Creating a Vegan World: My VRG Virtual Internship
By Amy Burger
I feel lucky to have been able to work as a virtual intern for The Vegetarian Resource Group as part of my master of arts in English. It's not easy to find internships with flexible hours during a pandemic. (I also have a full-time job.)
Fortunately, I was able to work from my home office, writing articles, learning about layout and copyediting, and getting a better understanding of the nonprofit world. Not only did the internship represent an opportunity to work with an organization whose mission I care about, and to learn hands-on, but it also allowed me to further develop skills I learned in my classes, through taking a grant-writing workshop and writing several pieces, from restaurant guide listings to articles for the VRG.org blog and for Vegetarian Journal (now Vegan Journal).
The tastiest parts of this experience were when I got to write a review of a local restaurant, try fishless tuna for a Veggie Bits review, and sample recipes from Vegan Boards, a new cookbook I had the chance to review.
The internship lasted 14 weeks, and for the last few of these, I focused on two more in-depth projects related to The VRG's 40th anniversary featured in this Vegan Journal issue: an article about former scholarship winners, and one about former volunteers and employees. These projects required a lot of legwork tracking down current contact information and getting in touch with people to get answers to my questions for the articles, and then putting everything together. While writing them was somewhat challenging, it was ultimately rewarding.
In communicating with individuals who'd worked at some point with The Vegetarian Resource Group in some capacity, I was impressed by the universal esteem for the organization. People told me how much they loved The VRG, respected its work, and thought fondly of it. One frequent comment was of appreciation for The VRG's grounding in science. The evidence-based ethos of the organization has been part of its identity from the beginning and has contributed to its reputation as a trustworthy resource today.
As an intern, I can also say that The VRG is an incredibly supportive organization to work for. I, and other previous interns, appreciate that the coordinators allow each individual to pursue their own interests through their work, and connect them to opportunities related to these interests.
While my internship is ending and I've now graduated, my involvement with The VRG is just beginning. I plan to continue volunteering by writing articles, reviewing books, and helping with projects, and maybe someday soon I will be able to visit Baltimore and thank them in person.
For information about The Vegetarian Resource Group internships, see www.vrg.org/student/index.php
