Recap: Vegan Convergence of the Peoples #14

On Sunday, August 6th, Animal Place’s Food for Thought Program Manager, Melissa White, spoke on a funders’ panel at Vegan Convergence of the Peoples #14. The panelists included Dawn Moncrief of A Well-Fed World and Leslie Barcus of VegFund.

Melissa spoke about Animal Place’s history, including the sweet story of Zelda the pig, as well as Food for Thought’s mission, progress, and outreach methods, and our available grants. She detailed the policy grant, a one-time gift of either $1,000 or $250 to organizations that have recently adopted a vegan or vegetarian menu policy for their events. She also discussed the vegan event grant, a reimbursement of up to $1,000 in food costs for an organization’s first fully vegan event.

There were 37 people in attendance. The attendees were very engaged and supportive of Food for Thought’s mission of encouraging and inspiring nonprofit organizations like animal shelters to extend their compassion to all animals by adopting a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. One attendee commented, “Our shelters are great, but we need to think about ALL animals!”

At the end of the panel, Melissa encouraged attendees to check out our shelter report card to see if their local animal shelter has a menu policy in place. If they found that they didn’t, she suggested that they send a polite email to ask that they adopt a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. Because the audience was mainly vegan activists, they loved this idea.

Could your organization benefit from one of our grants? Click here to find out if you’re eligible.

Vegan Event Grant Recipient: HEART L.A.

Congratulations to Heart L.A. (Housing Equality & Advocacy Resource Team) for hosting their first fully vegan event and adopting a vegan menu policy!

HEART L.A. believes no one should have to leave their home because of their animals. Located in Los Angeles, CA, they are a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to keeping people and their companion animals together. Their housing advocates and attorneys help renters who are facing harassment or eviction because of their companion animal. HEART L.A. also educates animal welfare groups on the legal rights of having a companion animal.

In December 2022, they hosted their Under One Woof event. We love that they supported local businesses. Their DJ was a social worker, their centerpieces were made by a local nascent business, and their food was catered by a local queer/trans-Latinx kitchen collective. Their event venue was also accessible for people with disabilities.

Their vegan food menu included:

• Tostada bar: tinga, beans, vegan cheeze, avocado, salsa

• Vegan ceviche with chips or tostada

• Tacos dorados: jackfruit chikun or potato queso fresco

All of their attendees were impressed and satisfied with the food! There was some initial hesitation from meat lovers, but every single one of them loved the food. Vegans at the event were delighted to be able to eat all of the food on the menu. All of the food was gone within an hour!

We love and support HEART LA’s mission. We are honored that they chose Food for Thought to sponsor the food at their event. Thank you for including farmed animals in your sphere of compassion!

Vegan Event Grant Recipient: Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society

We are happy to award our Vegan Event Grant to Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society! Located in New Jersey, their organization provides a safe and peaceful haven for homeless, abandoned, or abused animals. They are dedicated to decreasing the number of cats and dogs euthanized in kill shelters. They offer adoption, trap-neuter-return, and education programs.

Karma Cat + Zen Dog hosted their annual event, Paws for Celebration, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The event comprised of a buffet dinner, dancing, and a silent auction. Historically, this event has been vegetarian. This is the first time they are serving fully vegan food!

Their vegan food menu included:

• Baked Vegetable Lasagna

• Eggplant Rollatini

• Cavatelli & Broccoli w/ Aioli Sauce

• Green Salad

• Roasted Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables

• Spring Rolls

• Cakes & Brownies from Cats Luck

Guests enjoyed the food and raved about the desserts both at and after the event!

Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society visions a world where every companion animal is respected, fed, warm, happy, and not in danger of being killed because of being temporarily homeless. We are excited their organization extended its compassion to farmed animals. Congratulations on adopting a vegan menu policy!

Recap: HSUS Animal Care Expo 2022

After almost three years, we are so excited to return to in-person conferences! Our Food for Thought Program Manager, Crystal Kozlak, and East Coast Coordinator, Tami Andrew, attended the HSUS Animal Care Expo in Orlando, FL. Crystal and Tami finally got the opportunity to speak with organization representatives face-to-face!

Our Booth

Everyone we spoke with was super friendly and supportive of Food for Thought’s mission. We made a lot of great connections. Many of the attendees work for organizations that do not have a vegan or vegetarian menu policy yet. Even if they aren’t vegan or vegetarian themselves, they agreed organizations should align their menu with their mission. Attendees were the most excited about our Vegan Event Grant. The vegan food served at the conference impressed them so much they want to host their own vegan event!

Vegan Food

The food at the conference was outstanding! It was 100% vegan because HSUS has a vegan menu policy. Some of the meals served included bagels and cream cheese, spaghetti and pesto pasta, Beyond Burger sliders, BBQ jackfruit or black bean burgers, potato salad, grilled corn, chili, and a taco bowl bar. The desserts were delightful too! They served delicious chocolate chip cookies, red velvet whoopie pies, tapioca pudding cups, strawberry and whip cream cups, and chocolate cupcakes dusted with gold glitter.

HSUS purposefully did not label any of the food vegan so that attendees could enjoy the food instead of making a presumption that it’ll be unappetizing just because it’s vegan. Attendees were so impressed with all the food at the conference and could hardly believe it was vegan. We were frequently asked if Food for Thought was responsible for it. We were proud to say that HSUS is one of our Policy Leaders!

Round Table Discussion

Crystal had the opportunity to host a round table discussion. They asked participants questions on the topic of hosting vegan or vegetarian events. All participants acknowledged that we’re in the same fight to help animals so we should be kind to all animals. They were all supportive of adopting a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. Participants believe it’s important to impress guests with a good meal, but not label it as a vegan. It worked for HSUS! We look forward to attending more conferences this year!

Grant Opportunities to Help Your Organization Adopt a Policy!

Animal Place’s Food for Thought Program offers grant opportunities to help companion animal shelters adopt a vegan or vegetarian menu policy!

Photos from previous Food for Thought Vegan Event Grant recipients

WHAT IS FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

Food for Thought is a program of Animal Place, one of the oldest and largest sanctuaries for farmed animals in the United States. We help nonprofit organizations extend their compassion to all animals by adopting a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. This is a written, board-approved policy. It states your organization will only serve vegan or vegetarian foods at your events.

Contact Food for Thought and we’ll write a policy for your organization!

WHY ADOPT A POLICY?

Animal welfare organizations have a mission to protect animals. It’s inconsistent to raise funds for animals by serving animals.

Many people identify farmed animals as companions. Farmed animals include rabbits, chickens, pot-bellied pigs, goats, and other species. If any of these animals came into your shelter, you would provide them with the same level of care as a dog or cat. As a rescue organization, where do you draw the line between those you love and those on the plate at your events?

Adopting a vegan or vegetarian menu policy aligns your menu with your mission of saving animal lives. Learn about more reasons to adopt a policy.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

VEGAN EVENT GRANT

Does your organization want to try a fully vegan event? With the Vegan Event Grant, we’ll reimburse the food expenses up to $1,000 for your organization’s first fully vegan event. This grant is perfect for organizations that are considering adopting a policy but have some concerns. It’s a great opportunity to try out a fully vegan event and see how your supporters respond.

Apply for the Vegan Event Grant.

You may combine the Vegan Event Grant with the screening of the award-winning film The Last Pig for the ultimate event!

VEGAN TICKET SUBSIDY GRANT

With the Vegan Ticket Subsidy Grant, you'll host an event where attendees can purchase their meal option ahead of time. Charge your attendees half-price for the vegan meal option and we’ll cover the other half up to $1,000! Hosting a gala is a perfect example of how you can use this grant.

Apply for the Vegan Ticket Subsidy Grant.

POLICY GRANT

The Policy Grant is a one-time gift for organizations that adopt a new board-approved vegan or vegetarian menu policy. We offer $1,000 for a vegan menu policy or $250 for a vegetarian menu policy.

Apply for the Policy Grant.

Policy Grant Recipient: Animal Protective Association of Missouri

We are excited to announce the Animal Protective Association of Missouri as our latest Policy Grant recipient! Serving the people and animals of St. Louis is their top priority. The APA is dedicated to bringing people and pets together, advancing humane education, and creating programs beneficial to the human/animal bond. Services provided by the APA include a low-cost veterinary clinic, pet food distribution, and education programs.

This amazing organization has extended its compassionate work by adopting a vegetarian menu policy. The APA stated, “Adopting an animal-friendly food policy was a value-based decision that aligned with our mission and organizational brand. While the APA’s day-to-day efforts focus on companion animals, we are an organization dedicated to caring and advocating for the humane and compassionate treatment of all animals. For this reason, we wanted to also promote welfare-conscious consumption of food at all organization events and meetings.”

Thank you so much to the Animal Protective Association of Missouri for your compassion and your hard work! We couldn’t be happier to award this grant for their dedication to all animals!

Policy Grant Recipient: American Tortoise Rescue

Food for Thought is proud to announce our new Policy Grant recipient, American Tortoise Rescue!

Founded in 1990 and Located in Malibu, CA they provide protection and sanctuary to all species of tortoise and turtle. They have successfully re-homed over 4,000 tortoises and turtles; permanent sanctuary is given to those with special needs and they stay in the care of American Tortoise Rescue for the remainder of their lives. 

ATR are leaders in tortoise and turtle education; offering information about the care, feeding, and rehabilitation of endangered and captive-born tortoises. They are also advocates who work to abolish “live market” slaughter of turtles and the cruel importation and exploitation of these animals as food. It’s no wonder this amazing organization has extended it’s compassionate work to include a vegan menu policy for their events. Their policy states:

“For 30 years, founders Susan Tellem and Marshall Thompson have firmly held the belief that if you love animals, you don’t eat them. Meat animals and fish suffer greatly during factory farming, and the world’s climate is suffering because of meat consumption as well. By reducing the consumption of meat and by eating a plant based diet, we can all make a difference in our lives and those of the animals we love.”

We couldn’t be happier to award ATR this grant for their dedication to all animals. Their work is especially needed during this time. Thank you, American Tortoise Rescue!

To learn more about how you can support them, visit: www.tortoise.com

Policy Grant Recipient: Whole Dog Academy

Food for Thought is excited to announce Whole Dog Academy as our newest policy grant recipient! Based in Oregon, Whole Dog Academy works to improve the human and canine relationship. They educate shelter and rescue staff, veterinarians, dog trainers, and the general public on reward-based, force-free training. They offer several programs to their community including a Dog Trainer Certificate Program, a low-cost Community Training Program, seminars, workshops, animal behavior research, shelter dog training, and they even have a canine behavior conference called WagCon! We love that Whole Dog Academy's educational outreach keeps dogs in homes and out of shelters!    

Another reason to love Whole Dog Academy is that they have a vegan menu policy! They believe that their commitment to animal welfare does not end with canines. As they stated, "Whole Dog Academy understands that our organization has a responsibility to not only adopt, but to promote and educate about humane practices and the compassion that all animals deserve. Adopting a vegan-only menus policy is one step toward making our organization the best stewards of animal health and welfare that we can be." 

Congratulations on adopting a vegan menu policy! 

Vegan Event Grant Recipient: Friends of Oakland Animal Services

We're excited to announce another vegan event grant recipient, Friends of Oakland Animal Services! This wonderful organization partners with Oakland Animal Services to take in over 5,000 homeless animals each year and provide critical services such as veterinary care. While they've had smaller events with vegan options, their first fully vegan event, Raise the Woof!, was so successful that it sold out!

Their guests loved the food! Here was their mouth-watering vegan menu:

• Broccoli, potato, and cheddar tofu quiche

• Smoked Gouda, bacon, and spinach turnovers

• Soy chicken salad spinach wraps

• Blue cheese almond stuffed baby portobello mushrooms

• Almond Ricotta stuffed shiitake mushrooms topped with tomato and basil-walnut pesto

• Tomato-basil bruschetta

• Olive tapenade with Miyoko's cheese

• Artichoke dip

• Caesar Salad kabob

They also completely ran out of dessert which were catered by Timeless Cafe! We're happy to hear that there was a wide variety of plant-based options for everyone to enjoy!

Vegan Event Grant Recipient: Spay Neuter Project Los Angeles

Congratulations to our vegan grant recipient, The Spay Neuter Project Los Angeles! This incredible organization provides quality veterinary care to underserved communities in Los Angeles. Their low-waste and fully plant-based event, The Million Pet Soirée, was a huge success in raising money for their cause.

In addition to raising funds, The Spay Neuter Project Los Angeles received positive feedback about their vegan food. They served fruit and cheese platters, caprese pizza, salad with Gorgonzola dressing, sandwiches with veggies and cheese all from a dairy-free cheese shop called Vromage, veggie platters from Heirloom LA, and delicious vegan pastries from Cake Girl. What a perfect opportunity for their non-vegan and vegetarian guests to enjoy good vegan food!

Policy Grant Recipient: Animal Village NM

We're excited to announce a new policy grant recipient: AnimalVillageNM! This New Mexico based no-kill shelter works to reduce the number of dogs and cats who were abandoned for euthanasia at municipal shelters. AnimalVillageNM is not only dedicated to rescuing animals, but focused on giving their adopters the tools to create a loving, forever home. This includes ensuring cats are adopted to homes where they will be indoors and not declawed, providing educational support, and offering K9 training classes. AnimalVillageNM puts animals needs and safety as top priority.

AnimalVillageNM's mission is to help New Mexico become a state of love, compassion, and respect for all animals―creating a world where animals and humans live in harmony. They will continue to stand by these values when serving vegan for all their events, fundraisers, and activities.

​Congratulations on adopting a vegan menu policy!