with Salim next time I am in ‘the gong.’ I took his picture with the booklet, and with his big smile and enthusiasm, I know he will be a great friend to the animals in the future by inspiring many people to go veg!

“I celebrated my fruitful day by hitting probably the best vegan Asian restaurant in Australia – Au Lac Royal Vegetarian Cuisine – for a late lunch. I had the pho soup with soy chicken and tofu. It was incredible and filling!”

Salim Leon, a UOW student who went vegan in February, got a booklet from Chelsea and then came back to help leaflet! Wig got one of the 1,670 booklets Chelsea handed out at Monash University in Clayton on 3/20/14; she’s vegan and was excited to see VO on campus!

You can help Chelsea raise funds for VO’s Adopt a College program by visiting her Team Vegan page here. If you make a donation, she promises to buy you a coffee next time you see each other!

Two New Surveys

Two interesting surveys came out in the past week:

How Many Teens and Other Youth are Vegetarian and Vegan? The Vegetarian Resource Group Asks in a 2014 National Poll

The Vegetarian Resource Group released a poll of rates of vegetarianism among 8 to 18 year olds. The poll found that 4% of respondents are always vegetarian and 1% are vegan.

What Elements Make A Leaflet More Effective?

The Humane League Labs posted a report about what makes a leaflet more effective. It is full of interesting information and Vegan Outreach will be carefully considering their findings when updating and creating our booklets.

Cobie, Nettie, and Jack in Corvallis

On May 7, Vegan Outreach’s Executive Director, Jack Norris, RD, gave a talk in Corvallis, OR on vegetarian nutrition.

Cobie, Amy, Jack, Amanda, and Nettie.

It was a lot of fun to finally meet our very dedicated Oregon volunteers Cobie deLespinasse and Nettie Schwager!

Every semester Cobie and Nettie leaflet most of the Oregon colleges so that our outreach coordinators can spend their time in other parts of the country. During the 2013–14 school year, they handed out 15,800 booklets at 14 schools!

Cobie has also been a big supporter of Jack’s efforts to make sure vegans have enough nutrition info for a positive experience. She decided to bring him to Corvallis to speak and contacted the Oregon State University vegetarian group and the student dietetics group, who helped her advertise the talk.

There was a good turnout of about 50 to 60 people with many thoughtful questions and comments.

And speaking of nutrition, Jack recently updated the article Tips for New Vegans at VeganHealth.org that summarizes what vegans need to know to have a good experience both right away and also for the long-term.

Thank you, Cobie and Nettie!

Dawn Ratcliffe: Spring 2014

VO Arizona Outreach Coordinator, Dawn Ratcliffe, has visited 55 campuses this semester, directly handing Vegan Outreach booklets to over 29,000 students!

Since the fall of 2004, Dawn has reached more than 238,000 people with our booklets!

Linda Bower snapped this pic of Dawn providing an FIU student with Compassionate Choices.

Dawn was joined by Linda Bower and Yuri Mitzkewich at Florida International University on 1/10/14, and together they handed out more than 3,700 booklets:

“Second-best all-time number at this school, which is a favorite of Linda’s, Yuri’s, and mine; and a new personal best for Yuri (1,557 booklets handed out). Yuri rocked it at the library, while I stayed mainly at the bridge; and Linda, who is another powerhouse leafleter, tabler, PPVer, food sampling queen, etc., stood on the other side of the Graham Center. Lots of solid conversations and delightful weather with temps starting out at 72 in the morning and reaching the low 80s.

Linda reports: “Ashley and Crystal were blown away by the info. They said they had seen Food, Inc. but had no idea that it was as bad as in the leaflet. They pledged to continue to move towards 100% vegan.”

“The highlight of the day was hearing from a man and woman in their 40s who were so moved by the Compassionate Choices (and subsequent Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating) that they are going to share the information with their kids and make some significant changes.

Gabriela received a VO booklet a year ago and went vegetarian! She told Linda that her boyfriend is almost veg since she showed him the booklet, and that she now wants to go vegan and get active for animals! Linda also met Alina and her boyfriend: “She was really excited to get the leaflet because she’s been vegan 19 years, since birth! She says her mom raised her and her brother vegan. She asked for local info.”

“Also talked to a woman who was so moved by the CC that she wants to make a donation to VO. Super terrific day! A big shout-out to Linda for her continued activism and compassion for animals over the years, and to Yuri for being such an enthusiastic leafleter and all-around caring person.”

To raise funds for VO’s Adopt a College leafleting program, Dawn plans to hike the highest mountain in Arizona, Humphreys Peak, sometime in June! You can click here for more details.

Kassy Ortega: Spring 2014

VO Delmarva Outreach Coordinator, Kassy Ortega, has been to 49 different schools this semester, getting Vegan Outreach booklets into the hands of over 31,000 students!

Since the spring of 2012, Kassy has reached more than 104,000 people!

Reem Lajin took this pic of Kassy at the University of Virginia, where, along with first-time leafleter Amy Nickel, they reached 2,250 students on 2/17/14.

“I’m never eating chicken again!”

Kassy was joined by Reem Lajin at Virginia Commonwealth University on 2/4/14, and together they handed out 2,400 Compassionate Choices:

“As usual on this campus, we heard from a number of vegans and vegetarians – including a vegan who said she loved us so much for leafleting! Such a great feeling.

“Reem is so positively passionate about animal rights, I think it really resonates with students. All her conversations seemed to go over pretty well! It was chillier than Reem expected it to be, but she pulled through ’til the very end.

“I offered a booklet to a faculty member, and she replied: ‘Oh, you already offered me one. I sat inside and read it – what we are doing is horrible! I’m never eating chicken again!’ Slightly caught off guard by her amazing reply, I followed after her and offered her a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating. She was very appreciative. I introduced myself and gave her my info in case she’s itching for someone to speak to her students, or another professor wants a speaker.”

On 2/7/14, Kassy teamed with Chris Dietrich, Kim Moffatt, Cristina Myers, and Lauren Hart, setting a new one-day record at Bowie State University:

“Amazing crew! These folks are so much fun to leaflet with. I also just want to put it on record that Chris Dietrich is an insanely talented leafleter. No one gets by that guy!

“Kim had a very productive conversation with Mike, a student who isn’t vegetarian, but his dad has been vegetarian for 30 years. Hopefully Kim gave him that extra push to choose compassionately. She also gave him a Guide.

“I heard from a new vegetarian! She was very appreciative of the Guide and Tofurky coupons that I gave her.

After talking with Lauren, this BSU student is interested in going veg.

“I chatted briefly with another student who asked me what he can eat instead of chicken or beef. I told him about the wonderful world of cruelty-free meat alternatives that can be found at any grocery store! He told me he would look for them and try them. He seemed especially interested in searching for Gardein chick’n tenders. Yum.

“Great day for animals!”

To help ensure more great days for animals, Kassy is raising funds for VO’s Adopt a College program by challenging herself to run her first Tough Mudder on June 14!

You can show your support by visiting her Team Vegan page here.

Chris Guinn: Spring 2014

VO Outreach Coordinator Chris Guinn has traveled to 90 different campuses this semester, directly handing Vegan Outreach booklets to over 45,000 students!

Since the fall of 2013, Chris has reached more than 102,000 individuals!

Alex Greenwood snapped this pic of Chris handing out Even If You Like Meat at the U of Toronto in Mississauga.

On 3/5/14, Chris Guinn, Matt Corriveau, Linda Otoole, and Dally Hudson handed out 1,655 booklets at Carnegie Mellon University:

“CMU is definitely a favorite for me; the main walkways are almost always busy. Matt and I had help from all-star volunteers Linda and Dally, who joined us as first-time leafleters. They each did an amazing job and spent 2 hours in the cold with us – pretty awesome of them! They also told me that they'd talked to a good number of vegetarians and vegans!

“Lots of positive interactions here; the most notable was talking to Iris. I could see Matt speaking to her across the quad from me; he sent her my way to grab a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating. Iris was incredibly moved by our Your Choice booklet and told me she now wanted to go vegetarian. We had a great conversation and when she left I was confident she'd be making some new compassionate eating choices! Oh, and we even found out that the school has a vegan restaurant in their dining area – so cool!”

Linda and Dally make their leafleting debuts at CMU. Iris wants to go veg after reading Your Choice.

Jonathan went veg after getting a booklet last year.

On 3/28/14, Chris reported:

“What an amazing day at Rider University! Matt and I were able to reach 564 students before we had to take off; but even still, we hit a good majority of the students there today.

“I had a truly heartwarming experience this afternoon with a student named Jonathan. As soon as I saw him, I remembered him from my visit to Rider last semester, and he quickly recognized me as well. Last semester we had a great conversation about vegetarian eating, and Jonathan, who was then a meat eater, was excited to share that he is now a vegetarian!

“It really made my day – Vegan Outreach is changing hearts and minds, one leaflet at a time – yay!”


You can help Vegan Outreach continue to change hearts and minds, one leaflet at a time, by checking out Chris’s Team Vegan page here.