An action to help animals

Can you take one action to help animals this week?

Just one?

What action would I like you to take? Well, that's the fun part! I am going to list a whole bunch of options!

Go to your local shelter and walk a dog, play with a cat, or clean a cage.

Participate in Meatless Monday and eat only plant-based dishes on Monday (or another day!).

Clean up trash in a local park, beach or open space.

Bake a vegan dessert for your co-workers.

Go online to your favorite animal sanctuary or animal rights group website and make a donation. $25.00 goes a long way.

Wear a t-shirt that has a supporting statement for animals to the gym or when you are going out.

Post on your Facebook page and/or on Twitter what you are doing to help animals and spread the word (and hopefully the interest for your friends to do the same).

And you thought this would be difficult! No way! It's so easy. And I'm sure every one of our readers could think of several other easy actions to take.

We may not be able to stop all animal suffering but we each have the power to take simple actions and make simple steps in making the world a better, safer, less cruel place for animals.

Thanks so much for reading!

Our vegan business

Long before The Gay Vegans blog, Mike and I created our vegan business, Cruelty-Free World. We did this as a result of always having to buy vegan products, like belts or bags, online. Our goal was to show people that they could purchase awesome bags, belts, wallets and purses without harm to animals or humans (everything we sell is sweatshop free too) as well as offer the same products in their own community.

We decided that we didn't want a bricks and mortar place, but instead would go to festivals and farmers markets and sell our vegan products. We connected with companies already making amazing vegan products, like Splaff, Hempys and Queen Bee, ordered our favorite vegan cookbooks, bought a tent, and in May of 2006 did our first festival.

Our second goal became to raise money for animal rights and human rights groups. Cruelty-Free World generates direct support for groups making the world a better place for all living beings as we donate 100% of the profit from Cruelty-Free World to non-profits. Yep, 100%.

The best thing about all of this is that we have a blast, and we get to meet so many wonderful people that we might not have met had we not done this. We also get to talk with people about veganism, why we are vegan, and about the groups we support. Cruelty-Free World has become a wonderful way for us to introduce veganism to thousands. I love talking about my favorite vegan recipe or the latest amazing vegan meal we had at a local restaurant. The one on one conversations with people brings a lot of fun for us.

I love watching Mike talk about one of the cookbooks we sell, surrounded by folks who have never bought a vegan cookbook, with all of them getting more and more excited. We also pass out free PCRM veg starter kits, but if we can sell someone a vegan cookbook, there is a great chance that they will go home and experience for themselves how good vegan food is and how easy it is to prepare.

Recently we have been at the Neat Markets here in Denver, a monthly vegan pop-up shop. Our next festival is the annual Boulder Creek Festival coming up on Memorial Day weekend in Boulder, CO. If you're around that weekend come and say hi.

Thanks for reading!

A vegan bake sale!

We love supporting fundraisers. Many times it's a bummer when we read about these great vegan/veg events or other type of fundraising activities that are miles away and there is no way we can participate.

That's why I was beyond ecstatic when our friends at the Peace to All Creatures online zine decided to have an online bake sale in which anyone in the US (the lower 48) could participate! A vegan bake sale that we can support! YUM! I am already daydreaming about receiving the items I on in the mail in a week or so and having delish vegan treats after work one day.

Mike and I have baked for vegan bake sales in the past. They are a blast. Does that sound like a Dr. Seuss rhyme? I have always thought that giving people the opportunity to try delish vegan food is a great step in them looking at veganism.

SO here are the details. On March 18th photos of baked goods being sold will be put on their website. You can bid. Bid high and bid often. The sale ends on the 19th and then all you do is pay on PayPal and your deliciousness is on its way! Bidding will be done by simply commenting on the post on their site that has the vegan baked goods you're interested in.

I am so excited!

And the best part is that Animal Coalition of Tampa (low cost spay/neuter), Dogs for the Deaf, Darlynn's Darlins (pig sanctuary), and Friends of Arlington Animal Services (all animal non-profits in Florida) will benefit from your generosity!

Here is the link!

http://creatureszine.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading and thank you in advance for supporting this vegan bake sale!

Will you support a FREE spay and neuter day?

I have been volunteering at one of our local animal shelters, Max Fund, for about 12 years. I started out walking dogs and hanging out with the cats. When I was in college, I would gather my books up on Sunday and sit in the cat room all day and study. Now I clean cages and Mike and I foster a lot.

This past weekend I swung by to meet a couple of dogs who really need help getting adopted and (one of them) getting healing so he is adoptable. The little one who needs help with becoming adoptable very much dislikes men and so I worked with him for a bit and got to the point where he let me hold him.

I love volunteering at shelters. One thing that stares you right in the face while volunteering at your local shelter is how important spay and neuter programs are. There are statistics all of the place in regards to the difference in just one female dog or female cat not being able to reproduce makes in the overall picture of animal overpopulation.

Mike and I have had this idea, and we are speaking with Max Fund about it. What if The Gay Vegans hosted a free spay and neuter day? Then we got to talking about two days, one specifically for cats and one for dogs. The more we spoke about it the more excited I got and the ideas just started flowing.

Before we can commit to this, we asked our friend sat Max Fund to look at what it might cost to do this. While they work on the cost, we wanted to check in with our readers and supporters to see if there was anyone who would want to financially support this idea. Mike and I would put a good chunk of the money needed out there, yet we would need some help. We would also need some volunteers that day to help with check-in, etc.

Let us know if you would be interested in supporting this idea. You can email us at vegandude@msn.com or respond via Facebook, Twitter, or here. A simple "I'm in" is fine for now and we'll create a list from that. If we move forward, we would most likely ask those who want to donate to make an online donation at The Max Fund's website just to make it easy and so we can keep track of funds.

We would love to do this and would be even more stoked about this idea if our blog community wanted to support the effort. Imagine what we could do if we could put on two totally free spay and neuter days!

As always, I would totally love your thoughts! Especially with this idea, your feedback is essential!

Thanks for reading!