One Vegas billboard features a puppy and a piglet and asks, “Why love one but eat the other?” In another billboard, a kitten and a chick are shown with the same question, “Why love one but eat the other?” The billboards also include Mercy For Animals’ vegetarian website, chooseveg.com and the Vegas Veg* website, vegasveg.com.

The billboards will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people daily. Viewers are encouraged to eat less meat, go vegetarian, or go vegan. The billboards are a peaceful and effective method of saving animals’ lives, slowing climate change, and improving human health.

The 2011 billboards are located near the following intersections:

• Sahara & Valley View
• Industrial & Spring Mtn.
• Tropicana & Paradise
• Fremont & St. Louis
• Charleston exit off I-15
• Desert Inn & Las Vegas Blvd.
• Rancho & Craig
• Twain & Valley View

The billboards were funded by generous donations from Vegas Veg members and sales of a bumper sticker that says, “Animal Lovers Don’t Eat Animals.” Additionally, the following businesses lended their support to the project:

• MDesignPrint.com donated bumper stickers,
• NPA donated postage and Paypal fees, and
• Atomic #7 hosted a fundraising event.

The billboards were less expensive the second time around because there was no cost for printing. That’s right, the original billboards from 2010 were kept in storage and were ready for re-use in 2011! Let’s hope they’re still in good condition for use in 2012!

Vegan Outreach reaches millions of young minds each year with the animals’ plight through our cost-effective leafleting program. For more information, please visit veganoutreach.org.

The implications of that day are really the heart of this celebration. After all, babies are born every day and they are all special and unique. But this baby was different in that he was the embodiment of God. He was the fullness of perfect love, mercy, beauty, truth, light, grace, justice, compassion, goodness and righteousness that are God in human form. He was also fully human with thoughts, emotions, needs, desires and questions. Heaven and earth came together in this child, true spirit joined with flesh and bone. He called himself Son of God and Son of Man. He was the heart and mind of God but was one of us too. Just think of that: Emmanuel – God with us.

Perfect love is with us. Perfect mercy and compassion are with us. Perfect beauty and light are with us. Perfect goodness and righteousness are with us. The truth is with us. And not just with us in some intangible, ethereal, incomprehensible, elusive manner, but in the flesh and blood of Jesus. We can talk with Love. We can cry with and cry out to Mercy. We can wrestle with Truth. We can ask forgiveness of Goodness and Righteousness. We can grow through and with Beauty and Light. This is the life of the follower of Jesus Christ and it goes far beyond the celebration of one day in December.

For that birthday led to a deathday. On that deathday, Jesus laid his sinless self upon a cross, a Roman instrument of torture, in order that the price for sin be paid and all things be made new, most especially our hearts. Is there anyone who will not confess that a civil war rages inside our hearts and minds? Humility wrestles pride on one front while selflessness battles selfishness on another. Kindness and patience grapple with meanness and fear. Generosity gives way to greed and industry to sloth. The battle rages on. We know what is good and right, but we do not do it. Then again, sometimes we do. Or we know what is evil and wrong, yet this we do. Then again, sometime we don’t. This is the human condition and the entire world bears the devastation of the war: poverty, exploitation, slavery, injustice, murder, racism, specieism, sexism, war, genocide, theft, homelessness, and ecological devastation.

But the manger and the cross bear a promise. The promise of the manger is that we are not alone. God loves and cares for us, knows how we struggle in this war and sent his son Jesus to help us win it. He wants us to win! The promise of the cross is that no matter how many times we lose a battle, no matter our failures and sins, God’s love and grace will pick us up, dust us off and lead us on to victory. The promise is peace, for each of us and for the whole world. This is the Kingdom of God and Jesus is the Prince of Peace:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. – Isaiah 11:6

All that is required of us is to agree with contrite hearts that we need help and then to receive that help, to believe that this is God’s heart towards us and to live our lives as a response to this wonderful gift and promise. Is there one of us who hasn’t looked with regret and remorse at parts or moments of our lives? Who among us hasn’t wished for another chance? Who in all humanity possesses an unbroken heart and an unscathed soul? God’s grace through his son gives that second chance and heals our hearts and souls with extravagant and unconditional love.

What then is our response to this gift of a savior and promise of peace? We can’t through our good works or sins make God love us any more or less than he has and does. God IS love and he can’t be or act less than what he is. But we can gratefully be his partners and live life as celebration; secure in the promise of peace and the kingdom of love to come. We can be as holy (not holier-than-thou) as we can be in every area of our lives, confident that even as we stumble and fall, we are forgiven, healed and made ever new by Grace and Love.

So what does this have to do with veganism? Just this: veganism is peaceful, compassionate, selfless, sacrificial, merciful, generous and loving. It is a path to holiness. It heals and renews. It is beautiful. It is a way to live in the Kingdom of God, here and now, and draws us closer to the heart and will of our Father. It is gracious, and Grace changes everything.

This article was contributed by Leslie Strovas.

No one tells me how to leaflet. No one gives me a script. No one tells me what to say. No one tells me what to do. I don’t need a permit. I don’t need a team/staff/army. I don’t need signs or tables.

I set my own hours. I set my own goals. I keep my own score. I do it how I want to do it. I do it my way.

This kind of activism suits my personality well. If you think it might suit you, too, here are some tips and resources about leafleting…

Leafleting Legal Tips:

• Stay on the sidewalks.
• Don’t block someone’s way.
• Stay in the designated “free speech” zone if there is one.
• Pick up any dropped leaflets you see & reuse/recycle them; don’t litter!

Leafleting Effectiveness Tips:

• Smile. It makes you more approachable.
• Leaflet during the busiest times so you can reach the most people. Don’t waste your time. Don’t contribute to your own burn-out.
• Choose the leaflet for the audience. Be effective by targeting your message.
• Be polite and energetic as much as possible. Forgive yourself when you’re not.
• If someone says “No, thanks” or they hand the leaflet back to you, just say “OK” and move on to the next person.
• Ignore mean or rude people. There’s no reason to waste time on them. Walk away if you have to.

More tips from others:

• www.veganhealth.org/colleges/colleges/sugg
• www.cok.net/lit/leafleting.php
• www.idausa.org/ir.html

Where To Get Leaflets?

• Vegan Outreach (VO)
• FARM
• Compassion Over Killing (COK)
• PETA
• IDA

* That’s not me in the picture, that’s just a picture I found using google image search.

Vegan Video-A Life Connected

Share The World
a video specifically designed for children
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

What Do Vegans Eat?

Vegan Food Celebration

Meatless Monday — Inspiring a Movement
Though it’s technically not pro-vegan since it’s only suggesting meatless Mondays, not animal-free everyday, it’s still worth a watch.

PS click on the “YouTube” logo at the bottom of the video and a new window should open with the direct URL to the video at YouTube.