COK in June: Exercising our Compassion for Animals

With summer on the horizon, COK staff and volunteers were in full force in June, from marching in the Baltimore Pride Parade to tabling at Pride Festivals coast to coast to hitting the streets of DC and LA with thousands of free food samples. COK also spoke at the first annual Anti-Fur Conference in the nation’s capital, hosted an effective advocacy workshop for our volunteer team in LA, and talked with hundreds of students at several schools about choosing compassion.

Additionally, we created new colorful and conveniently-sized TryVeg.com business cards that we’re now  giving away for free with every purchase of our “Ask Me Why I’m a Vegetarian” t-shirt. We worked with volunteers to launch a new veg-friendly dining resource for Maryland’s second largest city: VegFrederick.com. And last month we told you about Pita Pit, a national quick-service sandwich chain that we worked with to add a vegan option—the spicy black bean patty. This new vegan menu item has been so popular, the company declared it a “huge success” just one month after introducing it.

We also kept our supporters up to date on the several state level “ag-gag” bills that have been proposed this year—in New York, we sent out an action alert in early June asking our members to express their opposition to S-5172, and by the end of the month we announced that this bill is now dead for the year.  

Thank you to all of our supporters, volunteers, and interns for helping us make a difference for animals.

At the Baltimore Pride Parade, COK volunteers show off their veggie pride with brightly-colored signs, fun costumes, and free “Be a lifesaver: TryVeg.com” candies for the crowds.

COK’s Sara Bankert hosts a humane education workshop for middle school students in DC talking about the benefits of choosing vegan foods.

After hosting a successful benefit event for COK, Telegraph Station, a restaurant in Alexandria, Va., permanently added two new vegan options to its menu: a “Beef” BahnMi Sandwich and “Chicken” sliders.

In Los Angeles, COK interns distribute healthy vegan versions of favorite afterschool snacks to a group of kids and moms at the Kinder Carnival.

At Capital Pride in Washington, DC, 800 lucky festival-goes got to sample the free Primal Strips we were giving away and thousands of others picked up our pro-vegetarian literature.

COK’s Jaya Bhumitra led our first Effective Advocacy workshop in Los Angeles empowering our growing volunteer base to get even more active for animals!

Throughout June, COK volunteers and interns leafleted at busy metro stations during rush hour and at farmers markets in Southern California, reaching over 2,000 people with our pro-veg literature.

To promote our WeLoveSubway.com campaign, COK dished out over a hundred free vegan Tofurky sandwiches in front of a busy Subway restaurant in DC

And at our Subway feed-in in Los Angeles, our all-vegan Tofurky sandwiches were such a hit, even a Subway employee came out to try one!

COK continues to reach out to schools in the Los Angeles-area, tabling at the West Adams High School Fair and dishing out delicious slices of vegan pizza to hungry students and teachers.

Outside of the “Glee” concert in Washington, DC, COK intern Andrea makes Glee fans sing for joy with samples of vegan sausage.

COK intern Gwen tables at Los Angeles Pride where we distributed over 4,000 pieces of pro-veg literature at this two-day festival.

Outside a busy grocery store in Washington, DC, COK interns distribute free Tofurky wraps and samples of almond milk encouraging shoppers to make compassionate food choices.

COK and Tofurky teamed up to dish out a gourmet vegan lunch to all of the staff members at GOOD magazine to help them fulfill their “GOOD Challenge” 30-day veg pledge.