Grand Old Day A Success

At 4:30 a.m on June 6, two trucks, a U-haul and a Ford Taurus loaded up for Grand Old Day. We had over 30,000 sample of Boca Burgers, Smart Dogs, and Newman O's.

We arrived at our space next to a lemonade stand, across from Dixie's. With our new banner and tablecloth in hand, it took five people two hours to set up our booth. This was unlike any other food giveaway CAA had done. Everything in the booth had to be in order to pass three safety inspections before we could give away food. By 10:00 a.m. we had passed everything and a line of eager samplers had formed.

Grand Old Day patrons were very interested in trying vegan food for the first time, and wanted to know how they could help animals. Our grilling and prep stations could barely keep up with the seemingly endless line. Many attendees wanted to know exactly what we were serving and wrote down the brand names so they could try the same food at home.

We distributed over 10,000 Boca Burger samples, 10,000 Smart Dog samples and 7,000 Newman O's. The response to the food was very positive, with some patrons stopping by two or three times to chat and sample.

CAA's secret? The amazing group of volunteers that donated their time to make Grand Old Day a success. We had such a high demand for the food, many people stayed longer than their original shift and came back to help out later in the day. We were a well oiled vegan machine! Everyone's positive attitude and cooperative effort was incredible. Even when we had small afternoon showers, it didn't stop our volunteers! They stood in the rain leafleting, cooking and handing out samples.

We'd like to thank our volunteers and donors, who together made this event possible. This was our biggest food giveaway ever, reaching well over 20,000 people. We are all looking forward to more great food giveaways in the future.