Dear friends of animals,

I'm excited to update you on Compassionate Action for Animals' successes this fall. I am happy to say that I have not been overwhelmed with hearing about animal suffering but rather the positive response that I have received from people who have attended our events – and I'm elated to meet excited new volunteers!

Our obstacle to creating more change for animals has not been the supposed apathy of the public to animal suffering, but rather our limited capacity to engage with everybody who is interested in hearing our message and getting the resources that we want to provide. For every person that we gave a free vegan food sample at the Vegan Food Showcase, I know there are several more who would like to try a new animal-free food. For every person who came to the Veg Week dine-out at Everest on Grand, I know there are a dozen who would love to try new options at a great veg-friendly restaurant. And for everyone who came to our chicken sanctuary tour, there are many more that would benefit from getting to know the personalities of individual farm animals.

Nonetheless, I am happy to report that we had extensive success in reaching a new audience to welcome our message of compassion and to further engage those who want to help animals. Here's a few of the things we accomplished this fall:

• Handed out well over 1,000 vegan food samples at our annual Vegan Food Showcase. Read more about the Vegan Food Showcase here.
• Hosted Paul Shapiro of the Humane Society to kick off Veg Week. Read more about Veg Week.
• "It was surprisingly easy to not eat meat! I also got to be creative when cooking and tried a few really good recipes. I also realized how many vegetarian options there really are in restaurants." – Pledge to Be Veg participant

  Held two new Veg Week events: A Vegan Bake Sale and "Shop With a Vegan." The Vegan Bake Sale was phenomenally successful! We sold out of all the baked goods about half way through and met numerous people who were interested in learning more about factory farming, donating, and volunteering.

• Launched Where Your Food Comes From website to let people know about the cruelties of modern factory farming and started running advertisements. We received a generous donation to sponsor the advertisements
• Continued to hold regular Vegan After Dark events at night spots, free Cooking Classes, and Dine-outs at veg-friendly restaurants

Thank you for your generous financial support, for volunteering, and for helping us further the animals' cause.

We have our biggest potluck coming up! Please join me at our annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck on November 19. This year, we are offering a free entry into the raffle if you bring a written recipe with your vegan dish.

Please feel free to contact me any time with feedback, and I hope to see you at an event soon!

Yours for the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad