Due to the pandemic, many young people’s lives were upended with lost jobs and canceled study abroad classes. Thus we were honored with twenty-two virtual summer and fall interns/volunteers from high school through college and beyond, who still needed their time to be useful.  

As one student said, “I am writing to express my deep gratitude to supporters of VRG, which allowed me to live and function when the whole world seemed to pause. I had the opportunity to participate in VRG’s summer internship program which gave me a way to escape and focus on things other than my collapsing world. During the internship,

I did the only thing I always loved doing, which is express with words, on a topic (vegan) that has truly changed my life.”

PhD nutrition student Kavitha, based on a question sent to us from a registered dietitian, added information about potassium and phosphorus to our plant-based milk chart. A Johns Hopkins student worked on research around links between potential pandemics and concentrated animal feeding operations. A Masters nutrition student from Mexico is doing her internship with VRG looking at vegan calcium sources and Latinos. A high school student who hopes to do pre-med studies has interviewed vegan doctors and dietitians for us.

A rising college freshman from Alaska let our readers know “that not everyone in Anchorage is hunting moose and fishing for salmon to stay alive through the winters.” She reviewed her favorite restaurant where she can find vegan options. And two of our interns from Cornell and University of Delaware assisted Marcy Schveibinz with a cooking class she is teaching to formerly homeless men who are in a residential living program.

Thank you so much to Marcy, VRG Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, Vegetarian Journal Editor Rissa Miller, and VRG researcher Jeanne Yacoubou who helped us work with all these individuals, so that they could continue to learn and contribute even with the chaos in their lives.

In spite of a tumultuous 2020, we continue to be very busy. Reed Mangels, PhD, RD spoke virtually about vegan/vegetarian children at the Maryland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting.

She will also be conducting a 2-hour webinar in December on vegetarian diets for the NY state WIC Women, Infants, and Children agencies (RDs, nutrition assistants, and peer counselors). And volunteer Elsa Spencer, PhD is doing a virtual vegan nutrition session for students at Northern Virginia Community College.

The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has completed their review of the evidence on nutrition and health. The final report reflects the Advisory Committee’s full examination of the evidence using three rigorous approaches: data analysis, systematic reviews, and food pattern modeling. The Scientific Report also includes advice to the United States Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to consider in the development of the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Reed and The Vegetarian Resource Group submitted comments on the Advisory Committee report to the U.S.D.A. and H.H.S. to consider for developing the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This document influences policies and food purchasing decisions throughout the country for years. 

Our national polls on the number of vegetarians and vegans continues to be helpful to businesses, students, academics, and health professionals. For our 2020 poll, we even received a note from a rheumatologist doctor in Brazil who wanted to cite the polls as she was earning her masters in Osteoporosis and looking at vegan diets. 

Thank you to dietitians Reed, Eric, Cathy, Chef Nancy, and Julie, as well as Elsa for volunteering at our Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics virtual VRG booth. It was not the same as physically interacting with people, but it was still impactful. We had 1,268 visitors come by the booth. The conference said they had 13,600 registered attendees from 66 countries. 

Comments in our dietetic conference online chat varied from “I relied on so many of the PDFs and resources available on the website when I was curating resources for cooking classes that I was developing a couple years ago” to “Hi I just wanted to share I’ve been a fan for years, especially for using your vegan iron sources handout.” Another attendee asked about access to our “Ingredients Are They Vegan,” Vegetarian Nutrition, and patient education handouts.

Thank you so much to our supporters in these tough times who enable us to assist young people, do research, help consumers, and provide information to health professionals. May next year be better than 2020 for those that are struggling.

Please donate at vrg.org/donate