June 2009 Archives

Here is the transcript of an e-mail update that went out to individuals involved in the leafleting video, which I am re-posting here to keep CAAers in the loop on this issue:

Thank you for your participation and patience with the leafleting video project.

We regret to inform you that due to numerous, unforeseen issues arising along the way, we have decided that it is not practical to continue moving forward on the video itself. Needless to say, we are very disappointed that this project has been beset by so many problems.

We have, however, been able to retain the companion website for the video at http://www.LeafletNow.org, which provides a clearinghouse of information for both new advocates and veteran leafleters.

We cannot stress enough how we appreciated your help along the way and we ask for your understanding on these unfortunate developments.

Thank you!

-Gil Schwartz (Compassionate Action for Animals) and Jon Camp (Vegan Outreach)

I would like to congratulate Leah Kodner on her superbly written letter that got published recently in the Albert Lea Tribune!  Click on this link to check it out: http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2009/jun/05/there-same-outcry-livestock/

The other writers are furiously working on articles including a Their Lives Our Voices 2009 conference wrap-up and an Independence Day article on factory farming.  Stay tuned! 

Soon, we will also be working on two pieces for the annual Do it Green! magazine.  Exciting stuff!

If you have any ideas or suggestions on what the writers group could work on or if you would like to get involved, please feel free to email me at kristine.volovsek@exploreveg.org.

After 2 years of helping CAA with accounting duties, it's time for me to step down. I still plan to be involved in CAA events and event planning, but I need a break. I have found one person who might be interested, but if there are any other possible volunteers, please email me at mindy@exploreveg.org. You do not need a background in accounting - just a willingness to learn. I'm happy to train someone in and help as needed, but would like to reduce my overall time commitment due to other personal circumstances.

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please let me know - thanks!

First, wasn't the conference great?! I really loved meeting new and connecting with old animal activists. What a great turnout and energy! I hope folks feel empowered

Have I talked about Compassionate Times recently? We used to publish this 1-3 times/year and mailed out a printed copy to our donors. Starting last fall, we're publishing it online exclusively. The Spring 2009 edition came out in May, and I'll start working on a new one soon. We're now taking the content directly from the weekly update, instead of creating new content. We're doing this because the weekly update goes out to 9,000 people (as opposed to the two hundred on the Compassionate Times list), and we figure if we're making great content, we should offer it to the subscribers there. Furthermore, the content that we want to provide (update on our events, recipes, articles, etc.) to our donors is similar to what we provide to volunteers.

We still want to have a printed publication to give to donors and volunteers, so we created a fancy annual report. We've printed enough for all of our donors (we mailed them last month) and volunteers. You can pick one up from the office and give them out to your volunteers.

pattrice's keynote was both thoughtful and thought-provoking. However, I was quite disappointed that she ignored our Memorandum of Understanding (something all speakers signed) asking her to abide by our core values in her talk, and took the opportunity to promote the ALF.

I think that this deserves a response, and so I wrote one, Ruthless Pragmatism, the ALF, and Strategic Nonviolence. I also wrote another entry on another topic from her keynote, Please Stop Abusing the Poor Little Numbers.

Finally, for another take on the topic of "how do we win", I'd suggest Erik Marcus's book Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, & Money. I wrote a review of this book back when it came out. It's a fantastic take on what it will take to win our struggle.

In the four weeks that I've been here, I have been keeping busy by doing lots of writing. For one thing, Gil has taught me how to write the weekly e-newsletters, so I've been doing that for a few weeks. I've also been working on the 2009 Vegan Food Showcase. For that, I sent out emails to prospective companies and asked them to donate food and/or coupons for this event. Now I've been slowly collecting the replies and creating an ever-changing list of the companies who will be participating.

I have also been working with the writer's group. I have been sending out responses to articles whenever they come my way. In addition to that, I have been working on larger articles. I recently wrote an article about why Minnesota should and eventually will follow in Maine's footsteps and ban extreme confinement in farming practices. It hasn't been published yet, but keep your eyes open! I just started research for another article. This one will tie in the upcoming Independence Day with the irony of factory farms. Kristine and I are hoping to send it to the Daily shortly before the 4th of July. Maybe this one will get published on its first try!

There's a lot going on!

We're planning a donor appreciation event that's going to happen in August. A new volunteer, Abby L, is helping out. It will be hosted at a donor's (and friend of mine) apartment in St. Paul.

We will write a fund raising email to donors and conference attendees who are not donors to go out in early July. Leah K is working on that.

We're exploring different food options for next year's banquet. I am trying to identify a volunteer or two to research caterers. We've always gotten donated food or cooked the food ourselves at the banquet, but we're considering making it a bit fancier. No decisions have been made.

Kedar and I are going to have lunch with a leader from the Jain Society of Minnesota. Jainism is a religion that is very animal-friendly. Fund raising or outreach opportunities may arise from this.

We had a fund raiser raise some money for a half-marathon she did, using the same online fund raising service that we use for Outreach for Animals Week.

Which reminds me: I've assembled most or all of the committee to plan Outreach for Animals Week 2009. This is a fund raising and outreach event where people have their friends and family sponsor them to hand out leaflets at colleges and events.