Just yesterday, I was at a press conference right here in Minneapolis, where Mercy for Animals released breaking news of an undercover investigation at a farm in Oklahoma that supplies pork to Hormel Foods.

The spokesperson was none other than Cody Carlson, the same Cody that’s featured in “What Cody Saw,” a short video that we often show as part of our pay-per-view outreach program.

At the press conference, I was made aware of the how these animals suffer on a daily basis and how those atrocities are in fact “standard industry practices.” The video footage said more than words ever could.

When the reporters asked how Mercy for Animals would like people to respond to seeing the video, Cody responded that the best way we can make a difference is to leave animals off our plates.

Much of what we do at CAA is aimed at giving those in our Twin Cities area the skills to take those steps to move toward a plant-based diet happily and healthfully. However, another big part of what we do is informing our community of why they should take those steps in the first place.

We need your help to share that information, to let others know what’s happening on factory farms and how much these animals need us to take action. Please consider being a part of our outreach team.

Upcoming volunteer opportunities include leafleting at Ridder Arena and a vegan food giveaway at Kosherfest. We’d love to have you join us as we turn our compassion into action.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

A couple weeks ago, we shared the news of two totally vegan restaurants coming to the Twin Cities. We’re happy to share even more good news with our animal-friendly community in this week’s newsletter.

First of all, The Herbivorous Butcher, America’s first vegan butcher shop, is celebrating their one-year anniversary, and they’ve just announced that they’ll be opening a farm sanctuary. Check out the website for the Herbivorous Acres and learn all about this exciting new venture.

What’s even more wonderful is that farm sanctuaries are cropping up all over the area. They give a home to rescued farmed animals and give our community an opportunity to have the transformative experience of meeting these individuals. Visit one or more of these sanctuaries and have your heart opened:

• Chicken Run Rescue
• Farmaste Animal Sanctuary
• Heartland Farm Sanctuary
• Iowa Farm Sanctuary
• Rooster Redemption
• SoulSpace Farm Sanctuary
• Spring Farm Sanctuary
• Wild Paws Sanctuary

And the good news doesn’t stop there. VegNews Magazine has been giving our community all kinds of love. Check out their recent blog posts, Great Big Vegan Tour of the Twin Cities and 5 Vegan Beauty Tips from Mistress Ginger.

Wow, our community is thriving! Thank you for being part of the compassionate groundswell that will help to change this world, making it a better place for everyone.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

Be sure to save the date for one of most popular events of the year, The Vegan Chili Cook-Off. This year, we’ll host this fun-filled event on Saturday, February 18 from 7:00 to 10:00pm at St. Kate’s Rauenhorst Ballroom.

Register to be a contestant or just show up to sample and be a judge. This event is free to attend and a great way to share compassionate living with your omnivore friends and family, so please bring them along, too!

I’m excited to have a few friends who are trying to eat plant-based through the month of January. Inviting them to the chili cook-off is a great way to keep them involved.

Maybe you or someone you know is also moving toward a plant-based diet as part of your new year’s resolution. We’re happy to support you on your journey with our thriving community and calendar of regular events.

I’d also like to point you in the direction of The Vegan RD, Ginny Messina, and her 7 Tips for Sticking with Your New Vegan Diet. Please check it out and consider her advice as you persevere in your compassionate choices through 2017 and beyond.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

In case you haven’t heard, I’m happy to be the bringer of good news: Beginning January 15, everything Reverie Cafe + Bar offers will be 100% plant-based, including their coffee bar menu.

Reverie opened a year ago on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, and we love their vegan eats. (And good news for us–it’s just footsteps away from our office!) What’s more, they’ll soon begin serving breakfast everyday until 11am. Vegan biscuits and gravy and polenta rancheros are a few of the new menu items and will surely complement their ever-expanding vegan bakery selection.

Now, for those of you who live in St. Paul, don’t fret. In just a few months time an all-new, all-vegan restaurant will open at the corner of Victoria and Selby. J. Selby’s will feature fast casual dining, both affordable and scrumptious. Get ready for that!

What does all this mean? It means our world is changing. More and more, consumers are embracing plant-based food options, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about that. We hope this makes you feel hopeful, not only about the direction of our movement but also about all the great food you can find when dining out in the Twin Cities.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

Thanks to everyone who supported our year-end fundraising campaign. With your generous donations, we raised more than $30,000 to support our work helping farmed animals. Thank you for believing in CAA and for all that you do all year long to make this world a more compassionate place.

And now 2017 is here, and our work continues. How will you be a part of our movement in the year to come? We certainly hope to see you at our events, and we hope you will consider getting involved as a volunteer. With the contributions of your time and talents, we can continue to grow.

We have a variety of volunteer opportunities available all year round. We are currently looking for volunteers to join our Twin Cities Veg Fest Planning Committee, Vegan Chili Cook-Off Planning Committee, and Annual Banquet Planning Committee. If you’ve been interested in doing more for the animals and getting to know others in the community, joining a planning committee is a great way to do that.

I hope to see you at our Happy Hour at Reverie tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to all that we can accomplish together in the new year.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

January Events

• Happy Hour at Reverie!
  • Thursday, January 5, 5:00-7:00pm
  • Reverie Cafe + Bar, 1931 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis
  • RSVP on the Facebook event page or email Justin at justin@exploreveg.org.
• Speed-Friending for Vegetarians/Vegans
  • Monday, January 9, 6:50-9:00pm
  • Honey, 205 East Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
  • Reserve your spot in advance and get a $4.99 ticket. $10 at the door.
  • Invite your friends using the Facebook event page!
• January Dine Out: Curry Diva
  • Saturday, January 14, 7:45-9:00pm
  • This event has already sold out! Stay tuned for announcements about our February dine out.
• January Potluck: Vegan Comfort Food
  • Saturday, January 28, 6:00-8:30pm
  • The Community Room at the Carleton Artist Lofts, 2285 University Avenue West, St. Paul
  • RSVP on the Facebook event page or email Justin at justin@exploreveg.org.

It was such a delight to see so many of you last night at our December potluck and holiday party. Thank you for being there and for helping us celebrate the work of our outgoing executive director, Unny Nambudiripad. If you couldn’t make it in-person, please know you were there with us in spirit.

Thanks to everyone who has spread the word about our year-end fundraising campaign and donated so far. You’ve done such a good job we’ve already reached our year-end goal! Wow, we couldn’t be more pleased!

Please know that surpassing our goal builds a strong framework for the future. Unny and the other CAA co-founders have given us the gift of building a joyous community dedicated to ending the suffering of farmed animals. Let’s keep it growing! There’s still time to make a gift if you haven’t already. Please make a tax-deductible donation today and help support CAA for years to come.

We have so many ways we can give: by introducing people to great vegan eats, sharing information about the lives of farmed animals, volunteering, and donating. Please give today and help make a difference for the animals.

Thank you for all of your support in 2016. I’m looking forward to working with you in the coming year. Together we’ll make the world a more compassionate place.

With the animals,

Laura Matanah

Wow! I’m feeling very honored to begin working with CAA at a time that it’s absolutely thriving, as evidenced by our 2016 year-in-review video. Check it out and you’ll see what I mean. The smiling faces, the adorable animals, the array of fun events… I’m inspired by what our volunteers, donors, and staff accomplish together, and I hope you are, too!

Our community is really special. We’ve got two amazing things in common: our compassion for animals and our desire to live in a world that reflects that compassion. CAA is all about creating that kind of world right here in our own backyard. Let’s do this!

As your new executive director, I’m here to lead the organization into the future, but I can’t do it alone. We have hundreds of volunteers lending their support year-round, and maybe you’re one of them. We also depend on the generosity of individuals like you to support our programs.

Can you make a contribution today to help us reach our year-end goal? Everyday, we get a little bit closer, and all donations up to $10,000 are matched 2-for-1, thanks to an anonymous donor. Please give today and help us create that compassionate community for the Twin Cities region and beyond.

For the animals,

Laura Matanah

P.S. Don’t forget our last event of the year, our December Potluck: Holiday Party (and Farewell Party!), on Tuesday the 27th at 6pm at the Powderhorn Park Recreation Center. I’d love to see you there!

Compassionate Action for Animals strives to make the world a more compassionate place for all beings. To do that, we try to reach as many people as possible and help them to see how they can be kind to animals.

Bridges of Respect, our humane education program, is one of the primary ways that we go about this. Every year, we go into schools and show hundreds of young people how they can be a force for positive change in the world. We show them how their choices do matter.

Read all about the good work that Bridges of Respect has done over the past year, and then please consider offering your support. Can you give $5, $10, $20, $50?

This is our most ambitious fundraiser to date, as we’re trying to raise $10,000 by the end of the month. And thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, those donations will be matched 2-for-1! Since this is my last time organizing a fundraiser as CAA’s executive director, I’d love to see us reach our goal. Please give today and help CAA grow!

We appreciate your continued support as we look toward to future, welcoming a new executive director, Laura Matanah, transitioning into the position this month. Next week, you’ll receive the Weekly Update from her instead of me. And so, this is the last one from me.

It’s been an honor to come to you via your inbox every week as the voice for all that CAA is doing. Thank you for your support, for your participation, and, most of all, for all that you do to make this world a better, more compassionate place.

For the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad

CAA is finishing up the year with a couple fun events, each of them offering an opportunity to come together with our community to celebrate our accomplishments, enjoy some vegan food, and embrace the future of the organization.

In addition to a fun dine out at Jasmine 26 next week, we’ll be hosting a celebratory December potluck and holiday party on Tuesday the 27th. I’d love for you to be there, since it will also be a farewell party for me. (And we’ll also have vegan cupcakes from Vegan East!)

If you appreciate the work we do at CAA, please show your support by making a donation in the month of December.

Every day, thanks to individuals like you, we’re one step closer to reaching our year-end goal. With those contributions, we can continue to offer programs that nurture our compassionate community. Ultimately, our combined efforts can significantly reduce suffering in the lives of farmed animals. And that’s really what it’s all about. Please give today!

For the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad

December Events

• December Dine Out: Jasmine 26
  • Tuesday, December 13, 6:30 – 8:30pm
  • RSVP on the Facebook event page or email Justin at justin@exploreveg.org.
• Twin Cities Veg Fest 2017 Committee Orientation
  • Tuesday, December 20, 7:00 – 8:15pm
  • CAA Community Space
  • Are you interested in helping to plan the next Twin Cities Veg Fest? Attend this orientation session to learn more!You don’t have to commit to joining the committee to come to this session.
  • To RSVP, email Dave Rolsky at dave@exploreveg.org. You can also invite your friends on Facebook.
• December Potluck: Holiday Party (and Farewell Party!)
  • Tuesday, December 27, 6:00 – 8:30pm
  • Powderhorn Park Recreation Center
  • This isn’t just a holiday-themed potluck–it’s also a farewell party! Help us say goodbye to our outgoing executive director, Unny Nambudiripad. You’ll also have a chance to meet our new ED, Laura Matanah. Not only that, CAA will be providing cupcakes from Vegan East! Please bring a savory vegan dish to share and let’s celebrate all the awesomeness of CAA past, present, and future!
  • RSVP on the Facebook event page or email Justin at justin@exploreveg.org.

With all that’s happening in the world, you can make a positive difference by supporting the causes that you believe in. We hope you believe in Compassionate Action for Animals and will support our important work for farmed animals.

And great news! The first $10,000 of donations we receive until the end of the year is automatically tripled thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor. Today is Giving Tuesday, so please give today and triple your impact for the animals.

Since 1998, we’ve been serving the Twin Cities region as a voice for the animals, helping others see how they can make more compassionate choices in their everyday lives. It’s with your support that we’re able to offer programs such as Twin Cities Veg Fest, The Vegan Chili Cook-Off, Bridges of Respect, monthly potlucks and dine outs, and various other activities that open hearts and minds.

All of these programs are there to grow our compassionate community through education, outreach, and community building. If you appreciate the work we do for the animals, we hope you’ll make a contribution of any amount to help us keep growing.

Thank you for your support. We truly couldn’t do it without you.

For the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad