Hosted a Concert for Animal Rights at Brock University! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Written by Kimberly Costello, a member of the Brock Animal Rights Club (BARC) at Brock University

I recently spearheaded the organization of an outreach/benefit concert titled "Radio-Action for Animals", with the help of many other members of the Brock Animal Rights Club (BARC). The primary purpose of the event was to raise awareness within the local community about how people can live more compassionate lifestyles and make more informed ethical decisions. Our primary focus was on modern factory farming and promoting vegetarian/vegan diets.

At the event we had outreach tables with display boards and literature on many animal exploitation issues such as factory farming, health/ environmental benefits to veg diets, vegan recipes, battery-cages, anti-fur, animal experimentation, and the Canadian Commercial seal hunt. We also had an amazing free vegan food spread to expose people to different types of vegan foods including vegan pizzas, vegan chili rolls, vegan spring rolls, vegan somosas, breaded tofu fingers, pitas/nachos and dips, and lots and lots of vegan baked goods. The food was catered by a local restaurant that was looking to expand their vegetarian/vegan menu options and many of our club members provided the vegan baked goods.



We also had raffle draws for a cruelty-free (no animal testing, no animal ingredients or by-products) household cleaning products donated by Nature Clean, and cruelty-free/vegan personal care products in addition in addition to free outreach door prizes such as Earthlings/The Witness DVDs, animal rights books, vegan cookbooks, and other vegan/cruelty-free products donated by various companies in the local community.



Lastly, we also recruited 5 local bands representing a wide variety of musical genres to play the event; all bands had at least 1 vegetarian band member.



Overall, the event was very successful. We had over 200 attendees and managed to raise approximately $2000 for an amazing animal charity. We received extremely positive feedback about the vegan food and so we were successful at challenging some of the misinformed preconceived notions about bland/vegan foods. Most importantly we were able to expose people to information about animal exploitation that they perhaps would have never been exposed to otherwise. We can only hope that through making this information easily available to all types of people that we were able to enlighten and empower at least some people to live more compassionate ethical lifestyles.

Vegan Taco Day at Brock University! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Written by Carleen Gigante, a member of the Brock Animal Rights Club (BARC)

On March 20, 2008, Brock Animal Rights Club (BARC) held our 3rd annual Vegan Taco Day. The purpose of this event was to introduce students to cruelty-free food, and rid any stereotypes surrounding vegan food. We also wanted to inform faculty and students about where their meat comes from.

We set up shop in the hallway and assembled a taco production line. Students ordered tacos for only 50 cents each, and BARC members prepared these delicious animal-free tacos. At the end of the taco line, customers were presented with a handful of booklets about factory farming and the meat industry. We also gave information on the benefits of eating a plant-based diet, as well as free stickers. Everyone that came to see us was open-minded, and we were happy to inform them why we were selling these tacos to students.

We sold 150 tacos in an hour and a half… with one left for each person helping out—as a reward! But most of all, it was a reward in itself knowing that BARC was able to inform so many students and opened so many eyes to the cruelty of meat production.

The Brock Animal Rights Club Hosts a “Fur Stop”! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Written by Carleen Gigante of the Brock Animal Rights Clubs at Brock University

Brock Animal Rights Club has been at Brock for 3 years. We decided this year to again have a “Fur Stop” which is basically a check point where students can stop and check to see if their fur trim is real or fake, and learn about the cruelty of the fur industry.

We handed out pamphlets and stickers, including a few "I'm an asshole, I wear fur" stickers. A lot of people disagreed with the wearing of fur, but I was surprised to know how many students did not know or did not stop to think about the cruel process of making fur. We also had a few people who wanted to argue with us about the fur industry—and that’s fine with us! We were able to give them enough information for them to finally see that wearing fur isn’t necessary, especially when there are so many fashion options.

Altogether it was a successful day, and we informed a ton of students. We can’t wait for next year’s!