We were pleased to organize the Opening Ceremony for the Rancho Park Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck Picnic, attended by over 300 people who chose to celebrate this holiday with compassion. 

One participant had this to say about it, “Such a gorgeous day outdoors breathing in gratitude, blessing the Earth and its sacred beings while enjoying mindful nourishing food with amazing, conscious-minded new friends. The music and live performances were so lovely and added to the atmosphere of this awesome, sacred gathering!” 

Experience the ceremony for yourself via this video, courtesy of Ellora Vegan Organic Wellness Center. 

Watch this Jane Unchained video interview about the festivities with our Sustainable Activism Campaign Director Lisa Levinson, who organized the Opening Ceremony.

Enjoy this poem-plea, “Chew On This,” by poet and Veg Monologues playwright R.C. Curtis: 

We are gathered here

Waiting

To share a good meal,

Our own good company,

Music and laughter

And the comforting feeling

That we have made the right choice.

It’s so appealing

To commend ourselves for kindness,

To rejoice in our goodness,

A pat on the back for being vegan,

Perhaps a bit smug

Over our compassion,

Which is, of course, in fashion,

A cruelty-free conceit ---

And, by the way, when do we eat?

 

We are thankful for the feast.

We’ve turned this holiday around,

Or tried at least,

We’ve cast the violence aside,

Sponged away the blood,

Expunged the genocide,

Made a plant-based paradise

Where peace, goodwill and love abound

Isn’t that nice?

 

We are hopeful,

Looking forward to the new Eden:

A vegan world;

Everything will fall in place, you’ll see!

There will be no hate,

After all, peace begins upon your plate.

We hope and we dream of that day,

If only all those others

Would just wake up and do as we say,

Oh! What a wonderful world this would be.

 

While we are waiting

To eat,

To engage our teeth

In some herbivorous grinding,

Finding it better to rend

A fleshy fruit than

To tear into a bird or brute,

Allow me to get at the root --

And I ask you not to shoot

The messenger for his insistence

That we make every bite

An act of resistance.

 

Make every little bite

A part of the big fight,

The larger battle,

Rattle

The cages of oppression,

Domination,

Discrimination,

Exploitation,

Objectification,

Privatization . . .

Trumpification!

 

Let’s have a diet of true liberation!

 

Chew on this:

We’ve got to see the connections,

The intersections,

We’ve got to make each bite

A reflection of our creed,

A rejection of 

Profiting off of those who bleed,

With each bite we must

Subvert the paradigm of greed!

 

And we’ve got to do more

Than just plant the seed.

We’ve got to be out there

Tilling new ground,

Doing it side by side

With folks who have found

Their own connections,

 

Folks who can do without

The privileged chatter,

Folks with lives

That do, indeed, matter.

 

With every bite

We join the fight,

We join the resistance.

Let’s push back in a surge!

And let’s resist the urge

To be more vegan than thou,

Because my friends, now

Is the time to unify,

Now more than ever

Is the time to come together

In all of our vegan diversity,

Not just because we are hungry

For vegan food

But because we are hungry

For Justice

Hungry

For Equality

Hungry

For Liberation.

It’s a hunger we need

To feed.
 

Stay hungry my friends!