We are excited to introduce a brand new Twin Cities Veg Fest community tent! In the community tent a variety of activities provide the chance to:

• get to know other festival attendees
• have in-depth conversations with our speakers during round-table sessions
• learn more about healthy plant-based eating
• have fun

Read on to learn more!

Activities Planned  

Meet-up/Tweet-up

Come to the Community Tent at 12:00 to 12:30 and meet your fellow Meet-up and Twitter pals for a round of “Get to Know You BINGO”.

Ask A Dietitian Table

Do you have questions about how to approach a plant-based diet? We’ve got you covered. Twin Cities Veg Fest has lined up several dietitians who will be available throughout the festival to help answer questions and provide resources to help you along the way to healthy living.

Twin Cities Veg Fest Photo Booth

Capture your memories of Twin Cities Veg Fest at our Photo Booth outside the tent. We will be inviting you to post your pictures using our hashtag #tcvegfest18.

Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA) Information Table

Learn about many of the  events, programs, and initiatives of CAA, the organization that organizes the festival. You’ll find many volunteer opportunities to become involved with cultivating empathy for animals and moving to a plant-based diet. Also, sign up to learn about becoming a mentor or mentee with CAA’s new mentorship program.

Round Table Sessions

We’ve lined up round table sessions that where you will be able to go deeper into topics you are interested in. These discussions will be led by our speakers and will field your questions.

1:00 – 1:30 and 1:30 – 2:00

Plant-Based Nutrition for the Aspiring Vegan Lauren Plunkett RDN, LD, CDE, and Owner at LP Nutrition Consulting

Why you are the right person to help animals Christine Coughlin, Minnesota State Director for the Humane Society of the United States

2:15 – 2:45 and 2:45 – 3:15

The Right Way To Be Right Cam Awesome, Vegan Athlete and Inspirational Speaker

(Tentative) Veganism on a Budget Julie Knopp, Educator, Writer & Non-Profit Leader

3:30 – 4:00 and 4:00 to 4:30

What Animals Teach Us, and Why It Matters Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director at Catskill Animal Sanctuary

Religious (and Non-Religious) Approaches to Helping Animals Mark Berkson Ph.D., Professor and Chair in the Department of Religion at Hamline University

by Vic Massaglia, community tent coordinator and Compassionate Action for Animals board member

CAA launched Wholesome Minnesota in January. This exciting new program empowers volunteers to make change for animals through the institutions they’re connected to. Whether it’s a school, hospital, faith community, restaurant, or worksite, almost all of us frequent a place that serves food, and by leveraging our involvement, we can generate more plant-based options in our community.

We held our first Wholesome Minnesota Advocacy Training in January in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States and Forward Food. Nearly 50 volunteers attended, and they went right to work making change at  institutions using what they learned.

First, Kacie Mathison spoke with the manager of her workplace insurance incentives programs. After a conversation about the benefits of Meatless Mondays, the manager agreed to implement employee incentive points for those who participate in Meatless Mondays. Way to go, Kacie!

Next, Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Quaker) agreed to provide vegan options after their worship services each Sunday after advocacy from an attendee of the first training.

After that Volunteer Henry Patterson connected CAA with a local catering company preparing more than 20,000 meals daily for charter schools, daycares, and home delivery. After meeting with Wholesome Minnesota leadership,the company agreed to trial vegan meals at a handful of local schools this school year.

In May and June, volunteer Theresa Zingery and program coordinator Julie Knopp made multiple contacts with a suburban school district. The district agreed to serve plant-based meals this coming April for Earth Day.

In July, program coordinator Julie Knopp and executive director Laura Matanah attended the Animal Rights Conference in Los Angeles, gathering new resources to share.

There are two ways you can get involved in Wholesome Minnesota right now to keep this momentum going.

1. Register  to attend our second Wholesome Minnesota Advocacy Training on Saturday, September 8th at 1:00 pm, co-hosted by the Humane Society of the United States. You’ll even get a free lunch from The Herbivorous Butcher! You can invite friends on Facebook, too.  
2. Sign up for our volunteer newsletter take part in our growing initiative to get more plant-based options in Twin Cities restaurants. Each week in August, we’re inviting CAA supporters to share a simple, friendly message requesting vegan options at a local restaurant on social media. Just watch for the announcement in our weekly newsletter, and then copy-paste the text and post it to the target restaurant’s Facebook page. By showing local restaurants that a community of consumers is seeking more vegan options, we can inspire institutional change in Minnesota.

For more information or to get involved, email Wholesome Minnesota Program Coordinator Julie Knopp at julie.knopp@exploreveg.org.

I’m delighted to share that our hiring committee has selected a new Communications Coordinator: Emily Nyberg!

Emily has strong professional communications experience, including project coordination, writing, social media management, graphic design, and video production. She has also worked with volunteers to organize events.

Emily will begin work September 4. We look forward to telling you more about her in once she’s joined us in September. For now, we wanted to share our excitement about the ways she’ll be able to move our communications strategy forward.

Many thanks to our hiring committee, which included two board members and a volunteer, for their hard work in finding the right person for the job.