Bay Area Vegetarians

Do you enjoy reading? Do you like learning? And talking about it over vegan food with like-minded people? Then maybe we have an opportunity for you!

We’re considering starting up a book club. We would select a book to read, read it, then meetup to discuss it, every 2 months.

Here’s a selection of books that would fit in the nonfiction theme we’re targeting, animal-rights or vegan health books (science-based). If you’re interested, please contact Tammy to express interest and let us know what works best for a meeting time for you (weekday/weekend, and morning/afternoon/evening).

Update

Initial responses have led us to selecting Sunday morning as our meeting time, and the book Beyond Beliefs for our first reading selection

We will be having an “open house” meeting in March, and we can discuss future books & meeting dates, etc at that time. Note:it’s not a requirement to join us for every book we read. You can opt-in based on whatever books interest you.

3/3 Sun “Open House”/introductory meeting, 10 am to 11 am (everyone can bring different books, talk about book club, dates) – RSVP

5/19 Sun Beyond Beliefs discussion, 10 am to noon – RSVP 

STAND UP FOR ANIMALS
Upcoming volunteer events at local colleges to raise awareness of how animals are treated and promote veganism.

2/14/2018 – Wed – Napa Valley college (Napa)

2/20/2018 – Tue – Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill)
2/26/2018 – Mon – Napa Valley college (Napa)
2/28/2018 – Wed – Solano Community College (Fairfield)

3/07/2018 – Wed – Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill)
3/12/2018 – Mon – Napa Valley college (Napa)
3/14/2018 – Wed – Solano Community College (Fairfield)

We typically start at DVC (Pleasant Hill) at 7:30 am, and at SCC (Fairfield) and NVC (Napa) at 8:45 am, and leaflet until 11:15 – 11:30ish, depending on how the student traffic is.

You’re welcome to join for all or part of it the time!  Please email us and let us know so we can plan accordingly for outreach materials.

Knowledge Needed:  Familiarity with veganism for the occasional question

Experience Needed:  Ability to smile, & hold out your arm while holding a booklet

As easy as smiling and holding out leaflet

Ask Me About Meat

We started in 2003, and had a booth annually until 2008 when we did leafleting only. In 2009, the booth returned, as well as an entry in the Parade. 2010 is our 8th year of outreach at SF LGBT Pride, with a booth on both days as well as pre-parade leafleting on Sunday.

Our history of outreach at Pride is represented in these photo galleries.

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

SF LGBT PRIDE 2010
San Francisco Civic Center
Recommend BART or Muni (Civic Center Station)

Please visit our booth and say hello, and grab some literature for a non-veg friend!

Bay Area Vegetarians booth location – J13
In front of Asian Art Museum on Larkin

We are still in need of donations to cover the cost of our chicken display and other Pride expenses – please help if you can. (more info)

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Caged Egg Laying Hen Display

One of the most effective displays that we use at the BAVeg info booth is a life-size replica of battery caged hens, with a sign telling people why and encouraging them to stop eating eggs. This is a very striking display and people always stop to look and read the sign, and yes, take photographs.

The photo from the BAVeg booth at Pride 2007 shows what the display looks like with three stacked cages (the middle cage is the one we own, and the other 2 were borrowed).  We no longer have access to the other 2 cages.

So, to recreate this display, it is costing us $237.40 to purchase 1 cage and rent the 2nd. If we can raise $400, we can purchase both displays to use on an ongoing basis. Any additional donations over this cost will be use towards costs for the booth space, booth structure rental, insurance, literature and other costs of the booth.

DONATIONS NEEDED — Please support this effort with a donation to help defray the cost. All donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law, as BAVeg is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Donations can be made payable and sent to Bay Area Vegetarians, P.O. Box 371215, Montara, CA 94037-1215

We can also accept donations via credit and debit cards, as well as PayPal

SPECIAL REQUEST — The late Polly Strand, who originally donated the cage to us, enhanced the display with fake poop hanging on the top of the cage. It has fallen off over the years, and now we have a new cage. Is anyone artistically inclined to manufacture more fake poop that we can use? This simulate what happens in the real conditions (looking for visual image only, no olfactory recreations).

The goal of the Bay Area Vegetarians is to share information promoting veganism, and connect/support the veg and animal rights community. What happens or doesn’t happens depends on each one of us, and in the long-run, determines how well we eat because most events should involve lots of vegan food (well, at least the ones that I’m involved with do!)

Does anyone have a special BAVeg event they’ve been thinking of organizing, but uncertain about how to get started?

Well, the first step is to email us with the date/time and let us know what you want to do. Just about any type of event (as long as all the food is vegan) and it’s open to everyone can be a BAVeg event.

Here are some ideas

• vegan cheese tasting party
• leaflet at a concert or summer fair
• Mission food trek (Cafe Gratitude/Cha Ya/Herbivore/Udupi)
• organize a dinner at your favorite veg restaurant
• organize a Vegan Food Party at your favorite park or home
• DIY skill share: have something to say or something to show related to veganism/animal rights? Let me know, we will be having regular Vegan Food Parties at the ocean-view community room at the Pacifica Library.
• movie night: screen a movie related to veg/AR. either at your home, or community room

We look forward to hearing about the events you’d like to help make happen. Thank you!

Bay Area Vegetarians is returning to the 2010 SF Pride Celebration — this will be our 8th consecutive year with outreach at San Francisco PRIDE!

Once again, BAVeg will have an information booth in front of the Asian Art Museum, giving out thousands of pieces of literature promoting a more compassionate and cruelty-free lifestyle:  veganism!  We will also be leafleting during the Festival.  [ Volunteer Sign-Up ]

Nora has been part of our outreach at Pride since the first year in 2003. She recounted one of her experiences about Pride leafleting:

One older man stopped after taking my brochure, looked at it for maybe 15 seconds, and said, “Wow. Thanks for ruining my day!” I started to reply, saying, “I’m sorry to ruin your day–I know this is upsetting–but thanks for caring so much about animals that it ruined your day to know how they are suffering.”

He said, “Actually, though it does kind of ruin my day to see this, I was being serious in thanking you. We need people like you out doing the dirty work of making people aware of this issue. Thank you for being here.”

This is what we are providing when we leaflet. Aren’t you glad you know about how the animals are treated so that you can choose to do something about it? Give others that opportunity to make a difference, as well! And give the animals an opportunity for people to consider their plight.

Please use this sign-up form if you’re interested in helping to make a more veg*n world by:

– staffing the BAVeg booth [ Saturday 10 am-7pm, Sunday 10 am-6 pm ]
– leafleting outside the booth [same time as above]
– leafleting the parade crowd before the parade starts [ Sun 9 am – 10:15 am]
– behind the scenes help [ booth set-up, or cart wrangler on Sunday AM]

While previous outreach experience is helpful, it’s not necessary. We just ask that you’re a friendly person, already vegan, or vegetarian transitioning towards vegan, who can reliably show up at the event. If you have questions, you’re welcome to email us directly or post a comment in the blog.

While financial donations to support the cost of outreach at Pride are gratefully accepted, as a small, grassroots all-volunteer organization, we depend even more on your volunteer support of your time and compassion to make our outreach at Pride successful this year.   Last year, as in previous years, we were the only veg group distributing information at this progressive two-day event. Please sign up to help today to spread the veg message. Donations are welcome via check to Bay Area Vegetarians, P.O. Box 371215, Montara, CA 94037-1215.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our efforts in the past, and to everyone who will help us this year.  Thank you to East Bay Animal Advocates for sponsoring/organizing the marching contingent in the Pride Parade this year.  So be sure to mark your calendars for that weekend, and reserve your spot today!

Where: San Francisco Civic Center
When: Sat Jun 26th – Sun Jun 27th
What: Making a difference – Making new Veg*ns!

Volunteer Sign-Up

Bay Area Vegetarians’ Food for Thought book club is now meeting monthly.  We will be discussing general non-fiction veg/AR books on odd-numbered months, and animal rights philosophy books on even-numbered months.  Most meetings are held in San Francisco, but we occasionally have meetings on the Peninsula.

Future books include Case for Animal Rights by Tom Regan, Ethics into Action:  Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement by Peter Singer, and Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz.

If you’d like to share a suggestion for a great book to read, please comment with your suggestion!

If you’re interested in learning more about the Food for Thought Book Club, please see the event calendar for upcoming book discussions or join our Food for Thought Book Club list, which is a very low-volume yahoogroups list dedicated to book club organizing.

2009 Meetings
Jan – Appetite for Profit
Mar – Striking at the Roots
May – Animal Rights discussion based on Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation
July – The Longest Struggle

2008 Meetings
Jan – For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism
Mar – Making Burros Fly
May – Eternal Treblinka
Sept –  Specious Science
Nov – Sexual Politics of Meat

2007 Meetings
January – Dominion
March – Vegan Freaks
May – The China Study
July – Free the Animals
Sept – Pleasurable Kingdom
Nov – Committed: A Rabble-Rouser’s Memoir

2006 Meetings
Feb – Animal Liberation
July – The Pig Who Sang to the Moon
Aug – The Way We Eat, Why Our Food Choices Matter
Nov – Living Among Meat Eaters

Bay Area Vegetarians is returning to the 2009 Pride Celebration.  This will be our 7th year participating in PRIDE!

Pride weekend is June 27th and 28th.  We will have an information booth on both days, and will march in the parade on Sunday.  Our parade theme is “Love and Let Live”.  To volunteer for one or both activities, please use the links below.

Booth / Leafleting Veg outreach / Education – SF
Walk/Leaflet with us in the Pride Parade: Love and Let Live – SF

New volunteer opportunities! Please check ’em out here (added 6/15)

Meet Michelle:  Michelle is coordinating the volunteers for the outreach at the booth this year, and shared a bit about herself with us. 

For those who don’t know me, I’m a recent college graduate dedicated to spreading the message of compassionate eating.  In college I was president of the Case Animal Rights & Ethics Society and more recently I’ve been working on a new website, www.veganbreak.com, featuring short videos about veganism in an effort to make veganism more accessible to the general public. I’m eager to get involved in Bay Area veg outreach and can’t wait to meet all of you!

On Sunday, May 3rd, BAVeg is hosting a new activity — an animal rights philosophy discussion.

Organized as part of our Food for Thought book club,  Mike B says “The group will provide a great opportunity to hone our ability to reply to those who ostensibly attack our beliefs on rational grounds, as well as acquaint or re-acquaint ourselves with the excellent work in ethics that’s taken place in the last few decades regarding the moral consideration of nonhuman animals.”

This month’s topic:
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, Chapters 1 and 6

Specifically, Singer’s argument for equal consideration of interests regardless of species membership (often referred to as “The Argument from Marginal Cases”). Philosophers opposed to animal rights have been trying to overcome this argument for 33 years with no success! We will get clear about what Singer’s argument is, how it can be used, and what some of the major failed objections to the argument are.

And, he adds, “All are welcome:  Whether you’ve never touched a philosophy book or are a fellow philosophy junkie 🙂  “

What: Animals Rights Philosophy Group
Where: SF
When: 5/3/09 Sunday, 1:00 pm

RSVP | Full Details