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“I chose to be vegan initially as an energetic pursuit, as meat and dairy slowed me down, but have since become convinced that it is not only the most healthy way to live, but also the most compassionate and ecologically responsible way.”
-Woody Harrelson, World Go Vegan Week Supporter
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World GO VEGAN Week
Celebrate Compassion...
The 4th annual World GO VEGAN Week is taking place this year from October 25 through 31. This week is a celebration of compassion and a time to take action for animals, the environment and everyone’s well-being. We encourage people to use this week to use this week to educate their community about the vegan lifestyle as a compassionate, sustainable, and healthy way of eating and living. Promoting veganism through outreach events and the media, we know that our annual World GO VEGAN Week is helping make the word "vegan" a household word, universally recognized as meaning love and compassion for all living beings.
World GO VEGAN Week is also about celebrating what it means to be vegan. Veganism enables people to live in balance with all of Earth's creatures and promote freedom from exploitation for animals as part of their everyday lives. Modern animal agriculture is cruel and violent toward the chickens, cows, pigs and other creatures used to make meat, milk and eggs. During World GO VEGAN Week, we encourage people to become conscious of what - and who - they are eating, the effect it has on the world, and that a non-violent alternative exists.
We urge people to recognize the effects their actions have on the world, and our ability to actually avert some impending disasters such as global warming.
For the health of people, the environment, and farmed animals, veganism is the best choice. World GO VEGAN Week embodies this idea. As an international campaign, it encourages people around the world to experience the benefits and joys of a more compassionate way of life.
Here are some ways you can celebrate World GO VEGAN Week:
Be sure to register your event with us so we can send you flyers, posters and other materials to make you event a success. Contact Hope Bohanec: hope@idausa.org (415)448-0048 ex. 208.
- Plan an event or activity to get people interested in veganism, such as a public lecture, cooking demonstration, feed-in with vegan food samples, leafleting, tabling, library exhibit, or street theater performance. If you serve vegan food at your event, you can get refunded for the cost through the VegFund.
- Contact your local paper and encourage them to publish vegan recipes or a vegan article. We have a “editor’s pack” that you can send to your local newspaper with information and vegan recipes. Contact Hope Bohanec, hope@idausa.org, to have it sent to you.
- Order Vegan Starter Kits to distribute.
- Host a vegan potluck dinner or restaurant outing to show your family and friends that they don't have to sacrifice taste to save animals' lives. Sharing delicious vegan food with others is a fun and easy way to make a difference in the lives of animals and the people you care about.
- Ask your local natural foods store to offer vegan samples for the week. Ask your favorite local food store to offer vegan samples or specials for the last week of October. Let them know that we can send information, posters and materials to help them celebrate World Go Vegan Week.
- Ask veg-friendly restaurants to offer discounts or specials on their vegan food. Encourage restaurants to have vegan specials for the week or to offer a discount for bringing in a veg-curious customer.
- Host a screening of Fowl Play, an eye-opening documentary about the egg-industry, at your local library or another venue. Fowl Play illuminates the plight of factory-farmed laying hens through interviews with people who are fighting diligently to save them. Invite To get a copy of Fowl Play, contact IDA at (415) 448-0048 ext. 208 or hope@idausa.org.
- Show a powerful, short vegan video at your next potluck or social gathering. Here's one of our favorites: Vegan video by NonViolenceUnited.org.
- Host a vegan pie-baking contest. You can do this in your own home in a public place. Offer prizes like gift certificates to veggie restaurants or IDA T-shirts. Don't you want to be a judge? Yum!
- Host a Vegan Halloween Party. Have a costume party and have prizes for the best animal costume, most compassionate, and the most vegan creative! Have vegan Halloween candy and treats on hand and go trick-or-treating, offering folks at the door vegan candy and brochures.
- Students: join or start a vegan club in your school and plan an event with your friends that will educate people about the benefits of a vegan diet to human health, animals, and the environment. Write a paper on veganism, hand out vegan literature at a college campus or help get vegan meals into your school's cafeteria. Visit Choice to learn how.
- Have a well-known vegan author or athlete come speak in your community. Host an event where a famous vegan offers an inspiring presentation. Have vegan treats for folks to try. IDA can help you contact the person.
- Send a friend or family member who lives far away a gift certificate to a restaurant in their own town. Visit Happy Cow for reviews of vegetarian restaurants around the country.
- Encourage meat-eating family and friends to try Meat Out Monday and give meatless meals a try for one day a week. If they sign up for the newsletter, they get reminders, recipes and inspriation in a weekly newsletter. Go to: www.meatoutmonday.org.
- Write a letter to the editor about the benefits of a vegan diet or the cruelties of factory farming, or ask your local newspaper to write a story on the subject.
- If you are religious, or participate in spiritual services or gatherings, look for opportunities to incorporate the vegan message into the discussions. If you participate in study groups, suggest discussion fo the vegan message.
- Enter cooking competitions and bake sales using vegan recipes. Emphasize the fact that you didn't use any animal ingredients to make your delicious dishes. Attend cooking competitions and support the vegan entries.
- Visit a farmed animal sanctuary and take a friend who still eats meat. There are a number of farmed animal sanctuaries where you can visit rescued cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep and rabbits live naturally in peace and harmony without fear of abuse or slaughter. Check out Animal Acres, Animal Place, Farm Sanctuary, Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary, or IDA's Project Hope.
- Order t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, pins and other fun stuff to have for the day of your event from IDA and other vegan merchants.
- Join or start a vegan dinner club. Find veg-friendly restaurants and invite the community for dinner. Try a different restaurant every month.
- Encourage a Compassionate Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks, talk to your community food banks about providing vegan options such as Tofurkys. Consider buying a few Tofurkys, preparing them, and bringing them to your food bank or other similar community dinner. Be sure to check out Gentle Thanksgiving which offers a lot of information and guidance on this special observance.
- Share the ideals of veganism with your community of friends and colleagues by adding this quote to your email signature:
"Veganism gives us all the opportunity to say what we 'stand for' iin life -- the ideal of healthy, humane living. Add decades of health to your life, with a clear conscience as a bonus." - Donald Watson
- If you are a part of an animal protection organization, become a presenter of World GO VEGAN Week. There are no costs to you for joining us as a co-presenter. All you need is to post the World GO VEGAN Days banner on your web site, which links to the World GO VEGAN Days web page. Contact Hope Bohanec, for more information: hope@idausa.org or call (415) 448-0048 ext. 208.
- Adopt an activist.
- Add a link to IDA's World GO VEGAN Week Web site from your web site.
- Create a plan to promote veganism all year.
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Watch Kenneth Williams' PSA!
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