Vegan

Outreach Coordinators Who Wowed Us This Spring

https://veganoutreach.org/outreach-coordinators-who-wowed-us/

The spring semester was full of exciting change and success. Along with continuing to leaflet and show virtual reality videos, we shifted our focus to signing people up for our 10 Weeks to Vegan program which our surveys have shown to be very impactful.

The dedicated community outreach coordinators below inspire us with their incredible work for animals. They’ve spread a message of compassion to hundreds of thousands of people, making a huge impact in bringing us closer to a vegan world.

Let’s take a look at the great work they accomplished this past spring!

Brian Chavez

Brian [above, middle] started leafleting with Vegan Outreach in Southern California and has traveled all over the U.S. to spread veganism. Brian uses his unique style to have meaningful conversations with students about veganism, and as a result, obtained a whopping 8,907 10 Weeks to Vegan signups this spring semester. On top of that, he also handed out 20,996 leaflets and showed 228 virtual reality videos at 43 different campuses!

Miguel Marron

Miguel received a Vegan Outreach leaflet at his college, then started an animal rights club, volunteered for Vegan Outreach, and is now an employee. While he’s busy celebrating his quickly approaching 15th “veganniversary,” we’re celebrating that he signed up 3,888 people for 10 Weeks to Vegan, handed out 33,965 leaflets, and showed 329 virtual reality videos in the northwestern U.S.!

Perla Anerol

Perla reached more than 80,000 people in just her first year of working with Vegan Outreach. Now in her second year, she continues to engage thousands of students in central Mexico. This spring, she received 3,734 10 Weeks to Vegan signups, handed out 18,231 leaflets, and did 488 virtual reality showings.

Saurabh Sonkar

Saurabh has a talent for getting volunteers from outside of the animal rights movement involved in our work in India. He was this semester’s top leafleter, handing out 72,118 leaflets! He also did 2,361 virtual reality showings and signed 3,305 people up for 10 Weeks to Vegan.

Nzinga Young

Nzinga believes a vegan lifestyle has countless benefits for human and nonhuman animals and works to promote these benefits to people from different backgrounds. For example, this spring she tabled at an event for artists in New York where everyone was so blown away by the Impossible Burger that everyone who tried it signed up for 10 Weeks to Vegan! Those were just a few of her total of 2,714 signups this spring.

Stacy Shepanek

Stacy does it all—from leafleting, virtual reality showings, coordinating community events, and presenting to hundreds about veganism throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. This spring she leafleted to 8,728 people, did 235 virtual reality showings, and got 1,762 10 Weeks to Vegan signups.

Jackie Va

Jackie [right] does outreach in California through organizing a variety of engaging events to provide information and encourage others to adopt a vegan lifestyle. Her enthusiasm and knack for engaging people helped her sign up 1,553 people for 10 Weeks to Vegan and hand out 3,661 leaflets this spring.

Emmanuel Marquez

In addition to supporting outreach by numerous volunteers in Mexico, Emmanuel Marquez showed virtual reality videos to 867 people—bringing his total to more than 5,000 over the past two years! He also handed leaflets to 27,375 people and got 1,527 10 Weeks to Vegan signups.

Ben Umholtz

Ben volunteered with Vegan Outreach in the past and became an official employee at the start of this spring semester. He already made a huge impact in the greater Ohio area during his first semester with VO, signing up 1,452 people for 10 Weeks to Vegan and distributing 29,125 leaflets.

Victor Flores

While managing our Community Events department, Victor also did his own outreach in New Mexico and Texas. He handed out 2,997 leaflets and signed up 1,363 people for 10 Weeks to Vegan. In addition to this, he also organizes community meals, feeds vegan food to those in need, holds restaurant events, and has convinced some businesses to add vegan items to their menu.

Steve Erlsten

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning our GOAT—Greatest of All-Time—Steve Erlsten! Steve began leafleting in an official capacity for Vegan Outreach in the fall of 2013—and he hasn’t stopped since! He became VO’s greatest leafleter this past spring semester, having personally handed out over one million pro-veg leaflets and adding 19,275 to his total this spring. Congratulations, Steve, and thank you for your dedication!

These activists’ work is far from flashy—they wake up early, lug heavy boxes, and remain on their feet for hours at a time. We’re happy to be able to celebrate them any chance we get. Thank you for helping us do so! And thank you, of course, to the donors whose generosity made this work possible!

Vegan

Mushroom Parmesan Pasta Bake (1-pan, nut-free, with soy-free and gluten-free options)

Cozy, hearty spinach cheese stuffed Mushroom Parmesan, is a one-pan dinner that your family is going to love! Even the orzo pasta bakes up in the pan with the cheesy mushrooms and marinara sauce! 1 pan, 1 baking Step!

close-up of a fork taking a bite of mushroom parmigiana

I wanted to make a simple mushroom parmesan pasta bake, because I had plenty of mushrooms on hand. And I wanted to reduce the pans and time in the kitchen. Enter this cozy 1 Pan Orzo bake!

The mushrooms are stuffed with this delicious spinach-tofu-cheese mixture that I often use to make stuffed shells, then I top it with a cruncy breadcrumb topping and pair it with a pasta, I use orzo, but other shapes will work too! The pasta and the sauce at the bottom, topped with cheesy stuffed mushrooms, and a crisp breadcrumb topping. Everything cooks in just one pan and one baking step!

close-up of mushroom parmesan in the pan after baking

The prep is very simple. Just make your spinach-tofu-cheese mixture by adding everything to a bowl and mixing it. Prep your mushrooms by removing the stems, and that’s it!

It’s an easy recipe that’s pretty flexible, too. You can add some veggie grounds or vegan ground meat substitute in with the pasta sauce to add extra protein to the meal. The recipe is already nut-free, and it’s easy to make soy-free and gluten-free, too.

You want to use about two- to three-inch mushrooms. Larger mushrooms take longer to cook, and pasta will overcook in that much time, so medium-sized works best here. I also use the mushroom stems in the recipe, so don’t discard them. Just trim away the tough end of the stem and discard that, but save the rest of the stem to chop up into the pasta sauce.

close up of mushroom parmesan on a plate

I paired this mushroom parmesan with orzo pasta, because it cooks up really easily in the baking dish and it works out just amazing. You can add a different pasta of choice, as well, just bake a few minutes longer until the pasta is cooked to preference.