Note from the Coordinators

In the world today, there are many people who protest, criticize, and complain. This can be important to spur people to become aware of issues. But where is the line when you are more interested in protesting, objecting, and impeding than actually solving problems? This is a difficult question in an imperfect world. Thank you to all those who help movements and organizations thrive and accomplish positive goals.

Kudos to our Senior Editor Samantha Gendler who worked extremely hard to finish the last issue of Vegetarian Journal before her wedding, and also set up our blog and Facebook postings so they would continue during her honeymoon. Congratulations to her and Tim on their marriage!

A religious organization recently sent Charles a form appeal letter talking about leading religious services in a vegan café. They could have done really good research on him, but this is more indicative of how veganism is entering mainstream culture. In our 2016 Vegetarian Resource Group Harris poll, about 15% of adults sometimes or always eat vegan meals when eating out. We've come far, but still have a ways to go.

Two of our high school interns were working on instituting vegan options in their schools, which are in different areas. Interestingly, both were told that the school system did try offering vegan items, but they weren't purchased. As we all know, the demand is increasing, but if you want vegan meals on a menu, please purchase and support them!

Thank you to all our staff and volunteers who have gone out of their way over the years with so many projects. Thanks to Whitney who housed two young VRG interns during a conference and Carole who did editing for Vegetarian Journal while traveling. Thank you to the VRG volunteers who continued to do outreach booths for us while in the midst of job hunts or moving. Thank you to the dietitian who kept her deadlines even when put on bed rest during a pregnancy, the volunteer who arranged a new restaurant locale after the restaurant where we were holding a dinner went bankrupt at the last minute, and our organizer in the kitchen who set up food for 400 people under one rigged light bulb right before serving time when we lost power in the kitchen.

Congratulations to our three 2016 scholarship winners, who certainly have proved with hard work, dedication, and positive action that they can bring us closer to a better world.

If you would like to volunteer, please email [email protected] with your interests and skills. If you would like to support scholarships or our ongoing projects, please donate at www.vrg.org/donate.

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year.