By Karen Leibowitz

I started my internship last May and after learning and experiencing
so much a few months later it came to an end. On the first day, Charles gave
me book upon book about vegan nutrition, recipes, and other information.
From that first day, I’ve contributed articles to the VRG website,
wrote restaurant reviews, created recipes, and translated recipes to
Spanish. I also created a 3-day Mexican meal plan and had it approved by
the registered dietitian that works with the VRG. I wrote several Veggie
Bits and food reviews on vegan products, all to be published in The Vegetarian
Journal. I created a survey that gathered information concerning
organizations’ opinions on what should be labeled as vegetarian or
vegan. I gained experience running booths with other interns and
volunteers at several farmer’s markets, festivals, and other events,
providing VRG resources and selling books. I learned about how
non-profits function and how they can thrive. I gained experience
working in an office setting and learned the details behind how events
are organized.

I came into the VRG as a public health major, but as the internship
progressed and after meeting vegan nutrition professionals, I changed my
major to dietetics and am now on my way to pursue a career as a
registered dietitian. I always had a strong interest in nutrition but
this internship gave me the motivation I needed to begin pursuing this
more challenging route to health improvement. I believe that being a
registered dietitian can have a heavy influence in changing the way
people eat. If I can be part of that influence, I can help lessen the
suffering of animals and the occurrence of diseases caused by consuming
them.

The people that work at the VRG are an amazingly friendly and motivated
group of people. I’ve had the privilege of working with and learning
from a group that does so much to provide resources for vegans and
vegetarians.

If you are interested in a Vegetarian Resource Group internship, visit:
http://www.vrg.org/student/
To support Vegetarian Resource Group outreach, donate at
http://www.vrg.org/donate