Dress code: Vegetables.

[Guest guest]

Can you imagine the world

today if abolitionists had just talked about ending slavery, but never actually

done anything about it? If they had

never risked speaking up, getting laughed at, being ignored? If they had never taken a deep breath

before tackling what must have seemed like truly impossible odds?

Or what about

suffragettes? As a woman, I

don’t like the thought of being forced to marry and have children, to be

a man’s property for my entire life.

To think of never being able to work at what I love, to have my opinions

utterly ignored, to not vote in the upcoming election with the Humane California ballot initiative…Ugh! I feel a very personal sense of

connection to, and gratitude for, the women who got up off their easy chairs

and risked everything to bring about change.

That’s what I was

thinking about this past Sunday morning as I tied beets and parsley into my

hair, getting ready to join Bay Area Vegetarians for a fabulous morning of

leafleting. I could have stayed in bed. I could have been enjoying a leisurely

brunch somewhere. I could have been

wasting my morning in any number of ways.

But thanks to Tammy and BAV I ended up being part of a big step toward

change and it felt great. So, to

everyone who helped on Sunday….THANK YOU!!

San Francisco Pride

Parade was awesome. Packed with

people who were excited to get veggie information. We actually had people chasing after us

to get leaflets! We reached

thousands of people with the information about intense animal suffering, and an

easy way to stop it (going veg).

Many of these people had never seen images from a slaughterhouse. If we hadn’t been there, they

would still be oblivious.

We’re not just changing society by creating lots of new vegans,

we’re changing individual lives.

I know my life changed forever the moment I learned how animals are

raised and killed for food. I

wasn’t happy, but I’m sure grateful that somebody spent the time

and money and energy to get that info into my hands.

Shani and I thought it would be best

to wear leaves, since we were, you know, leafleting. We

paper-clipped fresh cabbage and kale leaves to green bikinis and the resulting

costumes really helped break the ice, even at the end when the parsley was

wilting and we needed a bed of ice for our produce. People couldn’t help smiling and

asking what we were handing out. Together with Ari, Jack, Miranda, Sarah, Tammy, and

Victor, we handed out over 5,600 vegetarian

booklets. That’s

definitely a record for me! Thanks

to the marvelous Miranda and Victor, thousands more were handed out over the

entire Pride weekend.

The only downside to

Sunday leafleting was seeing all the people we didn’t

reach. If we had just a few more

volunteers we could have made thousands more vegetarians! Please consider joining an upcoming leafleting. Because for animals whose lives are

worse than we can ever imagine, our activism truly is the difference between

unmitigated horror and liberation.

We’re all they’ve got!

 

It’s OK if you think

you’re too shy to leaflet. We

need people to help transport lit to the meeting place. We need photographers. We need cart pushers. The animals who are right at this moment

screaming in pain in slaughterhouses need you to get involved so that more

people will go veg. You can have

the time of your life and wear a silly

costume (hey, you only live once!) or you can wear jeans as you help push

the cart full of leaflets. All

leafleting events wrap up with a yummy vegan meal at one of the Bay Area’s

great restaurants, which is a great time to get to know new people.

Thank you Bay Area Vegetarians and

PETA and Vegan Outreach for organizing an incredibly effective event; for

creating, printing and shipping the leaflets; and for being such fun and

positive people. You keep us

all inspired and it’s wonderful to see the world changing!

Alex

 

 

[Guest guest]

I've got to chime in and second Alex's email. I was only there for a

short time leafleting this weekend, but it was just fantastic. While

there will always be people who won't take leaflets, it's the ones who

do that make the difference.

 

One older man stopped after taking my brochure, looked at it for maybe

15 seconds, and said, " Wow. Thanks for ruining my day! " I started to

reply, saying, " I'm sorry to ruin your day--I know this is

upsetting--but thanks for caring so much about animals that it ruined

your day to know how they are suffering. " He said, " Actually, though it

does kind of ruin my day to see this, I was being serious in thanking

you. We need people like you out doing the dirty work of making people

aware of this issue. Thank you for being here. "

 

This is what we are providing when we leaflet. Aren't you glad you know

about how the animals are treated so that you can choose to do something

about it? Give others that opportunity to make a difference, as well!

And give the animals an opportunity for people to consider their plight.

 

Is there anyone who hasn't leafleted before that would like to go

leafleting either with an experienced leafleter or another person as a

buddy? If so, please reply to the whole list.

 

Finally, as someone who coached many people who at first said they were

too _________ or not ___________ enough to go out signature gathering

for the Humane California initiative, I am thrilled and proud to say

that a number of those people actually ended up gathering LOTS of

signatures and ended up having huge impacts on the campaign. YOU CAN DO

THIS.

 

I request that if you care about animals but think that you can't

leaflet (because of your personality or lack of knowledge or something

else about you), that you call me and we'll have a conversation about it!

 

Nora

415-710-7351

 

 

 

Alex Bury wrote:

>

> **Can you imagine the world today if abolitionists had just talked

> about ending slavery, but never actually done anything about it? If

> they had never risked speaking up, getting laughed at, being ignored?

> If they had never taken a deep breath before tackling what must have

> seemed like truly impossible odds?**

>

> **Or what about suffragettes? As a woman, I don’t like the thought of

> being forced to marry and have children, to be a man’s property for my

> entire life. To think of never being able to work at what I love, to

> have my opinions utterly ignored, to not vote in the upcoming election

> with the Humane ****California**** ballot initiative…Ugh! I feel a

> very personal sense of connection to, and gratitude for, the women who

> got up off their easy chairs and risked everything to bring about

> change. **

>

> **That’s what I was thinking about this past Sunday morning as I tied

> beets and parsley into my hair, getting ready to join Bay Area

> Vegetarians for a fabulous morning of leafleting. I could have stayed

> in bed. I could have been enjoying a leisurely brunch somewhere. I

> could have been wasting my morning in any number of ways. But thanks

> to Tammy and BAV I ended up being part of a big step toward change and

> it felt great. So, to everyone who helped on Sunday….THANK YOU!! **

>

> **San Francisco Pride Parade was awesome. Packed with people who were

> excited to get veggie information. We actually had people chasing

> after us to get leaflets! We reached thousands of people with the

> information about intense animal suffering, and an easy way to stop it

> (going veg). Many of these people had never seen images from a

> slaughterhouse. If we hadn’t been there, they would still be

> oblivious. We’re not just changing society by creating lots of new

> vegans, we’re changing individual lives. I know my life changed

> forever the moment I learned how animals are raised and killed for

> food. I wasn’t happy, but I’m sure grateful that somebody spent the

> time and money and energy to get that info into my hands. **

>

> *Shani and I thought it would be best to wear leaves, since we were,

> you know, /leaf/leting.** We paper-clipped fresh cabbage and kale

> leaves to green bikinis and the resulting costumes really helped break

> the ice, even at the end when the parsley was wilting and we needed a

> bed of ice for our produce. People couldn’t help smiling and asking

> what we were handing out. *** **Together with Ari, Jack, Miranda,

> Sarah, Tammy, and Victor, we handed out ov/er 5,600 vegetarian

> booklets/. That’s definitely a record for me! Thanks to the marvelous

> Miranda and Victor, thousands more were handed out over the entire

> Pride weekend.**

>

> **The only downside to Sunday leafleting was seeing all the people we

> /didn’t/ reach. If we had just a few more volunteers we could have

> made thousands more vegetarians! ***Please consider joining an

> upcoming leafleting. Because for animals whose lives are worse than we

> can ever imagine, our activism truly is the difference between

> unmitigated horror and liberation. We’re all they’ve got! *

>

> *It’s OK if you think you’re too shy to leaflet. We need people to

> help transport lit to the meeting place. We need photographers. We

> need cart pushers. The animals who are right at this moment screaming

> in pain in slaughterhouses need you to get involved so that more

> people will go veg. You can have the time of your life and wear a

> silly costume

> <http://www.bayareaveg.org/gallery2/v/pride08/IMG_9748.JPG.html> (hey,

> you only live once!) or you can wear jeans as you help push the cart

> full of leaflets. All leafleting events wrap up with a yummy vegan

> meal at one of the Bay Area’s great restaurants, which is a great time

> to get to know new people. *

>

> *Thank you Bay Area Vegetarians and PETA and Vegan Outreach for

> organizing an incredibly effective event; for creating, printing and

> shipping the leaflets; and for being such fun and positive people. You

> keep us all inspired and it’s wonderful to see the world changing!*

>

> *Alex*

>

>