World Hunger Demo

Today (December 11th) we held our last event of the semester: a demonstration about the contribution of meat-eating to the problem of world hunger due to inefficient use of resources. Our display table had a bold, picture-based trifold as well as a globe and empty plates. We wore red clothing and stuck duct tape over our mouths to represent those who cannot eat. The event primarily focused on leafleting, and we handed out a total of 486 fact-filled fliers!! ...And then we ran out of printing money (we kept having to go print more because we were handing out so many) and ended a bit early. A handful of people stopped by and engaged in conversation about the topic as well. This event was a huge success!!

Behind the scenes, Veg Club is working on getting on more social media sites. Check out our new twitter!

This semester has been absolutely amazing, in terms of member engagement and event success. Just to recap, here is what we've accomplished this semester: Campus Fest, SASHA volunteer trip, crate challenge, an eat-together at Shoots, "Cowspiracy" screening, Egg Industry Demo, Adopt-A-Turkey Bake Sale, vegan potluck, world hunger demo, the designing of club shirts, and officer elections. And more than one failed attempt to paint the rock (aka we will paint it next semester). Check out the rest of our blog and our photo album on facebook/orgsync to take a trip down memory lane... Thanks to everyone who has been involved in these events and let's make next semester even better!! :)

Adopt-A-Turkey Bake Sale, Potluck

On November 17th and 18th, Veg Club hosted an adopt-a-turkey bake sale to raise money to sponsor turkeys to live their lives on a farm sanctuary. Each year in the U.S., 46 million turkeys are killed just for Thanksgiving. We combined our efforts with S.A.V.E., who continued the bake sale on the 19th and 20th, to raise enough money to adopt three turkeys! We adopted Turpentine, Tibbott, and Martha, who live at Farm Sanctuary's Northern California Shelter. You can read about their stories, personalities and favorite foods here. At the bake sale, customers were given the opportunity to draw a turkey with their hand on a poster that we plan on sending in to the 46 million turkeys project, an art display seeking submissions to honor those lives lost each year during the holiday season.

On November 22nd, Veg Club got together for a potluck at an off-campus apartment, enjoying food, conversation and a vegan board game the object of which is to save animals. 10 people attended and we had a good time!

Coming up: No meeting November 25th. Start brainstorming ideas for a demonstration about world hunger and veganism (aka resource inefficiency of meat-eating). The demo is tentatively scheduled for December 11th.

Cowspiracy, Egg Demo

Veg Club has kept busy being awesome this past October! We kicked off the month on the 7th with an excellent lunch at Shoots, the new vegan station at the Oaks, complementary of Dining Services. We also designed and ordered fabulous new shirts for our group. We intended to paint the Spirit Rock veg-style in October, but our two attempts fell through (one due to rain, and the second due to another group arriving right before we did), so we will be doing that next semester!

On October 21st, we hosted a free screening of the documentary "Cowspiracy," which discusses the environmental impact of animal agriculture. More than 20 people attended the showing and we had an insightful discussion afterward.

On the 29th, we held a demonstration about the egg industry. We passed out about 200 color-coded plastic eggs that each contained a laffy taffy and a fact about the egg industry. The facts covered issues like debeaking, small cage sizes, the disposal of male chicks, environmental impacts, health effects on humans, and reproductive problems of the hens. For a portion of the event, we also had a person in a chicken costume. In addition, the last 30 minutes of the event focused on paying people $1 to watch a 1-minute video about egg farms on a tablet (ideally doing so while sitting in a dog cage); about 12 people participated. Overall, the event went fairly well and Veg Club had a fun meeting preparing for it!

Meeting Notes for Oct. 14

At last night's meeting, we discussed upcoming events for the rest of October.

On Tuesday October 21st at 8pm in Olscamp 115, we will be showing the environmental-animal rights film "Cowspiracy" in place of a regular meeting. Members also need to bring club shirt money ($11-$13) by this date!! In addition, members are asked to bring a few facts about the egg industry in preparation for another event.

On Wednesday October 22nd at 6:30pm at the Spirit Rock, we will be painting the rock veg style. Also on Wednesday in the Union at from 12-1pm, Dining Services will be featuring free vegan food, so we encourage people to go check it out!

On Wednesday October 29th from 11am-3pm in the Union Oval, we will be having a demonstration about the egg industry. The meeting on Tuesday the day before will be used as a work day. At this point, our ideas for the event include to have a chicken costume, a member sitting in a small cage, some sort of signage, and a petition. We also will pass out plastic easter eggs that have candy and a fact about the egg industry (possibly, one of several that could be color-coded and 'collectible'/shareable).

Tentative Fall 2014 Schedule

Here is the tentative schedule of events for fall 2014! :) Check out October to see what's coming up soon (painting the rock and eating at the Oaks at the new vegan station).

Fall Semester

September
9/4 Campus Fest
9/20 Volunteer at SASHA
9/16 Pig Crate Demo
9/18 Officer Training

October
10/22 @ 6:30pm Paint the Rock (Meet there)
10/7 @ 1pm Eat at Shoots
10/21 @ 8pm Show Film "Cowspiracy" (Meet Olsc. 115)
10/29 @ 11am-3pm Egg Demo (Meet in Oval)
Club Shirts

November
Veg Myth/Fact Demo
Adopt-A-Turkey Bake Sale
Vegan Potluck
Officer Elections

December
World Hunger Demo

Campus Fest, Cage Challenge, SASHA

On September 4th, Veg Club partipated in BGSU's annual campus fest. We gave away two giant stacks of brochures, and we added about 2 pages of new subscribers to our e-mail list!


On September 16th, inspired by the Great Crate Challenge put on by the Human Society of the United States, we hosted our own version of the event. Outside the BG Union, we set up a human-size cage built from PVC pipes, and a smaller one built from wood. We handed out informational fliers, and we asked students who came up to take the challenge to try to turn around, raise their arms, and touch their toes while in confinement. Most people had trouble with these simple tasks and were shocked when we told them that pigs and other factory-farmed animals were living like this. Most participants signed the petition asking for larger cage sizes for pigs. We collected nearly 40 signatures and the event went really well!


On September 20th, Veg Club volunteered at SASHA Farm Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals. We got to help with a little bit of everything: filling waters and pools, putting out food and bales, releasing the animals outside and rounding some of them back in, scooping poop, and just hanging out with our animal friends! :) It was a really beautiful, productive day and we love getting to know rescued animals who are enjoying living out their lives free from cruelty.

Eco Fair, SASHA, End-of-Year Party

On April 23rd, Veg Club participated in BGSU's annual Eco Fair in honor of Earth Week to educate people about the devastating environmental impacts of factory farming. It was a beautiful, fun day and we handed out lots of leaflets, stickers and vegan ice cream. In addition, we were approached by a gentleman who runs a local radio program about sustainability and wants us to be guests on his show, so look for that some time in the near future!

On the also beautiful April 26th, Veg Club and SAVE teamed up to volunteer at SASHA Farm Sanctuary and Save Haven for Animals in Michigan. We very thoroughly cleaned the horse pasture (read: shoveled poop), took a vegan lunch break, and visited some of our animal friends around the farm, taking lots of selfies with Helen the cow and several silly goats.

For our last event of the 2013-14 school year, Veg Club and SAVE got together the evening of May 3rd at an off-campus apartment for an end-of-the-year party. We might have had a little too much fun... 

It has been a really wonderful year and we will miss those who are graduating. Thank you to everyone for your support and involvement; we can't wait to see everyone in the fall! Keep fighting for animals! :)

Rabbit Sanctuary, Donut Sale, Earth Week

On April 5th, Veg Club and SAVE took a trip to the Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary in Michigan to volunteer. We cleaned up the bunny cages and mopped the barn. The rabbits are cute, huge and soft. Some of them can be shy and scared while others just want to play. The sanctuary has adorable pigs as well!






On April 15th and 16th, Veg Club held a vegan donut and puppy chow bake sale. While we didn't have as many sales as we thought we would, everyone who stopped by thought we had some delicious stuff! We got to eat the leftovers, of course. ;)

On April 21st, in honor of Earth Week, Holly (Veg Club president) and Stefanie (SAVE president) chalked the sidewalks around the BGSU union area with facts about how being vegan saves the earth. It was a warm, beautiful day and this was a fun, easy, colorful form of activism. Go green, go vegan! Look for Veg Club at BGSU's Eco Fair on April 23rd and stop by to learn more and for free vegan ice cream!

Meeting Notes for March 18

Upcoming events:

• Speciesism film screening - March 25th at 7pm in Olscamp 219
• Rabbit Sanctuary Volunteering Trip - April 5th
• Veg Fest in Michigan - April 13th 10:30am - 5pm
• Vegan Donut & Puppy Chow Sale - April 15th & 16th at 11am-3pm in Union
• SASHA Farm Volunteering Trip - April 26th
• BGSU Eco Fair - April 23rd
• Final potluck/end of year party - May 3rd

Other Notes:

• NO meeting March 25th
• Keep thinking of ideas for DAB meetings & the vegan station at the Oaks

Ditch Dairy Day

G O T    S O Y  M I L K ?

On February 25th, Veg Club met together at Cafe Havana to eat, hang out and plan for Ditch Dairy Day (Feb. 26th & 27th). We all worked together to create an awesome display table in the Union to educate campus about the horrors of the dairy industry. Our table attracted quite a bit of attention thanks to our epic cow costume! The event was a huge success; we handed out lots of free food and informational leaflets, and engaged in good conversations with people of all opinions. We really had a blast and can't wait to do this again next year!!

January Events

On January 24th, Veg Club had a table at the Get Involved Fair and had a handful of people stop by to get involved (hence the name!). We also made about $40 at our vegan bake sale on January 22nd. In February, we will be having Ditch Dairy day, and we hope to have a Pledge Kindness to Animals day, as well as an eat-together. Stay tuned!

Meeting Notes for Jan. 14

After discussing the upcoming Dining Advisory Board meeting and the collaboration with dining services on constructing a vegan station in the AYCE facilities, we touched on our plan for this semester. Here is our tentative schedule (though we will be researching some other ideas such as protesting), which will also be supplemented by doing events with SAVE:

January
Get Involved Fair (24th, 11-3, Olscamp 101)
Bake Sale (29th, 11-3, Union Tables; bake night instead of meeting TBA)

February
Ditch Dairy Day (26th?, 11-3, Union Tables)
Kindness to Animals Day: Pledge to do something kind for animals & get free food
Eat together at Aladdin's

March
SASHA Trip
Bake Sale (International or candied goods?)
Eat together somewhere

April
Rabbit Sanctuary Trip
Bake Sale (donuts???, in the Union Oval??)
Final potluck/party! :)

Vegan Donuts

These mini-donuts are super easy and fun to make... but be careful not to set the smoke alarm off heating the oil like the person who created this recipe did! Makes 10 donuts and a lot of leftover frosting.

Ingredients
Donuts:
1 roll Pillsbury French Loaf
2.5ish cups vegetable oil
Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp vegan butter, melted
2 tbsp vegan milk
Topping (very approximate):
.5 tbsp brown sugar
.5 tbsp cinnamon
.5 tbsp vegan sprinkles

Instructions
     1. Heat vegetable oil in a sauce pan (use enough for donuts to be able to float in) over medium-low heat; it is ready when it makes small bubbles around something you stick in it.
     2. In the mean time, tear the dough into 10 equal pieces. Form them into balls, flatten them a bit, and use your fingers to create a hole in the center. Set aside on a tray.
     3. Mix frosting ingredients in a bowl. Mix topping ingredients in another bowl. Feel free to experiment with other toppings or adding flavoring to the frosting!
     4. When the oil is ready, simply toss one or two donuts in at a time and flip over with a spatula, counting about 20 seconds on each side or until slightly golden brown. Set finished donuts on a tray lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
     5. Hand dip one (or both if you wish) side of each donut in the frosting. Use a spoon to sprinkle topping on the donuts (or dip in the topping if you wish).
     6. Eat within a day and enjoy! :)