The 2014 VLP Is Off to an Amazing Start!

The 2014 Vegan Living Program has been such a whirlwind that this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and blog about it. I have to admit that when I came onboard as an organizer of the program I had no idea how massive the response would be this year. Being a vegan who was raised in a port city, I've gotten used to the "I could never give up my seafood" response from so many of the people I meet. Seafood is so entrenched in the very identity of Baltimore, that there have been times as a vegan activist when I've considered just throwing up my hands and doing my outreach in another city. Don't get me wrong, I'm not normally a quitter, but trying to convince Baltimoreans to give up crabs seemed like a losing battle.

Imagine my shock when the flood of Vegan Pledge registrations started pouring in. And then they kept pouring in and pouring in and pouring in! We went from organizing a program that could accommodate thirty pledges to having a room packed with more than 150 people! I wouldn't have dared to hope that we would have such a massive response to a vegan educational program and even now as I look at the photos from the first session I'm still amazed. So, people in Baltimore have spoken and they’ve expressed that they're sick and tired of being sick and tired. They want to learn more about the environmental impact of their lifestyle on the planet. They're shocked and outraged about the undercover footage coming out of animal farms and slaughterhouses. They're ready to try something different.

What an enormous and awe-inspiring responsibility to have placed in your hands – to have a packed room full of people putting that kind of trust in you. Knowing that what you say to them could literally help to change the world. That justice could be served, wrongs could be righted, imbalances could be corrected, pain and illness could be alleviated -- and all those things can start right there within the hearts and minds of this group of people who signed up to be Vegan Pledges. Just thinking about the power that we, as humans, have to change this world for the better brings tears to my eyes and looking out at the diverse crowd, with people from all different generations, cultures and belief systems, I couldn't help but be moved by the magnitude of it all.

So as I contemplate how best to move forward as an organizer of the VLP, I have to constantly remind myself that this program is all about the pledges. It's not necessary for me to take on the weight of the entire world, but to be content in the knowledge that I'm doing everything I can to try to make this world better. The people looking back at me from the crowd, the ones who have stepped up and pledged to live vegan for the duration of the program, they are the reason I get up before the sun and go to bed exhausted every night. The pledges' enthusiasm, passion and determination are what make all the hard work of putting together the Vegan Living Program worthwhile. Because, when it gets right down to it, real lasting change will only come when every single one of us stands up and does our own part to change this world. I am truly honored to be a part of that change.

-- Brenda