Vegan Activist All-Star Contest 2010

We want to make 2010 the year of Extraordinary Vegan Education! We will be choosing 12 Vegan Activist All-Stars in 2010, one each month, and we'll feature their dedicated outreach. Each will win a special prize! YOU COULD BE NEXT!

We will be looking for interesting, creative and unique outreach as well as dedication. We can provide you with materials to help make you event a success. We have The Reason for Vegan brochure that’s a great leafleting tool and Vegan Starter Kit that offers further info and is great for an info table. We also have flyers specific to the environmental impact of animal agriculture.

TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR EVENT, TELL US ABOUT YOU AND SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY TO OUR CONTEST. You can also nominate someone else. Put in the subject line: Vegan All Star Contest and send to Hope@idausa.org.

September’s Vegan Activist All Star is Ryan Petersen!
CONGRATULATIONS RYAN!

Ryan Petersen has been called the Vegan Shaman. He runs the San Antonio Vegan Movement and is a very passionate animal rights activist.

Ever since Ryan was a child, he has always adored animals and initially wanted to be a veterinarian. Throughout grade school he was vegetarian off and on because he didn’t want to eat animals. But without the proper resources and support, peer-pressure always brought him back to meat-eating, against his better judgment.

Ryan turned cold-tofurkey vegan at 25 after he saw the movie "Earthlings." Ryan said, "I had no idea that the majority of factory farms were treating their animals so horribly!  It is utterly senseless, cold-hearted, and completely disconnected from anything that I believe in."

Ryan is the Leader of the San Antonio Vegan Movement and owns his own t-shirt line called "IT HAS VEGUN".  SAVM meets weekly at Green Vegetarian Cuisine, where they discuss upcoming vegan events and animal activist activities. One current priority is finding places where they can set up a video booth showing "Meet Your Meat," "Earthlings," "Fowl Play," and other animal rights videos while handing out literature.

"People need to see it... they need to hear it,” Ryan said. “It is the only way to connect them to what is really going on. I once saw a YouTube video of some students showing ‘Meet Your Meat’ in NYC and people flocked around the television.  They heard the screams of the animals, saw their blood shed. People are ready for the truth. Whether people consciously know it or not... they're ready to be vegan... it's just up to activists to remind them."

August Vegan All-Star! Adrienne Kramer
Congratulations Adrienne!

Adrienne went Vegan in college when a friend/classmate gave her an "Animal Times" magazine and told me to check out an animal rights website. She was already vegetarian, but when she viewed a video about animals living (and painfully dying) on Chinese fur farms, she knew in her heart that it was time for the switch. Adrienne says, "Now, I enjoy the many delicious meat and dairy alternatives that are available, knowing that with every bite, I am helping...not hurting. It's an amazing feeling."

As a dancer and model in Las Vegas, Adrienne tries to combine her love of performing with her passion for Veganism. She decided to create a group called "Las Vegas Lettuce Ladies" in the hopes of showing just how fun, sexy and intelligent Veganism can be. Through leafleting, tabling, and public speaking, as well as fun, creative events (ie: Vegan fashion shows, olive oil wrestling and roller skating in lettuce bikinis!) they are taking the Vegan message to the Vegas streets!

"Many people have a negative concept of Vegans/Vegetarians; they often see them as emotional and boring." Adrienne said, "I personally think that Veganism is one of the most compassionate and easy steps that a person can take to improve his/her health, environment, and most of all, the lives of animals who suffer from non-vegan lifestyles...and that's very exciting to me."

She has also created a Vegan show called "Veg Out Vegas" (soon to be released on YouTube) and a Vegan Calendar (hopefully in print for 2011). "The ideas keep coming, so I'll keep on creating. And with the words of Margaret Mead to fuel me, I will 'never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'"

Thank you, Adrienne, for the fun and creative ways you enlighten others about Veganism!

July's Vegan All-Star Goes to The Giving Tree Band!
Congratulations!

The Giving Tree Band, based in Yorkville, IL., is a unique musical entity that not only strives to make music in the most eco-conscious way possible, the whole band is vegan! The band was started by brothers Todd and Eric Fink six years ago who have been vegan for 7 years and vegetarian for about a decade. The rest of the band has adopted the vegan lifestyle within the last two years, saying that, "eating vegan gives us more energy and keeps us healthy. We like supporting local independent vegan cafes and artisans on tour as well as small organic farms. We have been to some incredibly delicious and creative eateries all over the country and are happy to be a part of this subculture." They even have a vegan chef that tours with them, who also scouts out places for the band to eat.

The Giving Tree Band is not only conscious of the suffering of animals, but also the environment that all animals (including us!) live in. Their latest album, The Joke, The Threat & The Obvious, was created completely carbon-neutral! They recorded at a solar powered studio, and the band slept at a nearby campsite and biked back and forth. Their instruments were handmade from fallen trees and any waste that was created during the duplication/manufacturing process the band cancelled out by planting trees to offset the impact.

The Giving Tree Band have always made environmentally conscious living a maxim behind their lifestyle and operation as a band, rather than an add on message that takes a back seat to the music. Tellingly they have been declared "The Greenest Band in the Land" by Mother Earth News, and their last full-length release was dubbed the "World's Greenest Album" by the Chicago Sun-Times. Their new album, The Joke, The Threat & The Obvious, continues in their tradition of producing carbon neutral records, and their touring has recently benefited from the purchase of a bio-diesel van.

The Giving Tree Band are immensely proud to present The Joke, The Threat & The Obvious, out September 21st on Crooked Creek Records. This new addition to their collection is poised to be a break out release for the folksy group described by Jambase as "the essence of true Americana." As an introduction to their new material, they are offering up their single "Circles" for free to fans that sign up for their mailing list via a streaming player on their website featuring 4 new songs from the album. They've also put together a series of webisodes to illuminate the history of the band. Episode 1 explains how the eight-member band came together piece by piece via friends of friends and in some cases pure chance. It is available to view now on their site and on YouTube.

This summer The Giving Tree Band plan to tour the country as they prepare for the release of their forthcoming album. For tour dates and other information on the group visit TheGivingTreeBand.com.

June's Vegan All-Star! Ed Bauer
CONGRATULATIONS, ED!

Cheers from the audience broke out as Ed Bauer stepped out on to the stage at the Bill Pearl High Desert body building competition. He flexed rippling muscles that looked chiseled in stone. He had spent more than half a year working out between three and four times a day, planning his diet counting calories and carbs every meal for months and prepared non-stop for this moment. Every body builder in the competition did, but Ed is different. Not only was he free of unnatural supplements but he is “straight edge” (100% drug and alcohol free) and a strict ethical vegan.

Ed became a champion bodybuilding winning his weight class at the competition. Months of hard work and incredible disciple paid off. Ed felt great relief as he felt the weight of the animals and the promotion of vegan on his huge shoulders every day.

When he walked out on the stage the MC mentioned Ed was a vegan and as he struck his poses people in the audience remarked in shock, “He’s a vegan?”. Ed is not the first Portland vegan to grab a champion slot in a bodybuilding competition. Author Robert Cheeke (Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness) did several years of competitions but has turned his attention to his books and seems to passing on the baton to his sometimes work-out partner Ed. Cheeke said, "Ed Bauer is the best representative for the vegan athlete community not just in Portland but anywhere. His work ethic is virtually unmatched and impresses everyone who sees him train at the gym.”

Ed plans to compete closer to home in the Vancouver natural bodybuilding show in 2011. Learning from this first performance Ed knows he can do better to compete and promote a cruelty free diet. Ed considers it his mission to show the world you don’t need to eat animals to build muscles.

For winning IDA's Vegan All-Star, Ed will receive a dinner for two at Blossoming Lotus in Portland, OR. Blossoming Lotus is an all vegan, organic restaurant with raw options as well. Thanks Ed for your dedication to the vegan lifestyle and for debunking the myth of the scrawny vegan!

May's Vegan All-Star! Jennifer Warren

CONGRATULATIONS, JENNIFER!

IDA would like to recognize Jennifer Warren as our Vegan Activist All-Star for May. Jennifer has been an animal lover all her life. She became a vegan for health reasons, and this got her curious about animals raised for food. While researching about farmed animals in college, she realized that a lot of information about what we eat is not publicized, because if it was, people wouldn't eat it. "The meat we consume is not only unhealthy, but it supports an unbelievably cruel industry," she said. This realization is what transformed her from simply an animal lover to an animal activist.

Jennifer says, "I realized how important it is to expose this cruelty, not only so that people reconsider what they eat, but also what they wear. And that is the reason that I created my vegan fashion website, www.CompassionateFashion.com. This informative blog promotes fashion pieces that are cruelty-free, and do not utilize leather, fur, wool, silk, snakeskin, or any other animal product. She also writes about companies that donate portions of their revenues to organizations that help animals or preserve the habitats of animals. "I do this so that people can distinguish the companies that have good intentions from the ones are simply trying to profit off of cruelty towards helpless creatures."

Jennifer has become an active member of Animal Activists of Alachua, an Animal-Rights club at the University of Florida. They educate a student body of 50,000 about animal-rights and veganism by hosting an annual event called VegFest. At this event, students can come eat vegan food for free and learn about animal-rights and the suffering that goes into the conventional food they consume.

In her free time, she hangs out with her dog, Rockee, who was adopted from a local adoptathon. Jennifer said, "I always try to encourage people to adopt rather than buy from breeders and especially stores, because that often supports cruel puppy mills. And after all, Rockee is better than any pure-bread I've ever met."

April 2010 Vegan Activist All Star Winner

Anthony Sorge of Naugatuck, Connecticut

Education is the most powerful tool for change, and nobody knows this better than IDA’s April Vegan Activist All Star, Anthony Sorge. Anthony is a high school English teacher at Naugatuck High School in Connecticut. He has spent his entire life questioning the status quo and, when it comes to animals, it's been no different. He has been vegetarian for over 10 years and vegan for 3 years.

One of Anthony’s most impressive accomplishments for animals is starting an animal rights club joined by more than 30 students. The group organizes vegan bake sales, cooking demonstrations, dinner fundraisers, animal rights film screenings, and trips to animal sanctuaries. The club's most recent two-day bake sale featured savory oatmeal cookies, blondies, brownies, banana muffins, chocolate chip cookies, and more. "More important than any dollar amount, the bake sale rose awareness around veganism and prompted more kids to get involved," said Anthony.

They collected an impressive 150 signatures on a petition for vegan school lunch options in the cafeteria.

Next week the club is doing a film screening of Fowl Play with vegan snacks, followed by a discussion. Other upcoming events include a dinner for parents and students with student presentations and guest speaker, field trip to Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, and several campaigns to raise awareness. Click here to see Anthony's blog about the groups’ events and activities.

When Anthony isn't working to foster compassion in his students, he enjoys spending time with his two gorgeous rescue dogs, Cooper and Zooey, as well as his supportive vegan wife Caitlin. "I like to think that in my own, small way, I'm doing my part to educate people and lead them to a more compassionate lifestyle and mindset, but I'm in awe of the great, important work that groups like IDA do on a much larger scale. I'm really honored to be chosen as Vegan All Star" says Anthony. Anthony, it is our honor to give you this award for all your work on behalf of animals and children!

When Kim Stulz was in high school, a friend told her about the cruel animal tests used by the cosmetics industry. The photos of exploited and abused animals in laboratories broke her heart. It didn't take long for her to discover that abuse, neglect and exploitation were also common practices in animal agriculture.

Kim found it was not only easy, but also fun to make the transition to veganism. It gave her an opportunity to find creative compassionate alternatives while also helping animals. It wasn't until after she went vegan that Kim realized the health benefits. She had suffered life-long health problems with her breathing and energy levels and found they all went away once she cut dairy out of her diet. This proof that going vegan isn't just an ethical choice that is good for animals, but also better for her own health transformed Kim into an advocate for veganism.

When she started working at the trendy and artsy restaurant Bardo Edibles & Elixirs in the Ghent District in Norfolk, Virginia, she was impressed with how open the management and culinary staff were to experimenting with different cuisines and dishes - including vegan. Kim worked with the kitchen to create a vegan menu including faux beef with broccoli, vegan tiramisu, and more. Rather than having a whole separate menu the vegan options were integrated into the menu and clearly labeled. These vegan options have become so famous around the Hampton Roads area - even among non-vegans - that several health clubs and gyms in the area talk about the guilt-free desserts in their newsletters.

Kim's approach is that if she can just get meat eaters to try a vegan option it breaks through the hardest parts of outreach - exposing the myths that fine dinning needs to include meat and that a meal isn't a meal without meat. She says "the food speaks for itself. Whenever people see it on the menu they are reminded that it is easier than ever to find vegan options and it tastes so good they are reminded that you can be good to animals and yourself!"

Kim's assistance with creating these vegan options has lead to other restaurants around Norfolk asking her for tips and suggestions. The Taphouse has switched their fake meat options from a brand that used egg whites to Gardein (a quality meat alternative that is vegan based and, we might add, quite tasty!) on Kim's suggestions. They recently expanded their vegan options and added items to their Hip - Hop brunch menu. Anyone wanting to get some tips of their own can catch Kim behind the bar there some weekends. . . talking up their famous Fried Faux Chick Sandwich which is now vegan!

Kim is also a loyal tabler for IDA at a vegan outreach events including the Richmond VegFest.

FEBUARY'S WINNER IS SYD MOST

CONGRATULATIONS SYD!

In Defense of Animals is proud to recognize Syd Most, or VeganSyd as she is widely known, as the February IDA Vegan All-Star for her creative and ceaseless campaigning for chickens and other farmed fauna. But especially the chickens, and Syd is quick to point out to anyone she may meet at the bus stop or in her daily comings and goings—animals used for food are represent the majority of animal suffering, “and the majority of those animals—over 9 billion a year—are chickens.”

The prize this month is dinner for two at the Portobello Vegan Trattoria, opened by Aaron Adams and Dinae Horne in January 2009, and is a celebration of the best of Northwest food, wine and beer, inspired by the great cuisines of Italy, Spain, and France. Among the many rave reviews, the Portland Mercury writes of their food, "...the best reason I've seen thus far to take hold of a fellow earthling's hoof, head for the clover fields, and go vegan." http://portobellopdx.com/wordpress/

Syd, a California native living in Portland Oregon since the 1980s, has been vegan for more than 30 years, and has developed a personal style of vegan outreach that is so seamlessly integrated into her lifestyle as to be more about who she is rather than what she does. Syd, like the social birds she champions, is chirpy and outgoing, and she finds every opportunity to share the vegan message with the people she encounters and she is always on message. Often, she does so wearing a chicken costume which, she says, is a great way to break the ice with strangers. “People can't resist talking to you when you’re covered head to toe in fake feathers,” says Syd, “it creates all kinds of opportunities.”

Syd is constantly involved in farmed animal outreach with both local grassroots and national organizations, and also sits on the board of a local farm animal sanctuary, Out To Pasture, but she never lets her activism get bogged down in executive or consensus-based decision making. Syd just does her own thing; which is find the right places to hand out IDA's vegan starter kits and other vegan information every single day of her life. In our Portland office, nobody goes through more literature than Syd.

The “where” of her outreach is always changing. Lately she's been talking with people at her YWCA Senior Center, she wore her chicken costume—even in 90-degree heat—to every KFC demo held in her neighborhood, that is until she and other activists shut that location down. Syd is always thinking of creative ways and places to share the vegan lifestyle. When the movie Food Inc. was in town, Syd made short work of handing out hundreds of vegan starter kits outside when the movie was letting out.

It is impossible not to admire Syd as she works her magic with people. To Syd, nobody is unapproachable and she strikes up the most unlikely conversations and often has people pledging to go “Vegan on Mondays” in a matter of minutes.

January’s winner is Susan Manns of Ottawa, Canada.

CONGRATULATIONS SUSAN!

Here’s more about our first winner, Susan Manns:

"When I was a teen I became a vegetarian for a few years and became involved in animal rescues. I went back to eating meat after I married a meat-eater. I had difficulty when cooking it and looking at it. I always knew in my heart I was doing the wrong thing by eating what was in front of me. If someone then had exposed me to the brutality behind the meat industry I know I would of became a vegan then, but at that time in my life I had never met even another vegetarian or heard of veganism.

One day I came across some activists holding a demo. When I read the information they handed me, I was stunned and felt numb. It was then that I decided to do more research and viewed the most disturbing videos I have ever seen on animal cruelty. It took no time for me to make the most important decision in my life: "NO MORE ANIMAL PRODUCTS." I lost 50 lbs, I feel years younger and my conscience is clear- no more lingering guilt.

Next was to get more active in defending animals. I was so excited and did not know what issues to tackle. I just started holding demos and before I knew it had met the most amazing people who had just as much love and empathy for animals as I did.

I am truly grateful to IDA. I have asked them many times for help and not once did they ever deny me. They inspire me to keep my spirits up when I have seen so much ugliness and get frustrated because I feel I am not doing enough.

I am so thankful for my mom who supports all that I do ... and for my best friend Louise who keeps me on track when I get angry at the world. I have met the most incredible people who are a part of our grassroots animal rights group OADL - The Ottawa Animal Defense League."

Tanya, Jason, Len, Dave, Michele, Rachel ,Liz, Emily and Katie. I know you will always be activists for those who can not speak our language. Two amazing woman who run  Teja's Animal Refuge and Refugee RR for horses Rose Gergely and Nicole Joncas. You blow my mind in all that you do each and every day. Your days are long and full of hardship for all that you see and do. Yet your strength is undeniable.

 If I die tomorrow I am glad that I could at least do some good for the animals who suffer so much who have done nothing to deserve what is happening to them.

-Vegan Activist All-Star Susan Manns