A Weekend in the Lives of MFA Activists

This past weekend MFA activists in Ohio, Chicago and Minneapolis gave a whole new meaning to “vegging out” on the weekend. Far from throwing up their feet and relaxing on their summer weekend, dedicated MFA members hit the streets to hold an impressive number of animal advocacy events – inspiring countless festival, concert and conference attendees to explore veganism. Here are the highlights:

MFA’s Cincinnati, Ohio chapter was out in full force at the annual Gay Pride Festival and Parade – distributing over 2,000 pro-vegetarian brochures. At the festival, their educational exhibit was complete with free vegan food samples, the powerful Meet Your Meat video, and Vegetarian Starter Kits.

Thomas Barnett, vegan frontman of the popular punk rock band, Strike Anywhere, invited our Cincinnati chapter to table at his concert Sunday evening following the parade.  Thomas is a proud supporter of MFA – even giving us a shout out on stage during his energetic performance. Check out this photo of our volunteer, Kyle Becker, rubbing elbows with Thomas at the show.

A powerhouse team of 17 MFA activists in Chicago erected an eye-catching educational booth at the Andersonville Midsommarfest on Saturday and Sunday.  According to Mikael Nielsen, our Chicago Outreach Coordinator, “The positive reactions were overwhelming and people took everything from a ton of VSK’s, restaurant guides, Meet Your Meat DVDs and Compassionate Living magazines to stickers and MFA tri-folds on ‘humane’ meat and the environmental impacts of eating meat.”

Finally, to cap off the weekend, MFA’s Executive Director, Nathan Runkle, delivered the opening keynote address at the “Their Lives, Our Voices” Midwest Animal Advocacy Conference in Minneapolis. Titled, “Inspiring Compassion: Putting Our Ethics on the Table,” Nathan encouraged attendees to take a stand on behalf of abused and neglected animals by promoting cruelty-free food choices.