Answering the question of how a construction contractor from a tough Brooklyn neighborhood becomes an impassioned animal advocate, in the award-winning documentary THE WITNESS, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspiring him to rescue abandoned animals and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciousness.  You can watch a preview below, and see the entire film at the Tribe of Heart website

THE WITNESS
A Tribe of Heart Documentary
43 minutes, 2000

Director: Jenny Stein
Producer: James LaVeck
Photography: Jason Longo
Sound: Jane Greenberg

1) Give birth to a new veg*n
2) Convince someone to adopt veg*nism

Well, #1 is definitely not for me and #2 is why I do outreach.  There are various strategies and discussions about what is the best way to do this.  My personal philosophy is to just decide on a strategy and do it.  As a direct result of my “doing” at Maker Faire 2009 at the San Mateo Expo Center, here’s some people reading their new PETA Vegetarian Starter Kits.  I hope this is their first step towards veg*nism.

Alex talking veg with interested John Q Public

In 2007, I noticed that I wasn’t doing as much veg outreach via  leafleting as I wanted. So I decided to take some of that generic advice given to people going on a diet.  While that’s to keep track of what you eat, and to exercise with a buddy, I applied that to being an activist.  With one addition:  make sure the advocacy activity is one that is enjoyable and sustainable.  For me, leafleting with PETA’s Vegetarian Starter Kits or Vegan Outreach’s Even if You Like Meat is the high fiber activity that’s also fun when you combine it with meeting new people and yummy vegan food afterwards.  (i.e. “Will leaflet for vegan food”)

So, I found a leafleting buddy to keep me from falling into my natural state of eating chocolate chip cookies and reading novels with a feline laptop.  Her name is Alex.

Starting in January 2008, Alex and I committed to leafleting once a month (on a Saturday or Sunday, since we both work full-time), and we also invite others to join us.  I also leaflet sans buddy at a local college (i.e. Vegan Outreach Adopt-a-College program).  But because I do this one on my lunch-hour during the work day, it tends to be sporadic as to when I can do it (i.e. lunchtime meetings are common, pressing work deadlines, and I’m not always in the office); this doesn’t lend itself to leafleting regularly with a partner.

Ready-Set-Go-Vegan!

Here’s a comparison of how that worked:

Alex and I planned to leaflet 12 times.  And we actually leafleted 12 times, and have met a lot of new friends along the way, too.  This isn’t part of the diet plan, but part of the fun plan, after we leaflet, we go out and eat vegan food.  Fortunately for us, there are 22 vegetarian restaurants in San Francisco (and 10 of those SF restaurants are vegan). (Oh, and for anyone who is counting calories, leafleting also offers exercise since I usually walk around to pass out information.)

For my college leafleting, I have a general goal to leaflet once a month for 30 minutes during my lunch hour.  I got out 4 times during the same period.  (Actually 5 times, because I used a floating holiday and took a day off work to leaflet at SFSU with another friend, and then we had some wonderful battered and deep-fried food.  I wonder if deep-fried Why Vegan booklets would be irresistible?  Hmmm…) The bonus with participating in the Vegan Outreach AAC program is they keep track of your leafleting for you.  It’s kinda neat to look back and see I’ve been participating since 2003.

Anyways, it worked well for us in 2008, and 2009 is already off to a good start!  These photos are from various 2008 leafleting events, and our next one is planned for Saturday, February 21st in San Francisco.  So, if you’re another local veg activist and looking to connect with others for vegan advocacy, please join us!

Got comments?

Just call us Leafleting Leprechauns

Tammy & Chris at BAVeg booth at SF Pride

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and hope that 2009 will be a great year for vegan advocacy across the nation!

For San Francisco Bay Area activists:

This is a beginning of a new year, and we’re in search of fresh ideas, energy and talent to help shape the direction of BAVeg for the future.

See the full blog post on the Bay Area Vegetarians website for info