Bay Area Vegetarians

January is our annual opportunity to look back at the year that just ended, and to look forward and plan for the new year.

Bay Area Veg was first established in October, 2001 to address a need in the community for one organization that would support both the vegan and vegetarian community, as well as activists interested in veganism and animal rights. That twin dynamic continues to be reflected in the type of events and activities that our members have organized.

In 2008, BAVeg volunteers hosted 168 events:

• 93 community/social events: Vegan Food parties, restaurant dinners, book club meetings for general fiction as well as non-fiction veg and animal rights topics, volunteer work events, and fundraisers for Animal Place and Farm Sanctuary

• 75 advocacy/outreach events: letter writing parties, veg leafleting (just under 25K distributed), KFC cruelty protests, tabling outreach, and rodeo and circus protests

The community scene has changed vastly since BAVeg was created in 2001. There are several other ways for veg*ns to connect with each other, including new organizations and new social networking communities like Facebook and meetup.

What is needed now? That is the question for 2009 and beyond. Help us chart our future and influence our growth with your participation. Please, don’t take your veg community and organizations for granted. The reason this is a cliche is because it’s true – many hands make light work. So give us your hand .. and your most brilliant ideas for an awesome 2009.

Please add your suggestions and ideas by commenting in this post, or you may also email us privately via the contact page

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 advocacy & outreach in the Bay Area and with Bay Area Vegetarians, aka BAVeg aka Be-A-Veg

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. BAVeg is run entirely by volunteers; we have no paid staff or offices.  So, our continued operation really is dependent upon each one of us.

Chris and I have been with BAVeg since its humble beginnings as “SFBAVeg” in October, 2001; we designed and built http://bayareaveg.org, including the custom Ultimate Guide, organized hundreds of events and activities, and incorporated it as a non-profit 501(c)(3).

Through all of this, we have enjoyed working with many wonderful and dedicated people over these years on BAVeg’s core principles of CARE — Community, Advocacy, Resources, and Education.

This dinner meeting will be an opportunity to meet with other like-minded folks and discuss forthcoming projects and volunteer needs, outreach strategies and styles, and just network and socialize, too, all while enjoying delicious vegan food.  Udupi is an all-vegetarian restaurant with many vegan selections of Southern Indian fare, including dosas and uthappam. And, unlike other SF restaurants, it is actually heated during the winter so we won’t need to bundle up just to eat.

What: Volunteer & Activist Community Dinner
Where: Udupi Palace, 1007 Valencia St (21st St), San Francisco
When: 1/29/09 Thursday, 6:00 pm
RSVP | Full Details

So whether you’re new or old BAVeg member, aspiring or experienced activist/volunteer, as long as you are interested in working with BAVeg to promote veganism, please join us for this dinner meeting on January 29th, 2009 at 6 pm at Udupi Palace restaurant in SF.

Turn your resolutions to help animals, be more active, and promote veganism into actionable solutions!

We look forward to meeting and working with you in 2009.

Cheers,
Tammy and Chris
co-founders of BAVeg

Join Veganauts to explore, celebrate and share vegan food with new and old friends at vegetarian restaurants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.   Hosts are needed for the 2009 mission series.  As you can see from the 2008 schedule below, we like to travel to different parts of the Bay Area, with different types of food.

So, Indian, Asian, raw, East Bay, South Bay, SF, etc — pick your favorite and let me know when you’d like to host!  Eating out at Asian style restaurants is particularly fun because it means getting to try a wider variety of dishes than just eating out on your own.

Expedition 200802 : Leap Year Mission : Golden Buddha, SF
Expedition 200803 : Mission to Cafe Soulstice: San Mateo
Expedition 200804 : Mission to Souley Vegan: Oakland
Expedition 200805 : Mission to Udupi Palace : Sunnyvale
Expedition 200806 : Mission to Ital Calabash, Berkeley
Expedition 200807 : Mission to Manzanita, Oakland
Expedition 200808 : Mission to Cafe Gratitude: SF
Expedition 200809 : Mission to the New World: Oakland
Expedition 200810 : Mission to Planet Herbivore: San Francisco
Expedition 200811 : Mission to Fragrance Land : Cupertino

Responsibilities as an organizer:  Pick restaurant, date/time and coordinate that with me (it can be weekday evening, weekend — make it work for your schedule); send announcement to the SFBAVeg list.  Track RSVPs, reserve space at restaurant, greet guests as they arrive, and enjoy good food & fellowship over a delicious vegan meal!

We are fortunate to live in a geographic area that provides a variety of vegan flora throughout the Bay Area, so let’s take advantage of it and start planning our 2009 missions!

Veganauts was started in 2006 by Tammy & Chris, BAVeg co-founders, and they continue to lead vegan missions alongside guest mission commanders.

Veganauts is the perfect opportunity to host on an occasional basis while supporting BAVeg and your local vegetarian community.

To submit a Mission proposal, please email Tammy directly