Animal Writings

As I was perusing the Net for bake sale tips for our bake sale last November, I came across The Great American Bake Sale, which raises funds for Share Our Strength, a program that feeds underprivileged children. This was not an "aha" moment or anything. But I liked the idea of bake sales across the country, and the cause seemed good (granted, it's not vegan, and the main sponsor seems to be sugar companies, which raises some red flags, but still it seems like a worthy cause).

Our bake sale worked out great, even though we realized several areas in which we could improve. We were pleased enough to want to do more of them. It was gratifying to see one person after another—almost all non-vegans—buy vegan chocolate cheesecake (from The Joy of Vegan Baking), cookies, pumpkin bread, cake slices, and other vegan delectables, and go "Yum, this is delicious!"

It was also a fun event to prepare for and hold, compared to protests, lobbying, and other "standard" advocacy activities.

I guess a few days after the bake sale I was thinking, "What about the Great American Vegan Bake Sale? Vegan bake sales all across the U.S. and Canada, to promote veganism in a fun, approachable way!" I thought, "What if they were all on the same weekend? We might be able to get some mainstream media to cover the event, and I bet the press would be positive, plus all participants would feel some connection with their fellow vegan bake salers who were holding bake sales the same weekend."

Where would the proceeds for this event go? I wasn't sure. Then I figured, "Why not let participants do whatever they want with the proceeds? That way, there's no central payment or collection infrastructure that has to be set up, and we may increase the pool of possible participants, since there are bound to be would-be participants that wouldn't like whatever charities we would pick. In fact, by letting participants choose their own destination for the proceeds, we may attract groups that have nothing to do with veganism, such as church groups and scout troops."

One possible downside of letting a group do whatever it wants with the money from its vegan bake sale is that the money may go to something with which I don't agree. (More on that later.)

Was this a project we could pull off? We'd have to notify people well in advance to get them thinking about it. We'd need a web site that listed all the bake sale locations, had a signup form, had tips, news, generated some hoopla, the whole nine yards. Still, it seemed doable, and you know the Margaret Mead quote about how a small group of people can change the world. I figured, if that's possible, then surely we should be able to implement a network of bake sales.

I ran the idea by my distinguished Compassion for Animals cohorts. They enthusiastically liked it, and made some major improvements to the concept. (We also discussed the risk of a participant using the bake sale proceeds for something to which we were opposed, and came to an agreement about that...)

More to follow...

Labels: Compassion for Animals, Joy of Vegan Baking, vegan bake sales, Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale