|
The best thing
you can do for turkeys and other
farmed animals is to stop eating
them and other animal products
(meat, eggs, & dairy). Every
time consumers buy or order turkey
meat and other animal products,
demand is created for more, causing
additional animals to be bred.
Beyond that,
you can encourage other people
to stop eating animals. Below
are a few ideas of how. If you
anticipate media coverage of
your event, please visit our Materials page
for pointers. Also, be sure to register
your activities , even if
you are still in the planning
stages. By registering your event,
you allow us to list you and
your city in our Events
Directory and to publicize
your event to local and national
media, as well as other activists.
Here are ways
you can get active (click on
the link for details):
Distribute
Handouts
Request
colorful handouts and distribute
them to friends, family, associates,
neighbors, and others in your
community. They're great for
distribution at natural
foods stores, libraries, humane
societies, or other veg-friendly
locations.
Click
here or call 800-632-8688
to request these colorful Gentle
Thanksgiving handouts (click
on the image for a larger view).
We also have
a downloadable flyer for you
to print out (color paper recommended),
copy, and distribute. Click
here to download now (PDF).
Coordinate
a Public Gentle Thanksgiving
Dinner
A great form
of outreach, public vegan dinners
are a fun way to demonstrate
the great taste and many benefits
of cruelty-free holiday cuisine.
Below are tips on how to go about
planning a public dinner:
1) Form
an organizing committee to
help with the planning. Ask
friends and family to help
you out and encourage fellow
animal advocates in your community
to join you.
2) Choose
a venue. Ideal possibilities include:
- Veg Restaurant (the food
will already be taken care
of!)
- Church
- Community Center
- Civic Hall
3) Make
a food plan. Here
are some ideas:
- Hire a caterer to supply
vegan food (if you need help
covering the costs, you may
consider asking for donations
from guests or a fee to attend).
- Make it a potluck.
Ask each guest to bring a vegan
dish to share with others (be
sure to specify that vegan
means no meat, eggs, or dairy).
In order to ensure that all dishes
are covered, consider asking
guests with last
names beginning with letters
A-D to bring appetizers, E-L
to bring a side dish, M-R to
bring a main course, and S-V
to bring dessert. Don't forget
to ask someone to bring a Tofurky!
- Ask for food donations. Check
in with local vegans or other
to see if
they'd be willing to donate
food for the occassion. They
may be eager to donate their
favorite dish or even purchase
a Tofurky or
two for the occasion. You can
also contact local natural
foods stores or vegan food
manufacturers for food donations.
4) Promote the event. Publicizing
your plans to community members
is the best way to ensure a good
turnout. Below are some easy
ways to get the word out:
- Make flyers with
event details and
distribute
them around various places
in your community -- hang them
up on bulletin boards, natural
foods stores, veg-friendly
restaurants, etc. Don't forget
to give them to your friends,
family, co-workers, and neighbors,
as well.
- Send an e-mail announcement to everyone in your address
book and/or community e-lists
you may be joined to.
- Utilize newspapers by
posting announcements in the
classified sections.
- Contact your local
media. Click
here for
a Guide to Local Media (PDF
file).
Host
a Private Gentle Thanksgiving Dinner
Invite friends
and acquaintances who haven't
been a part of vegan Thanksgiving
before to join your celebration.
Make a wonderful variety of delicious
traditional Thanksgiving cuisine
to demonstrate how amazing and
fulfilling a cruelty-free holiday
is.
Be sure to have
Gentle
Thanksgiving handouts,
Veg Starter Kits, and/or other
materials available to further
educate your guests. It's also
a good idea to provide copies
of your recipes and keep packages
of any alternatives to meat or
dairy you're using (such as the
Tofurky box, Earth Balance margarine
package, Vegenaise jar, etc.)
for reference.
Host
a Workplace Feed-in
Many people choose
to educate co-workers by sharing
delicious vegan food during lunch
a week or two before the holiday.
It's a great way to introduce
cruelty-free food options to
those around you and let them
know where they can purchase
it on their own. Bring in samples
of mock meat and other vegan
Thanksgiving goodies or provide
a full lunch at work. Request
Gentle Thanksgiving handouts to
distribute along with the food
and explain why you choose to
eat cruelty-free foods.
Click
here for
details on hosting a workplace
feed-in.
Donate
Vegan Food to a Homeless Shelter
A great way to
show compassion for animals and people
during the holidays is to donate
vegan food to the hungry. Contact
your local homeless shelters
and ask if you can prepare food
(either in their kitchen or yours)
and bring it in to serve. Consider
asking for a donation from Tofurky (e-mail: info@tofurky.com)
or purchase turkey-alternatives
at your local natural foods store.
Or get active
with your local Food
Not Bombs chapter.
Find out more at www.FoodNotBombs.net.
Get our Message on the Air
Let your local radio DJ or TV talk show host know about the interview opportunities we are offering. Details here.
Show a Video
Some
people just won't comprehend
the conditions on farms and slaughterhouses
until they've seen them with
their own eyes. Video is ideal
for these folks. Arrange for
your friends and family to watch
a film with you. Alternatively,
you can bring your message to
the streets with graphic video
footage. A TV can be set up wherever
you can find a power source,
and even your car battery will
do.
Resources for
videos include:
Write
a Letter to the Editor
Writing letter
to editors of your local newspapers
is a great way
to reach a wide audience. The
letters page of a major metropolitan
daily is read by most of its
readers. Write about
kindness and compassion during
the holiday season by encouraging
readers to enjoy delicious, vegan
food. Invite them to request
a free Veg Starter Kit and get
weekly recipes at www.VegKit.org.
You can also refer them to the
Gentle
Thanksgiving Recipe page
for holiday recipes.
Link to us from your
website
Use
the banners below to provide a link to us
from your website.
(BNR88x31.jpg)
(BNR120x60.jpg)
(BNR234x60.jpg)
Instructions:
Copy and paste the code
below into the HTML on the page where you want
to add a link to us. In the code, change the
items marked in red to the banner filename of
your choice and change the sizes accordingly.
Sample code:
<a href="http://www.gentlethanksgiving.org" target="_blank"><img
style="margins: 5px 5px 5px 5px;" src="http://www.gentlethanksgiving.org/images/gentleThanksgiving120X60.gif" width="120" height="60" alt="Visit
The Gentle Thanksgiving Website!" border="0"></a>
|
