Welcome to Part III of the Spring 2017 Top Leafleters series! The past two weeks we’ve turned the spotlight toward the spring semester’s top 15 leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each activist to share their favorite memory of the semester, and we think their responses will leave you feeling very optimistic about the future of veganism.

If you didn’t read Part I and Part II, make sure you check them out!

Sam Tucker, Australia and New Zealand Outreach Coordinator

“On the first day of the semester, I set a personal record for the most leaflets I’d ever handed out in a single day—2,500 leaflets at Monash University!

“Then later in the semester that a student contacted Vegan Outreach to tell us they’d received a leaflet at Monash, and for the next couple of days it was all they could think about. They said the booklet was ‘equal parts informative, empowering, distressing, and also able to give me the basic tools to change my lifestyle to one that I am proud and in control of.’ ”

Sam leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 50,017 leaflets.

Yuri Mitzkewich, Southeast Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was from Texas A&M University in College Station. I leafleted with local volunteers and the Vegetarian/Vegan Aggies student group. They all did amazing work getting student after student to come over to our table to talk and view Animal Equality’s iAnimal Virtual Reality video. Most of the conversations ended with people thanking us for being there and stating that they planned to change their eating habits to help animals.”

Yuri leafleted at 68 schools this semester and distributed 50,587 leaflets.

Jevranne Martel, Canada Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory is from the University of Toronto Mississauga. I was given a fair bit of support from both the students and faculty. One student stopped and told me he’d been wanting to make some positive changes in his life after having some recent health scares. He admitted the cruelty we inflict on farmed animals is unnecessary and wrong. He left with a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and a few other resources I recommended.”

Jevranne leafleted at 61 schools this semester and distributed 35,879 leaflets.

Emmanuel Márquez, Mexico Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite outreach memory was at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. I met a student who told me she’d recently started to reduce her meat consumption and planned to go completely vegan. We talked for some time, and I helped clear up some of the doubts she had about going vegan. I gave her a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating and information about some resources Vegan Outreach has for new vegans, like the Vegan Mentor Program. She was very grateful.

“I had several people stop and thank me for advocating for animals. And I heard from students who were already vegan or vegetarian and wanted to help leaflet next time I’m at the university.”

Emmanuel leafleted at 72 schools this semester and distributed 37,616 leaflets.

Steve Erlsten, Northern California Outreach Coordinator

“One highlight of the semester was meeting a student who said she’d been hoping to run into activists on campus. She’d been wanting to go vegan and was excited to take a Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating!”

Steve leafleted at 97 schools this semester and distributed 77,110 leaflets.

Join me in giving one last shout out to these dedicated and passionate activists! They all work tirelessly to raise awareness about farmed animals and about how people can make positive changes for the world by choosing a veg lifestyle!

We’re officially wrapping up the school year by turning the spotlight toward the spring semester’s top 15 leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each activist to share their favorite memory of the semester, and I think their responses will make you smile just as big as we did.

If you didn’t see Part I of this three-part series, make sure you get caught up! Today we’ll hear from more of the top activists who went above and beyond to help raise awareness about farmed animals.

Sean Hennessy, Greater Ohio Outreach Coordinator

“We don’t always see our impact immediately when leafleting because dietary change is often a complex process, but one exception came when I was leafleting at Clarion University. Within hours of handing a student a leaflet, she came back and told me she planned to go vegetarian and work her way toward going fully vegan.”

Sean leafleted at 43 schools this semester and distributed 32,962 leaflets.

Katia Rodríguez, Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

“One of my favorite leafleting moments from the spring semester was at my alma mater, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León where several volunteers, VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator Emmanuel Márquez, and I handed out 22,805 leaflets in a single day!

“We met a young student who, after reading a leaflet, expressed his gratitude and told us that he planned to go vegan. He was already excited about cooking new recipes and sharing them with family and friends as a way to help motivate them to go vegan.”

Katia leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 18,426 leaflets.

Chris Shapard, Outreach Coordinator

“One memory that stands out is when I was leafleting at Montana State University. There was a religious student group doing outreach in the quad, which was where I was handing out leaflets. One of the group members walked past me and shouted back, “I love chicken—it’s delicious! God put chickens on earth for us to eat!” Later in the day, I ended up having a conversation with her and we talked about how unnatural factory farming is and how the suffering inflicted on animals is unnecessary. The interaction quickly went from confrontational to conversational. We ended with some light conversation and even some laughter.”

Chris leafleted at 20 schools this semester and distributed 12,144 leaflets.

Rachel Shippee, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was from Kalamazoo Valley Community College when a student stopped to tell me that the leaflet I’d given him was another ‘sign’ he’d recently received that was pointing him toward veganism. A few of his friends had gone vegan and his girlfriend was vegan. Getting the leaflet was the final push he needed to commit.”

Rachel leafleted at 19 schools this semester and distributed 18,034 leaflets.

John Deetjen, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite leafleting experience this semester was at South Dakota State University, which is located in a small town called Brookings. The town is surrounded by miles of rural Midwestern farmland—not the first place you’d imagine finding an audience interested in learning about veganism. To my surprise, I met a student who, after reading the leaflet, decided to go vegan on the spot! And with the help of our Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating, I’m confident he’s on the path to vegan eating! This goes to show that there are people in all sorts of places just waiting for the information to make the change.”

John leafleted at 73 schools this semester and distributed 33,955 leaflets.

We’ll return next week with the final Part III of this three-part series for more leafleting highest achievements from the spring semester!

Summer break is officially in full swing, but before our dedicated Outreach Coordinators and volunteers head to the pool to relax—after months of traveling and distributing leaflets on college campuses across the world—we wanted to show them some love by turning the spotlight toward the semester’s top leafleters of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College Program.

We’ve asked each of them to share their favorite memory from the spring semester, and here’s what they had to say!

Alexis Clark, Outreach Coordinator

“While leafleting Rutgers University—my alma mater—I was approached by one student who had received a leaflet earlier in the day. She told me that she’d just asked for almond milk in the coffee she ordered and intended to continue doing so because of our leaflet! Nothing beats seeing little victories of our work first hand!”

Alexis leafleted at 48 schools this semester and distributed 25,959 leaflets.

Cristina Myers, Outreach Coordinator

“The best moment this semester was when two students from Paine College read the leaflet I’d given them and came back and asked for more booklets to share. They told me they’d made the decision to go vegetarian and immediately started helping me distribute leaflets to other students.”

Cristina leafleted at 42 schools this semester and distributed 28,939 leaflets.

Kimberly Moffatt, Outreach Coordinator

“My favorite memory was leafleting Monroe Community College with various members of the Rochester Vegan Society. We met students who were vegan and other students and teachers who were very interested in the information we were handing out. We had many impactful and productive conversations!”

Kimberly leafleted at 64 schools this semester and distributed 30,021 leaflets.

Lana Smithson, New England Outreach Coordinator

“I’m happy I was able to get three videos of students saying the leaflet influenced them to go vegan. One of them said it influenced her mom as well—the ripple effect!

“I’m also happy I had the opportunity to do several humane education presentations, including one to 70 students. I heard some good feedback from a staff member who said the presentation influenced some students to rethink their food choices.”

Lana leafleted at 36 schools this semester and distributed 13,010 leaflets.

Joselyn Aguilar — Mexico City, MX

“Mexico Outreach Coordinator, Emmanuel Márquez, and I were in the state of Aguascalientes last March, and a student approached us to ask for a leaflet. He said he was happy we were passing out information about animals and that he was in the process of going vegan. He told me, ‘At first I wanted to go vegan because of the pollution the meat industry produces, but when I found out how animals are treated on factory farms, I went vegan for them.’ ”

Joselyn leafleted at 44 schools this semester and distributed 25,284 leaflets.

Don’t go too far—we’ll be back next week with Part II of this three-part series where we’ll hear more stories of success from the spring semester! And the week after that will be the final Part III.

By Melissa Li, Board of Directors Vice-Chair

Who can forget the most controversial Facebook post in the history of Vegan Outreach? You know, the one where our Executive Director Jack Norris responds to a dairy lover’s plaintive cry, “I’d go vegan, but I can’t give up cheese!” by saying, “Then go vegan except for cheese!” The meme was a rousing call for the vegan police to come out in droves and storm Vegan Outreach’s social media with comments.

I recently read Dr. Neal Barnard’s latest book, The Cheese Trap, and I think it’s fair to say that most people probably wouldn’t have a hard time giving up cheese if they knew some of the disturbing things Barnard tells his readers.

For example, did you know that stinky cheese is due to bacteria? The same bacteria responsible for body odor! Yes, you read that right. Barnard explains why humans have been able to overcome the smell of body odor and why many people crave it on virtually everything.

I also learned that people who are unable to give up cheese are not wholly personally responsible. Cheese contains a substance called casomorphin, an opioid peptide naturally occurring in cow’s milk. It’s the hormone that’s responsible for calves feeling comforted and attached to their mothers so they’ll ingest as much milk possible to become a full-grown cow. Cheese has a high concentrate of casomorphins and can generate a feeling of euphoria, which is why people like cheese so much.

The Cheese Trap covers not only the negative physical effects of dairy and cheese, but also how the U.S. government colludes with the dairy industry to influence the American public to consume more cheese for the benefit of the dairy corporations. The USDA often ignores or suppresses the health consequences of a high amount of dairy consumption. The dairy industry has consumers believing that milk does the body good when it’s the opposite that’s true. It’s been associated with diabetes, prostate cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease—just to name a few.

Barnard interviews the pioneers behind vegan dairy foods, such as Treeline Treenut Cheese, Miyoko’s Kitchen, and Kite Hill. The great thing is that these non-dairy cheeses are out-of-this-world delicious, and no animals are hurt during production! Better yet, these products are becoming more common in grocery stores nationwide.

The book also provides easy, non-dairy cheese recipes, created by Dreena Burton, that can help any cheese lover reduce or eliminate their dairy cheese consumption. Dreena explains how dishes that conventionally use dairy can be made instead with a variety of nut milks or nutritional yeast.

If you’re ready to say goodbye to cheese—and its inherent cruelty—forever, get yourself a copy of The Cheese Trap. You’ll be happy you did!

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

If you’re packing your bags for a summer getaway and worried about how you’re going to maintain vegan eating while you’re away from home, look no further.

Kim Sujovolsky with Brownble has put together a comprehensive video that will alleviate your concerns. She provides easy food ideas for when you’re driving, riding, or flying, and she also gives good tips on what to do once you’ve reached your travel destination.

By Josie Moody, Office Manager

I recently had my 20-week ultrasound and got to see my little bun-in-the-oven’s eyes and nose. I already feel a strong emotional connection with them—and it’s made our work at Vegan Outreach that much more important to me.

The bond between mother and child is incredible—and not just for humans. I’m sure you’ve seen a mother goose bravely defend her goslings. And did you know a female octopus will protect her eggs for about 160 days—only to die shortly after they hatch?

The bond between mother and child is powerful and impressive. But sadly, when it comes to animals raised for food, this bond is not honored—often it’s not even permitted.

A cow in the dairy industry is separated from her newborn calf shortly after he’s born. Often, she cries out for him for days and vice versa. Sometimes she tries in distress to find him—and she mourns her loss when she can’t.

What we do to cows and other animals breaks my heart. Now, as someone who’s expecting my own baby, I find it even more harrowing.

I do my part to reduce suffering by working for Vegan Outreach, volunteering for animals on the weekends, and donating what I can to make more outreach and education happen. Violence towards animals is overwhelming, but I feel better when I do something I know makes an impact.

Will you join me today by giving a gift that will make twice the impact for animals?

Other donors have pledged to double your gift—for every dollar you donate, they will match it with a dollar of their own!

Your donations have built a movement of vegans and activists who stand up against violence towards animals. But our work is far from over.

We need to do more, and we can’t without you.

I wish that no mother—of any species—had to endure the torment of being separated from her young. With your financial support today, we can create a vegan world sooner so fewer animals will suffer. Give now to have your donation doubled.