Vegetarians of Sarasota & Outreach

Well we recently had our first informal meeting of the VegSarasota outreach coordinators. Thanks to Lisa W. for the title, it fit well. I've been wanting to apply my talent for writing to something I care about for some time, and while I know you are thinking "What could be better than this blog?", I found yet another a great way, and a topic - food! More specifically, getting healthy and tasty cruelty free food options expanded for veggies in this area and of course other (and more important) good causes that we as vegetarians/vegans are empowered to speak out about due to our special brand of enlightenment.



So Thursday, I gathered the top minds (if that's saying much) of VegSarasota who have inspired me and whom I know to be talented in the ways of communication and very intelligent (ok we're a little strange too, but that helps!). So we have Chris O. & Kris F., Sam H. and Lisa W. I provided the Indian food (mild for public consumption), and they provided a sounding board and valuable feedback to this new wing...ok I don’t like wing that's an animal reference... to this new branch of our veg group (yes much better).



We outlined our goals for the task force, namely to leverage our and other members talents and distribute the product of our work to a wider audience within our community. By doing this we can empower our members to help make Sarasota and the world a better, greener, more veg friendly city. We discussed how best to structure different letter and email campaigns, how to effectively reach out to businesses local and national, and how to engage members of our group so that we can have a real impact. Then we (and this is where I need you to pay attention) discussed several institutional targets that we wish to praise and thank for their efforts, others that we would like to see set up shop in the Sarasota area, and yet others that need nudging in the right direction. The reason I asked you to pay attention (you did, didn't you?) is that we want you to submit your good causes to us for consideration. I think a lot of company directors just sit around wanting to know if anyone is paying attention, so they concoct the most ludicrous stuff to see if anyone will react. Things such as media statements that are on the verge of stupidity or business promotions that illustrate the fractured nature of our thinking as a society. So we want help in finding these societal 'areas for improvement'. Please submit or forward any campaigns you come across or think of to raylon@vegsarasota.c om for consideration. We're going to be creating initiatives on several fronts, and I would like to thank the team thus far for really getting involved and each being motivating & inspirational factor in their own way.