My friends and I decided that we needed to start a vegetarian buzz at our school, Monmouth College. We used flyers, pamphlets, stickers and DVDs provided by peta2 to make everyone on campus aware of vegetarianism.

Every day of the thirty days we are emailing the students facts or recipes to motivate them and to remind them not to eat meat. We are hoping this results in students realizing it really isn’t difficult to become a vegetarian. Our main event of the week was the most exciting, we had a presentation give by both students and a vegetarian professor on campus. This presentation was filled with health, environmental and animal rights reasons to become a vegetarian.

At the end of the presentation we took questions and debated the different topics. I think our week was very successful.

Meatout 2009 at Arizona State University was a great success! The Animal Welfare Association chose to promote veganism by holding a demonstration to show that meat is murder, and flesh is flesh!

We had a table full of great literature and handed out delicious samples of vegan food catered by Green Vegetarian Restaurant (in order to get the heavenly food they had to pledge to try vegetarianism for at least a day, of course!)

We got great responses from both students and faculty! Most people were genuinely interested in what we were doing and why. After seeing the success with this type of event, we hope to hold many more similar events in the future!

My sorority, Theta Phi Alpha at York College of Pennsylvania, wanted to hold a Fur-Free Formal this year to show that you don’t have to kill animals to look your best. We wanted to show that you can be fur-free and still be stylish (note the little peta2 anti-fur buttons we wore all night!)

Many people do not realize that animals are tortured and skinned alive for their pelts and our sorority wanted no part in this cruel business, so we decided not to allow fur at our event.

With so many cruelty-free alternatives, like pleather, and man-made materials like faux fur, there’s simply no excuse to support skinning animals alive for fashion.

At the event we had outreach tables with display boards and literature on many animal exploitation issues such as factory farming, health/ environmental benefits to veg diets, vegan recipes, battery-cages, anti-fur, animal experimentation, and the Canadian Commercial seal hunt. We also had an amazing free vegan food spread to expose people to different types of vegan foods including vegan pizzas, vegan chili rolls, vegan spring rolls, vegan somosas, breaded tofu fingers, pitas/nachos and dips, and lots and lots of vegan baked goods. The food was catered by a local restaurant that was looking to expand their vegetarian/vegan menu options and many of our club members provided the vegan baked goods.

We also had raffle draws for a cruelty-free (no animal testing, no animal ingredients or by-products) household cleaning products donated by Nature Clean, and cruelty-free/vegan personal care products in addition in addition to free outreach door prizes such as Earthlings/The Witness DVDs, animal rights books, vegan cookbooks, and other vegan/cruelty-free products donated by various companies in the local community.

Lastly, we also recruited 5 local bands representing a wide variety of musical genres to play the event; all bands had at least 1 vegetarian band member.

Overall, the event was very successful. We had over 200 attendees and managed to raise approximately $2000 for an amazing animal charity. We received extremely positive feedback about the vegan food and so we were successful at challenging some of the misinformed preconceived notions about bland/vegan foods. Most importantly we were able to expose people to information about animal exploitation that they perhaps would have never been exposed to otherwise. We can only hope that through making this information easily available to all types of people that we were able to enlighten and empower at least some people to live more compassionate ethical lifestyles.

I am helping to lead a campaign to implement a Student Choice Policy at Marquette University regarding classes that use unnecessary animal experiments. I wanted to help with the campaign because the root of human kindness is being an advocate for living beings other than us. The issue of performing cruel tests on animals is devastating to me, because it is outdated and unnecessary.

With the help of close friends and a peta2 crew of four members, we have collected over 1,200 petition signatures on campus—more than 10% of the student population!

I stopped eating at our dining halls a while ago, because they really didn’t have the food I wanted to eat. I determined that if I didn’t eat there, that I would save money and eat good veggie recipes that I actually wanted, or at least better ones than they were serving. So when a couple friends came to me to discuss a vegetarian/environmental club I was all for it, and soon we discussed our dining options. I emailed peta2 for support. In addition to the campaign pack we got, we heard that a peta2 crew would be passing through town, and they could help us petition for the better menus!

Together, we gathered more than 3,000 petition signatures from students!

When we talked to our dining services, things went incredibly well. They told us that their job is to hear our wants in the food service, and they were happy to respond to our requests. We stated our desires and showed them the thousands of signatures that we obtained over two days of petitioning. We discussed their options for vegans and vegetarians. They had choices, but they were uninspired and repetitive. They would frequently put out steamed corn or steamed vegetables and call it vegan, and although they would have several of these options, we explained gently that we still needing of sustenance, not just the side dish here and there to satisfy us. We gave them the recipes that peta2 recommended, as well as excerpts from other Aramark cafeterias of their success with obtaining more and better vegetarian and vegan foods in their menus.

Within three days, they started labeling the items they already sold that were vegan and vegetarian as such, and people were definitely reacting. The dining halls added veggie bacon and veggie sausages, and they’re even looking into soy “eggs” for the omelet bar!

There is a very popular ice cream machine that everyone visits before they leave the food halls. It is and always has been vegan ice cream (something that we were unaware of before our meeting), but now it’s clearly labeled!

Quite a success for a group that’s only three months old, huh?

I was driving down the main road before you merge onto the interstate one morning before class, and a few car lengths in front of me was a chicken truck (I live in Alabama). I thought to myself how awful and sad … those poor animals. They were packed in the truck’s crates and were getting all wet from the rain. They were miserable.

I sat there thinking to myself about the horrible life they are forced to endure. By the time I stopped thinking, the light had turned green and the trucks wheels began to turn and screech … then two chickens fell off! I immediately pulled over to the shoulder, put on my emergency lights and jumped out. There laid two chickens, soaking wet, filthy and covered in blood. One died instantly but the other was breathing heavily. I grabbed an old shirt I had in my trunk and picked her up. I layed her in my car’s floorboard. I could easily tell that this poor creature was in tremendous pain.

I decided I would just be a little late to class so I took her to the vet. The veterinarian said she had a broken hip and warned that she would never be able to walk again. I left the veterinarian’s office and took her home. All I could think about was how I hoped she would be fine and that the veterinarian was wrong. We began to feed her, give her water and a warm place to lay, and named her Hope. She slowly progressed … about two weeks later she began to walk. She limped around the yard, feeling the cool dirt under her feet. Now not only can she walk … she can run! She has grown to be beautiful again. She is my beloved friend, and now she has “hope” for a better and brighter tomorrow!

There is a misconception that life without the consumption of meat is impossible. Even in college, while students are being educated and exposed to alternative lifestyles, some closed-minded individuals see vegetarianism/veganism as a humorous topic. That’s why having a PETA booth at the University of La Verne’s “Recycling Fair” was not only imperative to the vegetarian/vegan cause, but it was a way to expose students and administration that partaking in the consumption of meat is not green.

We have had PETA booths before, but including the “Meat’s Not Green” campaign shed a new light on the issues to our peers and faculty. Sure, using recycling bags, and conserving energy and water are all great, but even though raising animals for food contributes a large share to global warming, many green goers tend to ignore this fact. Having the “Meat’s Not Green” brochures, stickers, and buttons brought awareness to the students and faculty of La Verne.

The idea for the cruelty-free fashion show was brought up in SETA’s UNCW chapter meeting while discussing peta2’s “Whose Skin Are You In?” campaign. Rather than leafleting and petitioning like we have done in the past, we thought this would be a fun way to educate people on clothing alternatives. I e-mailed each company from PETA’s list of vegan companies to see if they would be willing to donate any articles of clothing. We were amazed to find how many companies were so generous and willing to help. Cow Jones Industrials, Ideal North, Kitty Gallery, Mink Shoes, neverleatherland, and Vegan Queen all contributed to our fashion show. Their pieces were auctioned off after the show in a silent auction and SETA’s proceeds went to the local Humane Society.

Speaking with students after the show, I found that many of them had initially come just to see a fashion show and had been oblivious to the facts and what has actually been happening in the industry. They enjoyed the show and were glad that we brought this to their attention. Many people were surprised to find how realistic the faux products were and how fashionable cruelty-free clothing can be.