The Vegetarian Resource Group has had another very productive year. Your support is greatly appreciated! You can donate directly to VRG at www.vrg.org/donate

Here’s a sampling of some of our accomplishments and outreach:

– VRG’s Food Service Advisor, Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD, participated on an Oldways panel discussing creating plant-based solutions for health-care settings. Also, she consulted with several skilled nursing facilities to assist with vegetarian menus and helped the City of Long Beach, CA provide vegetarian lunches/snacks to day camp attendees.

– VRG’s Nutrition Advisor, Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, did a presentation on vegan pregnancy and a Nutrition (and Fun) for Vegan Children talk at the Portland VegFest in Oregon. She also authored two chapters in a book titled Vegetarian Nutrition and Wellness from CRC Press: Vegetarian Diets for Pregnancy, Lactation, Infancy, and Early Childhood and Vegetarian Diets Trends in Acceptance and Perception. Also, the table Protein Content of Selected Vegan Foods from Simply Vegan by Reed Mangels PhD, RD is being reprinted in ACLM’s Lifestyle Medicine Handbook by Beth Frates, Jonathan Bonnet, Richard Joseph, and James Peterson. Reed Mangels and Catherine Conway, MS, RD spoke to hundreds of health professionals at the VRG booth during the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics FNCE Conference in Chicago, IL.

– We continue to work with numerous High School and College interns in our Baltimore office including future vegan Registered Dietitians. VRG Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, mentors those interns who are interested in pursuing a career in nutrition. VRG staff also works with students that are majoring in Journalism, Business, etc. Among their tasks are staffing VRG booths throughout the USA, preparing vegan meals for homeless individuals, reviewing new vegan products (someone has to do that tough job!), writing up entries for our online restaurant guide, reviewing scientific studies on vegan diets, plus so much more. These students are the future of the vegan movement and we should all be excited about what they will bring to the cause once they graduate.

– VRG assisted media (print, web, radio, tv, etc.). VRG’s Nutrition Advisor, Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, was interviewed for The New York Times Well Family section on how parents can handle a situation where just one of their children has decided to become a vegetarian in a family of meat eaters. She also did an interview on vegan kids for Now This Food; was interviewed by Veggie Fit Kids website; and was interviewed on KMUZ 88.5/100.7 FM (Nu Health Nation) about vegan diets for diabetes, pregnancy, older adults, and athletes. A medical center in Ohio asked to reprint The Vegetarian Resource Group’s My Vegan Plate in their diet education materials.

– VRG’s Parents/Kids Facebook Group continues to be an active supportive arena for veggie parents and kids. To join the discussion, see: https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRGparentsandkids/

– The Vegetarian Resource Group has done numerous outreach booths this year including Charlottesville and Richmond, VA VegFests; Vegan SoulFest in Baltimore, MD; Veggie Pride Parade in NY City; New England VegFest in Worcester, MA; Western NY VegFest in Buffalo, NY; Everett Community College Food Day in WA; University of Buffalo (NY) Sustainability Fair; Vegan Summerfest in Johnstown, PA; Maryland Dietetics in Health Care Communities Conference; and New Jersey VegFest. We will soon be at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in Washington, DC; York Harvest VegFest in York, PA; World VegFest in San Francisco, CA; and other locations.

– The Vegetarian Resource Group provided vegan handouts free-of-charge for outreach in a wide variety of locations including a vegetarian student group at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA in preparation for the start of the new semester, the Vegan Community of Eastern Iowa for their first annual VegFest of Eastern Iowa, Northwest Ohio Vegan Advocates, the Macrobiotic Summer Conference, the Houston and Pittsburgh VegFests, Jim Cook Day of Hope for Diabetes in California, and the inaugural Michiana Veg Fest in Indiana.

Your support is greatly appreciated! You can donate directly to VRG at www.vrg.org/donate

You can also mail donations to The Vegetarian Resource Group, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203 or call in your donation to (410) 366-8343 Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm EST.