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! 

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!

Policy Grant Recipient: Centre For A Responsible Future

We’re pleased to announce a new policy grantee: Centre for a Responsible Future (CRF), based in Singapore. CRF engages people and organizations in Singapore to adopt more responsible practices for a better future and they do so through a variety of programs and events like EarthFest, Animal Allies, Vegetarian Society Singapore, and Alliance for a Responsible Future (ARF).

​ARF is CRF’s corporate engagement program that works to create connections between plant-based and related businesses and the sustainability community. One innovative way ARF does this is through their Disruption in Food & Sustainability Summit, which focuses on raising awareness and fostering the growth of sustainable plant-based, alternative protein, and "clean meat" products. Conference organizers were sure to feature only vegan foods during the recent summit, even working directly with chefs at the Grand Hyatt to create a unique and regionally-focused plant-based menu.
 
In March of this year, CRF adopted a new vegan menu policy, which applies to all its programs. (At Food for Thought, we find a written policy to be ideal because it ensures that the intentions of the organizers and founders will be upheld over the years.) Congratulations, Centre for a Responsible Future for the leadership you’ve shown in featuring plant-based foods at your Summit and for formalizing your vegan menu policy!

--

Thanks to generous support from the Gregory J. Reiter Memorial Fund, we're able to reach out to environmental and wildlife groups with guidance and resources to help their events go veg!