Vegetarian Vegan Sarasota August Meetup 8-24-06

Last night we had our 18th monthly meetup and boy was it successful!



VegSarasota.com has been at it since last March and I'm proud to see so many people come out (just as the clouds parted for us) to enjoy the company of like minded friends. A group of over 50 people descended upon Whole Foods Market in Sarasota for this event. I got to meet some really great people like Stacy, Andy, & Krystin the nutritionist for the first time. Plenty of good food and a few good drinks were enjoyed before we started the meeting at 7:30pm.

Raylon (that'd be me) started things off by welcoming everyone giving a little background on the group. Dill picked things up by introducing us and reminding everyone why we're doing what we're doing. She then talked about the recent Vegan Day at Whole Foods, and the upcoming Thai vegan buffet at Siam Orchid on 8/27. Then Lisa came up to talk a bit about the upcoming Earthdance festival and describe how buying a ticket from VegSarasota (which you can do with the click of a mouse) not only saves you $5 off the $15 the ticket price, but also helps out the group finances a smidge.

Kris told us all about Biotica Ecotours and their upcoming schedule, including an October veggie outing. Stay tuned for more info on that, these are always really fun and educational. She also said some new photos are up from past events, so check out their site! After Kris spoke, Beth (our girl on the inside) told us about some tasty raw 'burgers' that she had tried that earlier day and provided samples for anyone interested. Slim had a couple of articles to share discussing the recent federal ruling that the FDA cannot prohibit experimental drugs from being used by terminal patients, and 2 other articles by physicians stating that a plant based diet is the healthiest way to go. Then Becky talked about the need for volunteers at the Bee Ridge extension animal shelter, and Karen talked about the upcoming walk in St. Pete for Farm Sanctuary. Brittany talked about an upcoming play series at Booker high in early October. Some free Neem plant was given out along with a bag of mixed tea's provided by Judson (thanks Jud!). Then Andy from Bamboo Grove talked about the organic gardens and most-monthly potlucks on the first Saturday of the month in Arcadia. What a great sounding place!

Lastly, Raylon (ahem) talked about his work with the Outreach Coordinator team and their efforts to effect change through writing letters, emails, and editorials.

With that, we concluded the meeting and were able to get into smaller group conversations and really connect with each other while we all still had our 'veggie buzz' going.



If you want more detail on any of these events, please visit our calendar for dates, times, places, and contact information.