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Become a Twin Cities Veg Fest 2013 Supporter!
There are only two days left in our sponsorship campaign. Please help us reach our stretch goals so we can make the festival the best it can be.
By supporting the Twin Cities Veg Fest, you will help us reach new audiences, provide more tasty vegan food, and let us bring great music to the festival. We're going to make the festival even bigger, with more exhibitors, more attendees, and more fun.
And don't forget our great stretch goals. At $2,000 we will increase our advertising budget, bringing in even more attendees to this event. At $2,500 we can start considering some bigger name musicians for the concert. And at $3,000 we will explode some tofu! Yes, you can contribute to a little destruction in the name of a greater cause. With your support, we can make a nice big boom. It'll be like Mythbusters without the science!
Compassionate Action for Animals is hosting our second Twin Cities Veg Fest on October 26th, 2013. The festival will take place from 10am to 4pm at Coffman Memorial Union on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota
Twin Cities Veg Fest is for anyone and everyone – from vegetarians and vegans to omnivores! Attendees learn where their food comes from, how to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan, and why being compassionate benefits everyone. Attendees enjoy free food, insightful speakers, great music, and delicious meals. For this year's festival, we're adding a day of free music to the schedule!
Twin Cities Veg Fest is free to attend. Your generous support is what makes this possible. You can support the Twin Cities Veg Fest by contributing to our Indiegogo campaign!
Why Community Building is Important for Animal Advocacy
It's tempting to think that there is some silver bullet for animal advocacy. With enough research, we'll find that there's just one particular form of outreach that outdoes all others. Then we'll just go ahead and do that until everyone is vegan and no more animals are tortured in factory farms.
Maybe leafleting or online video are the silver bullets for animal advocacy. These are great forms of outreach. Leafleting is low-cost, easy to do, and you can do it at so many places, from concerts to colleges. Online video is powerful, inexpensive to provide, and can even spread virally through social media. What's not to love?
If these things are so great, why does Compassionate Action for Animals do all this other stuff? Why bother with our dineouts and potlucks, with the Twin Cities Veg Fest and VegGuide? Isn't it enough to tell people about the horrors of factory farming? Once they know about this, surely they'll be inspired to change their lives!
While it's true that leafleting and videos can inspire quick and powerful change, there's more to being effective advocates than just giving people that initial push. We live in a society where the vast majority of people eat animals every day. The pressure to conform may be blunt or subtle, but it's always powerful.
Once a person is inspired to move towards plant-based eating they will quickly encounter challenges. Many of these challenges are close to home. Friends and family may be less than accepting. Some will argue that it's not healthy to be vegan. Others may feel disappointed at a perceived rejection of existing traditions. Friends may feel implicitly judged by a change in lifestyle.
It's easy for long-time animal advocates to dismiss this pressure. "Why can't you just do what you know is right? You can take comfort in the knowledge that you're doing the right thing." Can't you?
Of course, this isn't reality. People care what their friends and family think of them. We all want to be accepted. We all want to have good relationships with friends and family. We want our values to be understood and respected. Of course, over time, family and friends will accept a change in values. Many may come to embrace it, but that probably won't happen immediately.
Besides the social issues, there are also real practical problems to overcome. How does someone new to veganism learn what restaurants are vegan-friendly, how to cook tasty vegan food, or what to shop for at the grocery store?
Building a strong and vibrant animal-friendly community helps people who want to help animals. How many people abandon their new diet after just a few weeks or months because of social pressure? How many people go back to eating meat because they don't know where to eat out or how to cook good vegan food?
This is why the community-building efforts we engage in at Compassionate Action for Animals are so important. We provide social events and community for people who care about animals. We provide support for people who are struggling with changes to their values. Our social events at Thanksgiving and other holidays provide a sense of camaraderie and ritual that doesn't involve eating animals.
These social events show attendees that they are not alone in caring about animals. There are other people who share their compassion and are living out their values in the same way. These events are also fun. As an activist organization, when we do outreach, we want to be able to offer more than just a message. When we hand someone a leaflet, we can also have a conversation about all the great activities we offer. And having fun is a great way to energize pepole for future outreach. Outreach can be draining, and social events rejuvenate us, helping prevent burnout.
We also address the practical issues. Our cooking classes teach people how to make delicious vegan foods. The VegGuide site provides world-wide listings of veg-friendly restaurants and grocers. When we have dineouts we can point attendees at the tastiest vegan dishes on the menu.
Ultimately, our community-build efforts go hand in hand with our outreach work in helping people make the lifestyle changes that directly reduce the number of animals suffering on factory farms.
Big Success in Leafleting Day
We handed out more than 5,000 leaflets at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, to encourage compassionate food choices.
The cold and the snow didn't stop us from passing out 5,047 Vegan Outreach leaflets on Monday, March 11! John Oberg joined us as he hands out leaflets at colleges across the country. This is one of the highest number of leaflets ever passed out at a college campus, and we did this even with poor weather!
Do you want to help animals and missed this opportunity? Please join us April 15-19 for Minnesota College Leafleting Week! Dozens of volunteers will spread the word even more widely as we hand out leaflets across the state.
We're hearing from people every day that they are changing their eating habits to help animals as a result of our work. Thanks to everybody who helped out!
The 2013 Winning Chili Recipes are Here!
Perhaps you attended our 2013 chili cook-off and want to recreate your favorite one at home? Or maybe you missed out on the event and want to get a taste of the best? If you answered ‘yes’ to either then check out the top 3 recipes of the year!
This year’s vegan chili cook-off was an intense event with many delicious pots of chili vying for the title of 2013’s best vegan chili as determined by the magnificent judges at the event. Some of you who made it to the event may be itching to recreate your favorite pot of chili at home while those of you who missed out are likely suffering from a chili deficiency and are ready to whip some up at home.
Whatever your reason for wanting to make some amazing chili (who are we kidding, no excuse is needed to make vegan chili), we now have the recipes from the top 3 competitors at this year’s event ready for you to enjoy in the comfort of your own kitchen!
- Betsy Born took first place this year and her chili recipe is sure to warm you up on a cold winter night or even a cool spring or fall evening!
- Jacob Carrigan took second place with his Mexican-inspired chili recipe that will have you wanting to dance the salsa!
- Third place this year went to Patrick Mullen with his pepper-packed holy moly chili recipe that incorporates a little beer and chocolate for good measure!
We hope you enjoy these chili recipes as much as we did! If you think you can top these be sure to check out the experience of one of or first-time competitors and then be on the lookout for our 2014 competition!
2013 Annual Banquet Auction Items
Check out the items that will be up for auction at our 2013 annual banquet that celebrates 14 years of advocating on the behalf of farm animals!
Join Compassionate Action for Animals at our Annual Banquet, celebrating fourteen years of advocating for animals. The banquet will take place on April 4th from 05:30 PM to 09:00 PM at Cedars Hall, Saint Maron Church, 602 University Ave NE, Minneapolis. The items listed below will be available for bidding at our banquet auction, where all proceeds will go directly to our work at CAA.
- $30 Gift Card from Boneshaker Books.
- Unlimited Yoga Passes from Corepower Yoga.
- $25 Gift Card from Galactic Pizza.
- Various Training Sessions from 501Fit.
- $25 Gift Cards from Penn Cycle.
- Gift Certificates from Vegan Essentials.
- Gift Certificates for Belly Dance Classes at Jawaahir Dance Company.
- 4 Theater Passes to the Lagoon Movie Theater.
- $30 Gift Certificates for Bryant Lake Bowl.
- 4 Admissions to Walker Art Center.
- Various Jewelry Pieces from Adrea Beres.
- A Copy of The Able Life by Marly Cornell.
- $10 Gift Cards to Kitchen Window.
- 2 Tickets to Minnesota Dance Theater at the Cowles Center for Dance.
- T-Shirt from Pangea Vegan Shop.
- 3 12 oz Bags of Coffee Beans from Peace Coffee.
- One Haircut from Tease Salon.
- Homemade Vegan Red Velvet Cake made and delivered to you at a time of your choosing.
- Pieces of Artwork from Several Artists.
- More to come….!
4th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off Wrap-up
More than 200 people sampled vegan chili on March 2 and picked the best in town!
The competition again was fierce at our 4th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off. The following took the top three places:
- Betsy Born
- Jacob Carrigan
- Pat Mullen
Once again, we had a repeat of two of the top winners — but this time in a different order! Long time Compassionate Action for Animals volunteer and cook Betsy Born won the top prize. She placed 3rd at the first cook-off and was the runner-up the last two years. Jacob Carrigan is a new contestant, who won with his chili dubbed his entry "Unny's delight" after CAA's Executive Director. Pat Mullen is a new name to this list, but he's a member of the same team that won the last two cook-off's. Congrats to all three of them, and thanks to all the contestants who participated.
Prizes for the winning chili contestants included:
- Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero
- Betty Goes Vegan Cookbook by Annie and Dan Shannon
- Gift certificates from Pizza Luce Seward
- Gift card for Common Roots Cafe
- Top-Prize was from the Ecopolitan Restaurant!
In addition to the excellent chili in the competition, we also served several gallons of People's Chili, several pans of bread, Izzy's vegan ice cream, and Way Better Snacks tortilla chips. Thanks to the businesses and individuals for their generous donations and discounts!
Thanks as well to the First Unitarian Society for hosting us in this beautiful location. Finally, thanks to the volunteers who made this event — and all of CAA's animal advocacy work — possible.
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Minnesota College Leafleting Week
Have you signed up to leaflet during CAA's biggest leafleting event this season? We hope you can join us!
College leafleting involves standing outside of common areas and handing out brochures to students passing by. Leafleting is a great way to help animals. In just an hour, it is possible to distribute over a hundred Compassionate Choices pamphlets on a college campus, getting the message of compassion out to hundreds of open-minded college students!
Minnesota College Leafleting Week is an opportunity for you to join dozens of other local volunteers in the biggest leafleting week of the year! We will have several volunteers at each college (see list below). If you are interested in helping all day, we need on-site-coordinators at each college to manage leaflets. If you would like to help leaflet for a portion of the day, we can arrange transportation (if needed) to and from a local college.
If you can help with this event, please email Ashely with your name, time(s) that you can help, and if you need transportation. Let us know if there is a specific college you would like to leaflet at. Please also RSVP on Facebook an invite your friends!
We will be leafleting at the following schools in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area:
- University of Minnesota – Twin Cities Campuses
- Saint Thomas University, St. Paul
- Augsburg College, Minneapolis (near West Bank U of M)
- Anoka Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids
- Hamline University, St. Paul
- Macalester College
- Saint Kate's University, St. Paul
- Century College, White Bear Lake
If you live in Greater Minnesota, we'd be happy to have your help leafleting at a college near you!
Here are some great resources for leafleting:
Register to Compete at the 4th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off
We still have 9 spots left!
Like cooking chili? Have a secret family recipe? Then you might have what it takes to win 1st place at CAA's 4th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off! Registration costs $20. Awesome animal-friendly prizes will be awarded to the top three recipes as determined by popular vote. Contestants must bring 24 cups of prepared vegan (no animal products) chili, a list of ingredients, and a crock pot (or something without an open flame to keep your chili warm).
The 4th Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off takes place on Saturday, March 2 at the First Unitarian Church, 900 Mount Curve Drive, Minneapolis. Beverages will be provided for washing down some spicy chili. Over 150 people attended last year's cook-off, and we expect a similar crowd again this year!
Check out the Facebook event and invite your friends.
Fall 2012 Matching Campaign Report
We would like to thank everyone for helping us meet our goal of $15,000 in donations over the holiday season! Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, your donations were matched dollar-for-dollar. We are very grateful for your support!
With the start of a new year our conviction is renewed. Our volunteers are preparing for leafleting, tabling, and handing out free vegan food samples. The 4th annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off is right around the corner, and our humane education program has already scheduled presentations for local schools. We also plan to significantly increase the participation and visibility of Veg Fest 2013 as well as ramp up our screenings of the gripping, short documentary Farm to Fridge.
Our efforts and the overall progress of our movement wouldn't be possible without the generous support of donors like you. Thank you!
2012 Isn’t Over – Donate Before the Year Ends!
It’s not too late to donate for the 2012 tax year. We’ve had a great a 2012 and we look forward to even more successes for animals 2013. Can you make a donation to help us achieve our goals?
With your support, 2012 was a very successful year of advocating for animals! Compassionate Action for Animals held our first ever Twin Cities Veg Fest, a ground-breaking event where attendees sampled tasty vegan food, learned about ethics and nutrition, and, most importantly, saw that there is a large, positive movement that cares about animals. I want to continue that success in 2013. Can you make a contribution of $100, $50, or $10 to help make this happen? Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, your donation will be matched dollar-to-dollar for up to $15,000.
I’m planning our second Twin Cities Veg Fest, and we want to make it even more effective. Our plan is to significantly increase the targeted participation and visibility of Veg Fest 2013. Our goals include attracting two hundred more attendees, bringing in entertainment that will attract a new crowd, and holding it during the school year in the fall of 2013 to attract more students and have more food. We want move beyond simply gathering a large crowd. We want to attract those who are interested in making real changes to their diet. And my goal isn’t simply to have exhibitors and speakers that are veg-friendly, but to bring the most engaging local and national exhibitors, speakers that communicate our compassionate message, nutrition information that is accurate and reliable, and food that is tasty, healthy, and affordable. With your help, we can make this happen.
The 2012 Twin Cities Veg Fest is one of the biggest events we have ever put on, with 1,200 attendees, 40 exhibitors, and 6 speakers – and extensive media coverage. But it’s not just size that counts – it’s quality. Our event communicated the gentle, compassionate message that helps people to take steps to reduce animal suffering. This event was overwhelmingly positive and our speakers and exhibitors brought a thought-provoking, respectful message to our audience.
Compassionate Action for Animals had many more accomplishments in 2012:
- We screened Farm To Fridge, a new documentary that shows the brutal realities of factory farming, to 368 people.
- We hosted our first ever Veg Week Kick-Off Concert.
- We distributed 10,800 leaflets.
- The Bridges of Respect Humane Education Program conducted 35 presentations on animal protection issues, reaching more than 1,000 students in local schools.
- We hosted our 3rd Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off, bringing in hundreds of people to sample vegan chili.
- We added three national partners to VegGuide.org, Compassion Over Killing, Farm Sanctuary, and Vegan Outreach. This will greatly increase the exposure of VegGuide.org, giving everybody a useful tool to find veg options when eating out.
We did this and so much more. I’m grateful to all of the donors, volunteers, and businesses that contributed their time, energy, and passion to help animals.
Most of our funding comes from people like you – people who care about animals, and want to make a difference. Can you make a contribution of $100, $50, or $10? Your donation will be matched up to $15,000. You can make your donation online.
Thank you again for your generous support. We’re making a difference for farm animals, and I appreciate the trust you’ve given to me.
Yours for the animals,
Unny Nambudiripad