FW: Volunteer help with VegSF

[Guest guest]

Hey there,

I wanted to see if anyone would be willing and able to

volunteer some time to help expand VegSF. It’s the new site I emailed

folks about a couple weeks

ago: www.VegSF.com. Among the main purposes

for the site are to reward veg-friendly businesses and as an incentive for businesses

to become more veg-friendly. In the coming weeks I’m planning to launch a

full VegSF campaign to reach out to restaurants to encourage them to offer more

veg options, as doing so will only help their business. (It will also help us

have more choices and, more importantly, make vegetarianism and veganism more

mainstream and less intimidating for people considering making the switch.)

 

I’d like to set up a meeting (after the new year) with

people interested in being part of this project so that we

can brainstorm how

to approach this most

effectively, but

for now I’ve listed below projects I know I

need help with. (I already have some people who have volunteered for some of

these projects, but I am

listing it all together to get a sense of people’s interests.)

 

Please check out the

list below and email me directly if

you’re interested in working on any of these projects and/or if

you’d like to meet (I’m thinking of the new veg Indian restaurant

Kaleva—may as well support a local veggie

place while

we’re meeting to discuss this campaign!) to

discuss this

effort further.

 

Thanks!

 

Nora

 

Here’s what I’d like help with:

§

Updating the website with new

entries. I have tendonitis in my wrists, so I’m trying to spend less time

on the computer. If

anyone (it helps to have basic HTML

knowledge, but it’s not necessary) with

access to a

WYSIWYG program like DreamWeaver or FrontPage can make

updates to the site

(I’ll send you the info) and then send them back for me to

upload, it would be a big help. This could be an

ongoing project but will

be most relevant in the short term as the site is still getting off the ground

and expanding its listings, particularly

outside of SF. I THINK I’VE GOT THIS COVERED, BUT LET ME KNOW IF

YOU’RE INTERESTED.

§

Restaurant outreach—working

with restaurants in your area to encourage them to expand their veg offerings.

We can all do this informally each time we are in a restaurant or grocery store

that doesn’t have many veg options—simply taking a moment to

request something specific will go a long way. But in addition to that,

I’d like to start doing this in a more formal, organized way of

contacting restaurants and asking to meet with the owner or manager to discuss

expanding their veg options. Armed with VegSF business cards so that you can

say you represent the VegSF campaign, you may have more credibility than if you

are seen as just an individual. Visit http://www.cok.net/lit/rest.php

for more information about this process and the success Compassion Over Killing

has had in Washington, DC. THE MORE

PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS THE BETTER, AND THE LEVEL OF COMMITMENT

IS 100% UP TO YOU.

 

§

Contact businesses, organizations,

restaurants, etc., to let them know about the site and to seek their help to

promote it. This could be as simple as my giving you a bunch of VegSF postcards

and having you walk around to listed restaurants in your area to ask them if

you can put out postcards advertising the site, or it could be making phone

calls or emails to orgs, posting occasionally to Craigslist and other lists,

and more creative possibilities. I HAVE SOMEONE WHO HAS COMMITTED TO WORKING

WITH ORGS AND RESTAURANTS, BUT IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED

IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

§

Internet research. I’d like to

expand the listings on the site and add some other categories that will need to

be researched.

 

§

Brainstorming or suggesting

possibilities for additional categories,

such as monthly (or

periodic) features, general

veg resources, veg-owned businesses,

hard-to-find veg items (like marshmallows, soy cheeze

pizza), public access shows, and

lots more that I haven’t thought of but that you may have.

 

§

Lastly and leastly, since this is

not a priority but it is a way to help, donations to print more VegSF postcards and

eventually a printed guide to publicize the listings.

If you haven’t seen the cards, they

look great and promote the site as a hip, fun resource for people

wanting to connect w/ local veg

resources.

I’d like these post cards to be

ubiquitous around the city so that

new or aspiring vegetarians know they can go to

VegSF to get connected to veg

groups and events, so that restaurant owners see it promoted everywhere and

want to be listed, so that local activists can table

with and distribute them widely, so that hotels can make them

available to guests, and so that it just looks so cool that

everyone wants to be part of the VegSF community!

(By the way, what I mean by “the VegSF community”

is to be vegetarian and hopefully connected with

fantastic local resources like

SFBAveg, BAARN, SFVS, etc.) VegSF is

a project of the Veg

News Network, which is a 501©3

non-profit, so your donation is tax-deductible. You can donate at

https://vegnews.secure.powweb.com/donate.html.

(To make sure the money is allocated to VegSF, you can email me to let me know,

include it in a note along with your check, or write “VegSF” in the

“Other” donation box. 100% of donations will pay to print materials

to promote VegSF resources.

 

If you can help in any of these ways, or have other

suggestions for making the Bay Area more veg-friendly, please email me!

 

Thanks so much,

 

Nora