June news from Marin V.E.G.

[Guest guest]

June, 2009

 

Marin Vegetarian Education Group

 

 

Our June Meeting:

 

Building

Bone Vitality

A

talk by

Amy Lanou, Ph.D.,

 

Author of

the new book,

Building

Bone Vitality

A

Revolutionary Diet Plan to Prevent Bone Loss

and Reverse

Osteoporosis

And a Vegan

Pot Luck

Dinner

Wednesday,

June 24

 

 

6:30

Potluck, Vegan Dinner

7:30 Talk

with Dr. Lanou

The Sunrise

Center

645

Tamalpais Drive

Corte Madera

 

$2 - $5,

sliding scale

Invite

your friends to join you! We will learn how to

strengthen our bones and stay

vital and strong for a life time with Dr. Amy Lanou. Dr. Lanou is an

assistant

professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina in

Ashville, and on the staff of Physicians’ Committee

For Responsible Medicine. She will share her cutting edge

knowledge of health and bone health and allow plenty of time to answer

questions.

 

Please

bring:

*a vegan dish to share with 8 others

*your own plate, utensils and serving spoon

*a cup for water

 

 

City of Ghent Declares a Weekly Vegetarian Day

 

The city of Ghent in Belgium is walking its talk. Noting that meat

production causes more greenhouse gas emissions than motor vehicles

(www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html), the city is

calling for its employees and in the fall, its schools to go vegetarian

one day a week. Hooray for this wise decision!

 

Helping John Robbins

As many of you know, John Robbins and his family were victims of

the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme and lost their life savings. (An

article in the Chronicle a few months ago tells the story:

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/02/23/findrelig022309.DTL)

Many individuals who appreciate John's work and have been moved by his

writing have been generous and have sent checks to John's family, for

which they are tremendously grateful.

 

Now, there is a fundraising effort underway for a Lifetime Achievement

Award for John Robbins by GreenAmerica (www.GreenAmericaToday.org),

formerly known as Co-op America. They hope to raise $100,000 to honor

John's work for a healthier, more sustainable, more compassionate

world.

 

To enable GreenAmerica to keep their overhead low, they are asking only

for contributions of $500 or more. If you are inspired to participate

at that level, please contact Russ Gaskin, Green America's Operations

Manager: 202-872-5331, or write to him at

RussGaskin. You will be asked to sign a letter

agreeing that the gift is for any purpose, but that your intention is

to help them support the award for John Robbins. This is a legal

safeguard to enable donors to deduct the gift when they file taxes this

year.

 

Of course, many people have already given to the Robbins family, and

many more may want to help, but not at the level requested by

GreenAmerica. John's son Ocean has let me know that for anyone who

cannot contribute to the award, the best way to support the family is

to buy a copy of John's new book, due out a year from now and called

The New Good Life. When it is available for pre-orders on Amazon, we

can help the publisher know how many to print and help the family with

ongoing income by ordering the book in advance. I'll let you know in

this newsletter when that becomes possible, probably in the winter of

2009.

 

And for anyone not familiar with John Robbins' work, he is the author

of some of the most influential and heart opening books ever written

about our health and our interconnectedness with all life. If you have

never read his work, you may want to start with The Food Revolution or

its earlier incarnation, Diet for a New America. His most recent book

was Healthy at 100. John's father and uncle were the creators of the

Baskin-Robbins ice-cream company. John chose not to follow in his

father's footsteps, but instead to educate people about how our food

choices affect our health and the health of the planet and its other

inhabitants.

 

 

Essay Competition Open Until September

Remember to enter our writing competition, open to everyone, and

featuring wonderful prizes. Write 800 words or fewer on "Why I Am a

Vegetarian," and share your motivation and success with others.

The judges are Howard Lyman, author of Mad Cowboy and No More Bull,

Shirley Virgil, cofounder of Donna's Tamales, and Patti Breitman,

co-founder of The Marin Vegetarian Education Group (that's me).

Fourth Prize is a $25 gift certificate to Allison's Gourmet: Organic

Artisan Bakery & Gifts

Third Prize is a $50 VegNews Gift Pack, including an oversized tote

bag, T-shirt, 1 year magazine subscription, the current issue and 6

jumbo cookies.

Second Prize is a Tamale Party from Donna's Tamales, featuring 3

dozen tamales of your choice, plus three different salsas.

First Prize is a $100 gift certificate to the best gourmet, vegan

restaurant in the Bay Area (in our humble opinion), Millennium

Restaurant.

All winners will receive a certificate recognizing writer, and a

copy of my new book, How to Eat Like a Vegetarian, Even If You Never

Want To Be One. The winning essays will be posted on our web site.

The judges are Howard Lyman, author of Mad Cowboy and No More Bull,

Shirley Virgil, cofounder of Donna's Tamales, and Patti Breitman,

co-founder of The Marin Vegetarian Education Group (that's me).

To enter, send your essay by email to

VegetarinsInMarin (or by regular mail to 12 Rally Ct.,

Fairfax, CA) before September 1. Only work under 800 words will be

considered. All submissions may be used in publicity for the Marin

Vegetarian Education Group and may be submitted to other blogs, web

sites, and print and on-air media for publication with credit to the

author. Be sure to keep a copy of whatever you send.

 

In Defense of Animals Potluck and Opportunities for Volunteers

Work

If you have always wanted to work on behalf of animals, but didn't know

where to start, come to a volunteer orientation for In Defense of

Animals (IDF) at their office, 3010 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael (388-9641)

on Saturday, June 6 from 1:00 - 3:00. It's a vegan potluck, so bring

some good food to share, and then join other compassionate people to

discuss local activities that might be sponsored by IDA. After that, at

2:00, there will be a volunteer orientation. Tasks available for

volunteers range from high tech to no tech and will then allow you to

join IDA's Saturday sessions, on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each

month. These sessions may include gardening, data entry, or work on

cruelty cases. Also, they may include sending out brochures and help

with organizing office space.

 

Remember Bay Area Vegetarians

To discover more summer activities be sure to consult

BayAreaVeg.org. This Bay Area wide organization exists to help vegans,

vegetarians and animal rights activists to find support and community.

They offer dozens of activities every month from San Jose to Sonoma.

Support them with your financial contributions and by attending their

events.

 

The Five Minute Volunteer

Can anyone volunteer to post our events on the BayAreaVeg calendar?.

The wonderful activist Kate D. who has done this for a long time has

moved out of the area. Will you spare 5 minutes a month for Marin VEG?

Thanks for letting me know if you can do this.

 

Mailing List Clean Up

Please let me know if you are receiving this newsletter twice. Some

names may have been entered in more than one address book. Thank you!

 

************************************************************************************************************************

 

 

To contact us, write to VegetariansInMarin

or call 415-459-1666.

 

We appreciate contributions of any size. We will thank you for a

contribution of $20 or more with a 1-year subscription (or a 1-year

continuation of a current subscription) to VegNews magazine. Send

contributions to Marin Vegetarian Education Group, 12 Rally Ct.,

Fairfax, CA, 94930.

 

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