Guest guest Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Hi folks, There's one advocacy activity that I personally feel meets all the criteria for effective advocacy yet seems to have gone relatively unnoticed, so I wanted to take a few minutes to let new folks know about this program sponsored by Vegan Outreach:the Adopt a College program.Adopt a College (AAC) is a program to increase the leafleting of vegetarian pamphlets to students. AAC reaches tens of thousands of students who would not approach a literature table. Local activists adopt a college and leaflet students with materials designed to educate them about factory farming, and vegetarianism, with the hopeful result of reducing suffering of animals by reducing the demand for eating animal parts.The program has been going on for a couple of years now. So, it's not really glamorous or exciting.. but it's very easy to do, you don't need any special training, and it can easily be fit into a small amount of time. That's what I do, I made a commitment (to myself, to the animals) to leaflet once a month for 30 minutes on my lunch hour. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I can distribute information to about a 100 people in that time. So 100 people every month, it adds up..I've personally seen many people stop and read the information. And the Adopt a College mailing list is filled with stories of great interactions other people have had, and Vegan Outreach gets a lot of positive feedback all the time from people going vegetarian or vegan from these materials. I also find this list keeps me motivated and I learn how others deal with typical leafleting responses from people. For example, Jon Camp wrote that one young woman said in a kind of snobby voice to her friend, "That's so disgusting" and he responded in a fairly assertive yet cordial voice that "What we do to animals is disgusting and this booklet simply documents that. I think of the booklet as a mirror into which we see our relationship towards animals. It's disturbing and some would rather not see that." There are people leafleting in the snow, people that do it every day, or distribute several hundred in an outing. And there are some like me, who do it once a month. This is the type of activity that you can pick the pace. The most important thing is to do it! Who knows, you might find it as addicting as MaggieMudd's Peanut Butter Palooka :-) You can find all the information you need to get started on this website:http://www.veganhealth.org/colleges There are only a few of us participating currently in the Bay Area. Now that schools are back in session, I hope more folks will join in! We've definitely got the advantage in weather, yet most of the participants (and top leafleters) are outside CA!?! http://www.veganhealth.org/colleges/colleges/semtotals/ Cheers,Tammy I leaflet the Academy of Arts College in SF during my lunch hour break. I'm planning to go on Tuesday, unless it rains OR something unexpected happens at work (which can happen)http://www.bayareaveg.org/events.php?EID=719#719 Bay Area Vegetarianswww.BayAreaVeg.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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