Get Active! Spread the Vegan Message!

The best thing you can do for turkeys and other farmed animals is to stop eating them and other animal products (meat, eggs, & dairy). Find out more.

Beyond that, you can encourage other people to stop eating animals.

Here are ways you can get active (click on

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.

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

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.


A great way to get vegan food donations is through Veg Fund.

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.

Distribute Food Samples

Food samples demonstrate the benefits of a cruelty-free diet through delicious vegan food. Offer samples of alternatives to turkey and other animal products at a busy downtown intersection. Consider asking for a donation from Tofurky or purchase turkey-alternatives at your local natural foods store. When distributing samples, it's most effective to have clearly visible signs explaining what kind of food you are giving away. Be sure let people know what brand you're serving and where they can purchase it themsevles.

An excellent resource is Veg Fund. Visit www.VegFund.org to find out how you can get reimbursed for distributing vegan food.

Donate

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. You may be able to receive help from www.VegFund.org

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

When having people over for a vegan dinner, FARM has found that the best videos to show are ones that favor information and positive imagry over graphic footage. We recommend the Vegan- A Life Connected video from Nonviolence United.

Some people, however, won't comprehend the conditions on farms and slaughterhouses until they've seen them with their own eyes. At tabling events or puiblic screenings you can bring your message to people with graphic video footage. A TV can be set up wherever you can find a power source or you can use a laptop computer.

Resources for these videos include:

FARM is offering free copies of the Mercy For Animals documentary Fowl Play. To request a copy, e-mail us.

Write

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


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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" border="0"></a>