2009 Year in Review

Dear Veg Family,

As Chair of your Vegetarian Society of Colorado (VSC), I feel you deserve to know what we, the (VSC) accomplished in 2009. I want you to know that you all have touched my life and this non-profit in very positive and rewarding ways. I hope you will continue to be members of the VSC and help us grow by encouraging others to become members. Please continue to donate, financially or by volunteering your time. I encourage and welcome correspondences from you concerning any issue you have with the VSC, good or bad. Having your support and open lines of communication is an essential part of any successful organization. Allow me to start by reminding you of what our mission statement is.

Founded in 1975, the Vegetarian Society of Colorado is a non-profit, non-sectarian, educational organization dedicated to upholding the standards of vegetarianism.  We sponsor community outreach programs, educational events, potluck dinners, and speakers, to bring people together to discuss and live humane, healthful, and environmentally responsible plant-based lifestyles. We actively seek inquiries about vegetarianism and are engaged in an ongoing program of literature distribution and public outreach. The VSC is staffed and directed by volunteers, and is funded through memberships, donations, sales, and fund-raising projects. The VSC welcomes everyone, regardless of dietary preference.

I am so proud of our VSC board, who are dedicated to revitalizing our organization. Our board has donated countless hours of their personal time performing tasks to keep this non-profit operational. Our board has committed to providing financial and material resources to the VSC. The board’s intent is to foster a positive relationship with our community while educating the public on a plant based diet.

What did you get for your membership and donation?

There are no paid positions in the VSC. We are all volunteers. All of your membership dues and donations go directly to getting educational information to the public. It pays for the overhead which keeps this organization operational, i.e. building and maintaining our VSC website, printing literature, renting educational outreach booths at community events, sponsoring community activities such as speakers, potlucks and cooking demos, paying the telephone bill, post office box dues, etc. In the near future, our web site will be a plethora of valuable information to be accessed by the world. Also to thank you for being a member, all of our fundraising events will have reduced prices for members.

Vegetarian Society of Colorado 2009 Year in review:

The VSC’s biggest events in 2009 were the Denver VegFest & Health Expo and the annual Thanksgiving banquet.

1.      In December 2008, we decided to host the 2009 Denver VegFest (DVF). This was a 1 day event which took place on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the Marriott Denver City Center. This major event marked the 34^th anniversary of the VSC. This event featured the following speakers: Keith Akers, Ryan Andrews, Matt Bear, Kate Lawrence, Jarid Manos, Dr. Milton Mills, Shaun Monson, John Pierre and Nathan Runkle. The festival activities included book signings, discussions, cooking demonstrations, a silent auction, local restaurant food samplings, children’s activities, Kung Fu demonstrations and the musical talents of Nellie McKay, Sunyatta and Amy & the Rock sisters. We were so excited to take on this project that we planned and organized the event in only 4 months. Even with so little experience and time to plan, the feedback received concerning this event has been very positive. This is a great example of how we were able to educate while fostering a positive relationship with the community. This event had over 1200 people in attendance. We continue to get inquiries from vendors, speakers and attendees about when the next VegFest will take place. This event provided an excellent opportunity for 70 vendors to share their products and services with the veg community. We plan to have many fundraisers in 2010 so we can do this again in 2011.

2.      Our Thanksgiving banquet was open to the public. This event had a silent auction and opened with a speech on food choices for health by fitness nutritionist John Pierre. It was very important for us to show the public that we were able to have a “traditional” and delicious Thanksgiving dinner without the animals. The food was served by our board, and the menu included garden salad, fruit, mashed potatoes & gravy, rice and bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, squash, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, tofurky, baked tofu, pumpkin pie with whipped topping, cocoa cake with vanilla “butter cream” frosting and “ice cream”.  Our banquet was delicious, and left everyone wishing they were wearing RELAXED style attire. We plan to host a bigger and better Thanksgiving event every year. This was a truly rewarding and heartwarming experience.
 

Other 2009 VSC activities and events:

1.      Tabling the Boulder Creek Festival

2.      Tabling the Denver People’s Fair

3.      Tabling the Summerset festival

4.      Tabling the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival

5.      Tabling the Grand Junction Green Festival

6.      Tabling the Denver Green Festival

7.      Tabling the DMEA Energy Expo in Montrose

8.      Grand Junction Hosted a monthly radio program discussing vegetarian topics

9.      The Colorado Springs Branch started the Colorado Springs Vegetarian Meetup group

10.  Cooking Demos at the Montrose Farmer’s Market

11.  Bake sales

12.  Baked potato bar buffet

13.  Taco bar Buffet (yes we eat a lot)  

14.  VSC Yard Sale

15.  Started the Denver and Beyond vegan Meet up group

16.  Four-Course Meal Cooking Class in Montrose

17.  Baking Demo at the North Fork Valley Holistic Health Fair in Paonia

18.  Dining Out day at Watercourse foods in Denver

19.  Dining out day at Tshing Tao in Boulder

20.  Recreating the VSC Announce list on Google

21.  High school mentorship program

22.  Distributed information and vegan food samples at local Earth Day event

23.  Distributed literature at Mesa State College

24.  Distributed literature at the “Mike the Headless Chicken Festival”

25.  Hosted monthly public food outreach potlucks

26.  Grand Junction Monthly lunches

Wow, what a year we have had. Without our hard working board, branch coordinators, your membership, donations and volunteer help we could not have accomplished nearly as much. We plan to do even more in the future and make many new friends along the way. We need to work together to raise awareness of how our food choices impacts our health and environment. There is still time to save our gorgeous and invaluable planet for our children and grandchildren.

A FARM factoid:

Via FARM: According to data extrapolated from the USDA, “The total number of land animals killed for food in the U.S. in 2008 was down 0.6% from 2007, at 10,279 million, despite a 1% increase in U.S. population.”

To this I would like to add a quote by Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Thank you for all you have done to make our year so successful, fulfilling and memorable.

Have a fantastic 2010!