Queer Vegan Anthology: Submissions Open!

Submissions Open

for Upcoming Book Project!

 

WHO?

By LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic) vegans for our community and as a “calling-in” for non-vegan LGBTIA+ folks.

Queer Vegan Anthology to be edited by Julia Feliz Brueck and Zoie Mcneill (we’d like to also invite the editorial collaboration of a Queer Black Trans woman/MaGe. If you are interested, please get in touch with us: info@sanctuarypublishers.com for details)

WHAT IS IT?

This will be a community-building and activist book project that will prioritize the voices of vegan BQTIPOC (Black, Queer, Trans, Indigenous, People of Color), disabled folks, neurodivergent individuals, and other marginalized peoples.

Potential topics include, but are certainly not limited to:

• How you conceptualize the dual identities of being vegan and LGBTQIA+
• How being a LGBTQIA+ person informs your consistent anti-oppression veganism and vice versa
• How you as a LGBTQIA+ experience vegan spaces (NGOS, festivals, sanctuaries, ect.)
• What you would like to say to non-vegan LGBTQIA+ folk
• How queer politics/queer theory could inform vegan activists
• Why the animal rights movement should prioritize consistent anti-oppression activism
• Personal journeys as a queer person to animal rights

What to Submit?

We are interested in receiving the following types of submissions:

• essays
• poems
• narratives
• short reflections.

No word limit or minimum for submissions. Write as much or as little as you’d like.

IMPORTANT: Please note that all submissions must be pro-intersectional and nonhuman and ethics focused since veganism is a movement to fight nonhuman animal exploitation. However, you may also incorporate other aspects (environment, health, history, spirituality, etc.) in your piece that have had an impact on you related to veganism since we all experience veganism differently.

Who can Submit?

If you are a LGBTQIA+ MaGe (marginalized gender, i.e. cis women, trans and queer femmes, and intersex folks) please feel free to submit.

No prior writing training necessary and no educational requirement (no need to have a GED, high school diploma, BA, MA, or PhD).

Sanctuary Publishers is committed to helping to guide and publish neurodivergent folks and those with little to no writing experience, as well as non-maternal English speakers wanting to help raise the voices of nonhumans and other marginalized communities. This is important in order to ensure everyone has an equal platform and opportunity. Just let us know of your needs or make a submission, and we will work with you to get it to publishing quality with your approval each step of the way.

Is there Payment?

For this book, there *may be* a possibility of stipend available for contributors if your submission is accepted. Details to be announced at a later time.

Where do I Submit and When?

Send submissions to: info@sanctuarypublishers.com

First Deadline: September 1, 2019

***

Other relevant information:

Consistent Anti-Oppression Veganism encompasses the following ideas (as defined by http://www.consistentantioppression.com/):

1. Recognizing that accessibility is a very real root issue that veganism must work on (access to healthy foods, classism, homelessness, etc.). Solving root issues is imperative in order to ensure access to all.
2. Promoting veganism as a whole, not in pieces (single-issue veganism versus veganism as a movement centered on working against the oppression of nonhumans from human supremacy and one that is consistently against ALL oppression and exploitation – not just for some nonhumans and not a movement that adds to the oppression of marginalized people).
3. Recognizing that different communities experience veganism differently. Therefore, ensure marginalized vegans lead on their own issues. Do not target people of color or marginalized groups with campaigns, instead support vegans of color working in their own communities (veganismofcolor.com is a good place to start).
4. Recognizing that anyone’s vegan activism is not more important than their participation in oppressive behavior (ie. sexual assault, ableism, racism, transphobia, sizeism, etc).
5. Tolerating human oppression means failing nonhuman liberation because human and nonhuman oppressions are intertwined. Therefore, make a commitment to address other “-isms” when you see them.
6. Ensuring marginalized vegans have an equal platform within your organization/event beyond tokenism. Avoid cosmetic diversity. And SUPPORT those vegans by giving them a platform and compensating them as you would non-marginalized vegans.
7. Working on root issues, do not target individuals (i.e. medicine shaming versus campaigning for vegan medicine/against animal testing; infant formula shaming versus supporting efforts towards maternity leave/vegan formula/maternity support)

Wild and Free at PreetiRang Sanctuary

Sales from Andrea Zimmer’s brand new children’s book Wild and Free will help support residents at Preetirang Sanctuary!

Caretakers of PreetiRang Sanctuary nonhuman animal residents explain that,

At PreetiRang it is our mission to provide the most peaceful and loving environment possible. An environment that allows our family of animals to be themselves, be free of oppression and the violent tendencies of humans. To not feel anxiety, injustice, fear or pressure to be who they are not.  Our slogan is “Every life deserves a chance to express itself” because in considering the most basic and essential aims of our work, it seemed that the central focus of all life forms is simply to live and express their own purpose. Free from violence, oppression or subjugation. We wish this for beings, human and nonhuman animal. 

You can learn more about PreetiRang Sanctuary’s residents here:

http://www.preetirangsanctuary.org/our-animal-family/

***

Andrea Zimmer and PreetiRang Sanctuary hope to bring children in the CA area some fun reading events in 2019.

Stay tuned for that through the Wild and Free Facebook page!

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Order a copy of Wild and Free through Amazon, your favorite bookstore, or the Sanctuary Publishers’ shop.

Thanks for your support and for spreading the word!

 

About Wild and Free

Written by Andrea Zimmer

Illustrated by Julia Feliz Brueck

A catchy, repetitive rhyming picture book with beautiful illustrations, Wild and Free helps introduce young children to the concepts of wrong versus right when it comes to animal use and exploitation. It also teaches them to extend their care and empathy towards all.

Written by an elementary school teacher, children will become captivated by the bright imagery of animals they love while examining what it means for them to have a choice in how they interact with and impact others – both nonhuman and human

Open for Submissions: White Passing PoC Guide Book

Book Project: White Passing POC Guide (title to be determined)

Lead Author: Karla Rosa Vargas, co-founder of La Raza for Liberation

What:

This book project is meant to guide white-passing people of color through recognizing and utilizing their privilege to better serve their POC communities, and advance our fight for justice and equality.

We would like to invite white passing PoC voices to contribute the following to this book:

Prompt: What does it mean to be a white-passing person of color? What privileges and responsibilities do we hold, and how should we responsibly navigate being caught between “two worlds”?

Details:

The following submissions formats are welcome from self-identified white-passing people of color:

-essays

-short reflections

-poems

No word limit. Submissions will be included in a specific chapter following the main discussion within the book.

Deadline is OCTOBER 15th, 2018.

Part of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Essie Justice Group.

“Essie Justice Group is a non profit organization of women with incarcerated loved ones taking on the rampant injustices created by mass incarceration. Our award-winning Healing to Advocacy Model brings women together to heal, build collective power, and drive social change. We are building a membership of fierce advocates for race and gender justice — including Black and Latinx women, formerly and currently incarcerated women, Transwomen, and gender non-conforming people.”

Contact: karlarosavargas (at) gmail (dot) com

 

CALLING Vegan Artists (and Writers)!

Submissions are currently welcome from ALL vegans for a vegan/animal rights community book project…

NEEDED:

We are looking for vegan artists willing to contribute one or two illustrations for a community-led unique activism book concept that will feature text and artwork from nonhuman animals’ point of view.

Artists, line work and other forms of artwork that translates well into black and white would work best for submissions to this project.

Artwork must be:
• at least 300 dpi resolution (for book printing)
• black & white
• fit on an 8 x 10 inch page
• be related to the prompt below…

Writers: Also welcome to participate with submissions, but at this time, we are specifically looking for pieces that speak against ALL animal exploitation and not individual species.
—

Prompt for artists (and writers):

If you had one single moment to make a statement and raise the voices of nonhuman animals from their own point of view through your art, what would that look like? What would you say or illustrate to a stranger that might encounter your work?

Remember this is your one chance to speak for ALL nonhumans at once. The visual and images should help the viewer make connections with regards to their hand in the oppression of nonhumans and their *choice* to continue to uphold speciesism.

—

WHAT: This book is an opportunity for artists and writers to create content that can be used by activists in their own communities to raise the voices of nonhuman animals (Think photocopying and putting up around towns). Many activists do not have a support system, vegan groups, or may experience conditions that prevent them from joining traditional forms of activism, so a book filled with content for them to use would help us give others a way to join the movement as we work towards nonhuman liberation.

DEADLINE: Please email us directly for a deadline (2018):

info@sanctuarypublishers.com

FYI: Part of the profits for this book will go towards grants to support individuals open to creating microsanctuaries to rescue as many nonhuman as possible and to extend sanctuaries into something that we can all do as outlined by the MicroSanctuary Movement, which provide financial help and support to those able to home rescued farm animals (think mini sanctuaries across the world in a way that is accessible to everyone wanting to help rescue nonhumans as opposed to traditional sanctuaries only accessible to those with large plots of land).

The rest will help Sanctuary Publishers continue to publish books and help marginalize communities. We aren’t a traditional book publisher. We reinvest profits into much needed content.

Benefits to you? You will create awesome work for your portfolio (I know! I know! Your time and work are valuable. Believe me – I know! It’s just up to us to raise the voices of nonhumans). You will also be supporting the rescue of nonhumans and the creation of microsanctuaries while lending a hand to activists that are basically alone or limited in the activism they can take part in. Lastly, your name and portfolio will be credited, so it’s one more way to get your name and work out there.

F.A.Q.: Does the submission have to be an unpublished or new? Yes. We are trying to raise funds for nonhumans and keep costs low since publishing costs money. Sadly, people don’t want to pay for things that are already free or overused. That doesn’t mean you can’t edit your piece(s) to create new ones though even if just adding new text, etc 🙂

NOTICE:

Submissions must be anti-speciesist, inclusive/intersectional/consistently anti-oppression in nature, no depicted gore or violence. The aim of the project is to raise the voices of nonhumans without shock tactics. No human saviorship please (this is about nonhumans and their voices). Please absolutely no “vegan flags” or co-opted religious or cultural symbols.

Please share with those that may be interested in this exciting collaboration.
Thanks for helping us make content that supports humans and nonhumans on our journey towards justice for all!

Libro Sobre El Veganismo Puertorriqueño: Projecto Comunitario

Me llamo Julia y soy la fundadora de Sanctuary Publishers. Soy Puertorriqueña y vegana desde hace 10 años. Hoy les escribo por que me gustaría publicar un libro para ayudar a mas Puertorriqueños entender el veganismo y lo que significaria cocinar a lo vegano.

Este libro sería un projecto de la comunidad vegana en Puerto Rico y ayudaría a apoyar un projecto o organización vegana en la isla.

Estoy buscando personas que se interesen en ayudar con contribuciones de recetas originales (desayuno, almuerzo, cena, postres) que ayuden a una persona en la isla hacer la transicion al veganismo. La recetas pueden ser basadas en comidas tradicionales y/o en los typos de comidas que son mas facil de adquirir sin que una persona tenga que gastar mas o hacer muchos viajes a tiendas especiales ya que queremos que el veganismo Boricua sea lo mas accesible para todos en la isla.

El libro también incluira consejos sobre otras partes correspondientes al veganismo (materiales, productos no probados sobre los animales, entretenimientos veganos, etc.).

Si pueden ayudar, me pueden mandar un email a info@sanctuarypublishers.com

Pueden mandar las recetas en forma de “Word” o por Google Drive.
Tambien se busca un Puertorriqueño(a) vegano(a) que este interesado(a) en ayudar con el diseño de la portada del libro.

Gracias y espero que les guste la idea de este projecto.

Juntos podemos ayudar a los nuestros.

NEW RELEASE: “Veganism in an Oppressive World”

 

Veganism in an Oppressive World

A Vegans-of-Color Community Project

Edited by Julia Feliz Brueck

New Release Out Now!

Get your Paperback or eBook copy HERE.

 

What would it take to raise the voices of nonhumans and spread veganism further than ever before?

Veganism in an Oppressive World, a Vegans-of-Color Community Project edited by Julia Feliz Brueck will revolutionize the way you see our movement. A must read for new vegans and seasoned nonhuman animal activists alike, this community-led effort provides in-depth, first-hand accounts and analyses of what is needed to broaden the scope of veganism beyond its current status as a fringe or “single-issue” movement while ensuring that justice for nonhumans remains its central focus.

—

Veganism in an Oppressive World is…

“…a must read for anyone committed to doing serious work around the dismantling of speciesism and all other systems of oppression…” –Kevin Tillman, Vegan Hip Hop Movement

“…an insightful guide to creating a truly inclusive vegan world.” – Pax Ahimsa Gethen, photographer, writer, & activist

&

“…moves beyond cosmetic diversity and into the realm of complex discussions about intersectionality and consistent anti-oppression within veganism. These…timely essays…provide relief against the danger of it being co-opted by the very status quo it sought to decenter.

– Dr. A. Breeze Harper, author, speaker, & critical race theorist

—

From conception, art, and prose to design, editing, and publication, Veganism in an Oppressive World is an international vegans of color community book project.

From start to finish, in an attempt to raise the voices of nonhuman animals higher than before, the following writers and artists give readers the tools and guidance needed to spread the AR/vegan movement father than its current reach:

 

 

Contributors

 

Bipasha Ahmed is an activist and works as an academic psychologist with interests in inequalities research, particularly in relation to PoC communities. She is also a trustee of a South Asian womxn’s domestic violence service and has been involved in activism in relation to Violence Against Womxn and Girls (VAWG) and anti-racism for many years. She lives in London, England with her two daughters and partner.

 

Michelle Carrera is a professional translator, writer, and founding director of the vegan non-profit Chilis on Wheels, an organization that helps to provide people in need with warm vegan meals via chapters across the US and in Puerto Rico.

Website: www.chilisonwheels.org

 

Julia Feliz Brueck is a decade-long vegan of color from Puerto Rico. She is the author of the first ever vegan-themed board book, Libby Finds Vegan Sanctuary, and most recently, the Baby and Toddler Feeding Guide, a dietitian approved evidence based guide for raising young ones on plant based diets safely and simply. Julia is also a published book and magazine illustrator, as well as a research scientist (B.Sc. & M.Sc.), and a mom of two dedicated to standing up against all oppression and to raising the voices of nonhuman animals.

Website: www.juliafeliz.com

 

Rama Ganesan lived in Chennai India until the age of 10 when she emigrated to the UK with her family.  She graduated from the University of Oxford, and then got a PhD from the University of Wales. She then moved to the US with her spouse, and she has lived there ever since. She has two grown children, and a dog and two cat companions at home. Rama became a vegan after reading “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, set as college reading for her son. She then began to work to promote veganism, and currently works as field educator for Ethical Choices Program, where she presents to thousands of students on the topic of compassionate eating choices.

 

Shazia Juna was born in Reading, England (UK). She has lived in both Pakistan and England during her childhood. Shazia began her scientific career as a laboratory technician in the chemical industry for a few years prior to studying for her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at University of York, UK. Shazia worked as a Development Chemist in the paint and printing ink sector for a few years and later, returned to academia and completed her MPhil (Organic Chemistry) at Bath University, UK, as well as her PhD (starch/natural materials) at Glyndwr University in North Wales, UK. Shazia worked as a postdoctoral researcher for over three years at Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria. Throughout her scientific career, she has been interested in renewable materials. Shazia currently lives in Vienna, Austria and is learning to draw and paint with a goal of exploring her scientific works through an artistic lens. Shazia also has a keen interest in the use of vegan art materials that are commercially available or homemade. She is also working on fiction novels based on the ecology and chemistry of trees/flora and has been travelling across Europe. Shazia has been a vegetarian since she was 18 and a vegan since August 2009.

Website: www.shaziajuna.com

 

Melissa John-Charles Carrillo has been vegan since 2001 and is passionate about wildlife, works with refugees, and writes about being a person of colour in a mostly white society.

Website: http://livingincolour651.wordpress.com

 

Vinamarata “Winnie” Kaur is a Ph.D. candidate in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati, Ohio, United States with research and activism interests in Sikh studies, South Asian studies, feminist theories, critical human-animal studies, digital scholarship, and film and media studies. She teaches courses on writing, feminism, and film, media, and sexuality studies and offers writing assistance as a tutor to UC Health’s and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s medical professionals and UC’s undergraduate and graduate students. During her spare time, she enjoys offering online and in-person advice to those looking to transition to veganism, reading recent peer-reviewed medical research (human and veterinary), hiking with her canine companion, playing wand and light toy games with her feline friend, and exploring new vegan cuisines with her partner.

Website: www.winniekaur.com

 

Laila Kassam has a MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She has worked in the international development sector since 2003. Her work has focused on conducting research related to poverty and food security for rural development projects in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Her research has been published in peer reviewed journals and by international organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. She became vegan in 2013 and co-founded the Veterinary Vegan Network with her partner Shailen Jasani, a vegan veterinary surgeon, in 2015.

Website: www.everyday-justice.com

 

Deepta Rao has an M.A. in Experiential Health and Healing from The Graduate Institute, Bethany, Connecticut, United States and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Institute of Technology and Management, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She also has a Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies and eCornell. If she is not volunteering at her kids’ school, she is digging into the neural networks of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. She is also a student of the Chinmaya Mission San Jose and volunteers at the mission during weekends. Besides feeding her family delicious vegan food, she loves making beaded bracelets and elaborate travel plans.

 

Meneka Repka is an artist and teacher living in Calgary, Alberta.  She completed a BFA from ACAD in 2007, and a BEd from the University of Lethbridge in 2010. After teaching junior high and high school, Meneka became interested in expanding her knowledge in art education, and finished an MA from Concordia University (Montreal) in 2013.  She recently finished a PhD in education at the University of Calgary.  Meneka loves teaching, and feels just as engaged in her teaching practice as she does in her art practice.  As an illustrator, Meneka is interested in the animal, links between humans and nonhumans, nature, and environment.  In her work, she investigates the complicated relationships between humans and other animals.

Website: http://meneka.carbonmade.com

 

Margaret Robinson is a bisexual and two-spirit scholar from Eski’kewaq, Nova Scotia, and a member of the Lennox Island First Nation. A community-based researcher since 2009, her work examines the impact of intersecting oppressions and draws on critical, postcolonial, and queer theories, intersectionality, and third wave feminism.

Website: http://www.dal.ca/faculty/arts/sociology-social-anthropology/faculty-staff/our-faculty/margaret-robinson.html

 

Saryta Rodriguez is an author, editor, social justice advocate, and educator. Their first book, Until Every Animal is Free, was published in 2015, and they are currently working on a compilation of essays examining food justice from a variety of lenses. Saryta’s past writings have focused on food justice, veganism, race, and gentrification. Their articles have appeared on such notable social justice websites as Free From Harm, Causa Justa/Just Cause, and Reasonable Vegan. Saryta edits manuscripts of all genres, having worked previously for David Black Literary Agency (Brooklyn) and Penguin Publishing (Manhattan) and currently editing for Sanctuary Publishers. They also specialize in literacy tutoring for students in Grades K-12. Originally from Bay Shore, New York, Saryta currently resides in Harlem.

Website: http://www.sarytarodriguez.com

Danae Silva Montiel is a two decade-long vegan currently working as a graphic designer and illustrator.

 

Meenal Upadhyay is a software developer and a corporate trainer, although she would rather be a movie reviewer fulfilling two of her favorite pastimes—watching movies and writing. She loves writing about feminist issues. When she is not “mothering” her two daughters, she teaches coding to little kids.

 

Rayven Whitaker is a 9^th grade Home-Schooled Student, who chose to go vegan in March of this year after attending her second Triangle VegFest. She has been the co-host and co-producer of numerous Podcasts (dating back to 2012 at the earliest). She is looking forward to the continuing pursuits of her interests in (Music (composing, producing, singing and songwriting), Dance (as well as choreographing), Film (screenwriting, cinematography, directing, producing and acting), Photography, Writing, Journalism, etc.) and outside of the Arts.

 

Destiny Whitaker is an 11^th grade Home-Schooled Student with a passion for arts and music. Her many titles include: Musician, Arranger, Writer, Podcaster, Producer, Actress, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Activist, Journalist, Fangirl and much more. 

Websites: www.DestinyWhitakerProductions.Weebly.com & www.OurWorldAndFandomsGalore.com

 

Ankita Yadav is a research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India and her areas of specialization include human-animal studies, interconnectivity of oppressions, and gender. She has published various scholarly and animal welfare related articles. She is a vegan, an animal welfare activist, and a leading blogger about cats in Delhi. She has pioneered a community effort project, based purely on volunteer engagement and local resources, to rescue, rehabilitate, and save from suffering and superstition, more than 750 cats (and counting) in the city. In 2016, TEDx Delhi recognized her as a Superhero of Delhi. When Ankita is not writing or rescuing cats, you would find her experimenting with funky earrings and lip colors and having interactive sessions with people where she educates them about veganism and animal welfare policies.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/everythingmeow.india/

 

—

 

Grant Support from: http://www.deutscher-jugendschutz-verband.de

 

 

Paperback & eBook available HERE.

Are you a Copy Editor?

Sanctuary Publishers is looking to form collaborations with editors for specific book projects that are currently in the works.

 

If you are interested in working with us, please apply with:

• an letter of interest outlining your skills and any previous experience, as well as why you would like to collaborate with Sanctuary Publishers.
• a copy of your CV.
• samples of previous work or a link to your online porfolio if you have one.
• your rates.

 

Send your application details to info@sanctuarypublishers.com

 

Guest Post: Michelle Carrera, Chilis on Wheels

In tune with Sanctuary Publisher’s mission, a portion of sales from

Baby and Toddler Vegan Feeding Guide by Julia Feliz Brueck

will go towards supporting the work of Chilis on Wheels.

Through this beautifully written guest post, Michelle Carrera, founder of Chilis on Wheels, tells us more about this inspiring vegan-based humanitarian organization that is helping to change daily lives while staying true to nonhuman animal justice:

I’m sitting in the van of TheVTeamTour, rain pitters and patters on the roof, the refrigerator spurts and goes silent, our solar power is out; condensation arises and the windows begin to fog; Ollie, my six-year-old says “I’m bored”; Meli, the dog sees a squirrel in the distance and starts barking; my head throbs. I take a second and go inside myself, as I breathe “Think of what all this is about. Think of all the people it will help”. Clouds don’t immediately part, but I slow down and it doesn’t look so ugly and despairing after all. This is what Chilis on Wheels, and now its offshoot project TheVTeamTour has been all about. About gaining perspective on our privileges, and using every last bit to help others.

Chilis on Wheels is a mobile vegan soup kitchen that builds community around free vegan food. Among a warm vegan meal, we provide vegan education, personal care products not tested on animals in our Free Store; we engage the youth into participating in their community, and we create spaces where people can gather; we provide the warmth and the support of a community; and we create a safe space where everyone can belong to and take shelter from the harshness of the world. Because our communities are built by real people, what that space looks like is always changing according to the people that integrate it.

It all started on Thanksgiving 2014 when I looked for a vegan soup kitchen to volunteer at with my son, to teach him about community and to connect him and myself to other people. Upon not finding such a thing, Ollie and I made 15 meals in our kitchen, and distributed it ourselves to people in the streets of New York City. Unbeknownst to me, this day changed the course of my life. Something that day told me I needed to do more, and I started giving food out monthly, then weekly. I ran a crowdfunding campaign to help fund it, and I have poured all my resources, all my time, all my energy into making it flourish. Last year, we served 11, 239 meals!

Both Ollie and I have grown tremendously during this time. I have learned to trust more, in myself, and in others, in that everything will work out. I have learned that we are all rich, that money is not the only capital, not even the most important one; that when we band together and pool our skills, anything is possible. Last Thanksgiving, on our biggest event of the year, we served 1,000 vegan meals and covered the entirety of Manhattan! Close to 200 people joined us and helped serving, cooking, transporting, getting the word out, writing, printing, and taking pictures. In the end, on a day most people spend with their families, people who found themselves alone found a community to share a meal with; a meal possible thanks to the collective efforts of more than 200 people.

It is about the people that share a meal with us. I have made some great friends from the people that we serve. Irene is an older woman. She is gentle and kind, and soft spoken. She has been coming to our gatherings every week for two years, we talk of the weather, and our families, always positive and kind thoughts. James Brown joins us every week too, we like to complain about our aches, and throw some jokes in to ease it. Marcella sometimes brings her two lovely granddaughters. Chile gifts us the donations he receives from the food bank, things he cannot cook because he does not have a kitchen, for things we have already made. Howie is quiet but he is also kind, and loves the products we offer on our Free Store. Maria, is a 96-year-old woman from Puerto Rico, who I have adopted as my grandmother. She walks close to a mile every week to see us. She has come to a period in her life, where she has no one else to count on, except her grandson who visits her about once a month. In the meantime, she has us every Saturday to talk to, to laugh with, to complain to, or joke with. We have given her our phone numbers so she knows she can call us if she ever needs anything. She came to us very depressed and lonely, and we have seen her flourish since, making jokes and being saucy. Chilis on Wheels is so much more than just a meal.

It is about the volunteers. The people that come week after week to make this happen. People that store supplies in their closets which in the limited real estate of NYC this is a HUGE deal! People that come to cook on Saturday mornings, people that tread through blizzards, thunderstorms, heat waves, to make sure the people that rely on us for their Saturday meals, will not go empty handed. Michelle Thiele, now our NYC Chapter Director, a vegan mom to Jamie, one of our youngest volunteers who started helping us out when he was just 2 years old, comes week after week, stores food, cooks it, transports it, seeks out donations, coordinates volunteers, always with such a warmth! Her husband, Jeff, also helps us out every week with his permanent kind smile and solid support. Natassia comes in every week always willing and ready to help in whatever is needed. Christian, our Director of Chapter Development, our Renaissance Man, does a bit of everything, from shoveling snow to helping install solar panels in TheVTeamTour van, to cooking, to drumming up donations, to staying in touch with new chapters. Blake is our favorite babysitter and rule enforcer. And Jimmy, who came to us referred to by a social service agency two years ago. Jimmy is a young vegan; he was going through some hardships and found himself without a place to live, and looking for meals without animal products in the soup kitchens and shelters. Thankfully a social service agency connected us, and Jimmy came in one rainy afternoon. He instantly fit in with our volunteers, and he started coming weekly, having a meal with us and helping us to set up, and serve. Eventually he heard of a job opening in the Parks Dept. in NYC, and he applied, putting in his experience working with us, and including as a reference. He got the job, and has worked with them since. And he still finds time to volunteer with us most weeks. He is our Chilis on Wheels family, where we come together to care for ourselves and our community.

It is about the vegan education, and who we talk to about veganism, about inexpensive but filling and rich meals without animal products. It is about connecting people with their food, in the ingredients, in the process of growing it and bringing it to their table. We visited a school in the Bronx and we gave our standard talk on the importance of plant-based nutrition, connecting it to their readings and their community, and a student, 13 years of age, became so touched that she approached me after the talk, and asked me a million questions a minute. Her mind raced to keep up the pace with the new information; her ethics transformed that day, and we stayed in touch. She is now vegan, and although she cannot volunteer with us because we are more than an hour away from her, she stays in touch and texts me to update me on what she has said to her family and her friends and her local community activism.

So, when the rain pours down and everything seems so hard to live with, I take a minute to think of all the people we have brought together, and the ripple effects our presence continues to create. TheVTeamTour is going across the country gathering folks together to build communities around free vegan food, setting up chapters of Chilis on Wheels, infusing them with our contagious energy to build networks of people, to realize the value of our most underestimated capital: our communities. 

Support this amazing organization  and  nonhumans by ordering a copy of the Baby and Toddler Vegan Feeding Guide by Julia Feliz Brueck:

Order the paperback and eBook on Amazon. 

Also available at Vegan Essentials.

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New Release!

Join us in celebrating the NEW RELEASE of the

Baby and Toddler Vegan Feeding Guide

by author & illustrator Julia Feliz Brueck

as hardcopy and Kindle eBook on Amazon!

Also available at Vegan Essentials.

Thank you for helping to spread the word!

Read about the book through the author here.

A portion of money made from books sold will go to support the important work being done by Chilis on Wheels, an organization helping to feed the homeless and other people in need with vegan food.

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​5 Questions with Author & Illustrator Julia Feliz Brueck

Our first book by vegan author and illustrator Julia Feliz Brueck, The Baby and Toddler Vegan Feeding Guide is now officially published!

Julia tells us a little more about her NEW release in this special five question interview:

Your first published book was a vegan-themed children’s book, how did this new book, specific for parents, come about?

Since the time my son started eating solids, I would share them on social media and get quite a few curious comment about what he ate. One of those times, a fellow vegan on my Facebook left a comment last year saying that she hoped I would help her with what to feed her baby once the time came. At that moment, I decided that I would do it for her and for every parent out there that might need a little nudge, support, or help. I know we are all overtired with very little time once a little one arrives, so if I could use my skills as a researcher and do this to help others while helping nonhumans, as well, I would.

However, something deeper also inspired me to use my experience as a vegan, scientist, and now mother of two. I want to help parents rise above the dangerous pseudoscience that now abounds on social media, and I want to help give parents the tools they need to raise happy, healthy little vegans.

Is this book only for vegans?

Not at all. This is for anyone that needs a little help with finding the right direction in feeding their babies and toddlers a plant based diet. I read once that a possible reason more parents don’t go vegan or raise their kids vegan is because they genuinely might think that veganism is unhealthy for children. Therefore, one of the aims of this guide is to break down negative preconceived ideas about feeding children plant based diets and help families with young ones take the leap towards embracing a vegan life.

You also illustrated the cover and the images inside. Tell us more about those.

This is part of an illustration that I made of my oldest son and I when he was about 18 months, so it has special meaning to me. I thought that a drawn cover illustration would make the guide more personal and hopefully, depict how much love (I know it sounds tacky, but it’s true!) went into every aspect of creating this guide.

What do you hope to accomplish with this new book?

I hope to break down dietary myths, help parents become more evidence aware, and to reassure them, as well as inspire them to embrace plant based diets for their families as part of a commitment towards veganism.

I purposely made this guide short and to the point because I am well aware that with babies and toddlers, every minute of every day is precious, yet it is filled with evidence based tools to feed babies and toddlers. Above all, it is dietician approved, so you can feel secure about starting your little ones off of their own ethical vegan journey.

How does this book fit in with Sanctuary Publisher’s mission?

I made a commitment to myself to use my artistic abilities to raise the voices of the most marginalized. In addition to helping to guide families towards less harm of other living beings, I am excited to announce that a portion of the money made from guides sold will go towards the amazing, woman of color founded organization, Chilis on Wheels. The organization works hard to feed homeless people and those that need a little help each day.

Thank you for your support and for helping in spreading the word!

Order a copy on Amazon or Vegan Essentials!

Do come say hello on Facebook!