September 23, 2024

Tom Hoch has been volunteering with Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA) for just a few months, but his passion for animal rights runs deep. He became involved with CAA through his connections with other animal rights organizations and was drawn to our mission to create a more compassionate world for animals. 

Volunteer Roles and Goals

Currently, Tom is involved with the CAA Policy Work Group, where he’s working with others to plan how to advance legislation and policies that benefit farmed animals and promote plant-based diets. He believes in the importance of gradually changing societal norms surrounding animal agriculture, starting with better labeling to provide transparency for consumers. Tom also supports anti-confinement legislation and advocates for offering plant-based alternatives in school meals. 

His strategic mindset focuses on moving forward patiently to avoid resistance and foster long-term change in how people view animal consumption.

Community Involvement

In addition to his work with CAA, Tom stays active in his Minneapolis community. Along with his husband, Mark Addicks, he maintains public perennial gardens and contributes to the Minneapolis Good Chair Project by building and distributing benches across city parks. 

Tom also serves as the Chair of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, where he once held the role of Deputy Executive Director. His dedication to public service extends beyond animal rights, as he’s actively involved with Planned Parenthood in Minnesota as well.

Commitment to a Plant-Based Lifestyle

Tom’s favorite dish is pad thai with crispy tofu, especially at Lat 14. He follows a plant-based diet for three core reasons: to protect animals, safeguard the environment, and maintain his health. These values fuel his commitment to making the world a better place for both animals and people. His work with CAA is just one part of his broader efforts to bring positive change to his community and beyond.

Past Volunteer Spotlights

If you would like to get to know some other volunteers, check out other recent volunteer profiles:

Volunteer Spotlight on Lexy Race

Volunteer Spotlight on Faustine Micheyls

Volunteer Spotlight on Grace Prins

Volunteer Spotlight on Kim Milligan

Volunteer Spotlight on Allison Gamble

The mutual benefits of volunteering for CAA

Volunteers are key to everything we do. They help us to accomplish far more than we can do with our small staff and amplify our impact for animals. In 2023, our staff engaged over 260 volunteers, contributing more than 740 hours, across 96 different activities — a savings of over $12,000 if we had hired them. Learn more about volunteer impact every year in our annual reports.

Equally important is that the volunteers themself benefit from enhanced skills in advocacy and leadership as well as a sense of community. This fits with our theory of change which includes the following cyclical steps: increasing awareness, building community, empowering advocates, and creating change. Volunteering touches on each of these areas.

See all volunteer opportunities here.

CAA’s Theory of Change

Our theory of change emphasizes a welcoming approach, which is recognized as most effective at creating change and models the empathy we want to promote.

The theory explains how we achieve our mission to encourage people to embrace their empathy for animals and move toward a plant-based diet. It also supports our vision of a world where all animals, human and nonhuman, can thrive. 

This change theory reflects how we grow our movement. Through our CAA programs, events, and activities, we facilitate a cyclical process of increasing awareness, building community, empowering advocates, and creating change. This process focuses on both individual and institutional change. 

What kind of change do we create? Our programs reduce consumption of animal products and improve the lives of farmed animals. In addition, they benefit the well-being of all Minnesotans.

Compassionate Action for Animals’ theory of change was initially developed in 2017 with an online survey sent to key stakeholders, two town hall meetings open to the community members, and a strategic planning meeting attended by staff, core volunteers, and board members.

Get Involved and Volunteer with CAA

If you believe in our mission and our theory of change, we encourage you to get involved too. Sign up for one of our upcoming volunteer opportunities. There are so many fun events and options to choose from. Whatever your talents may be, you can find a volunteer opportunity that’s right for you — from photography to cooking and serving food, helping with setup and cleanup at events, greeting guests, and so much more. We thank you for all the ways that you speak up for animals and help our community!