From shopping compassionately to cooking delicious vegan meals for friends, acting to help animals is easy and fun!
Ditch the Yankees tee and sport an
animal-friendly message instead! Use your trip to the store, the ball game, or anywhere else to proudly express pro-animal messages.
Stuck in a jam? Give drivers something to read besides your license plate. Make that drive to work count: Put a
bumper sticker (more than two is too many) on your car.
Take
literature
with you wherever you go and leave it everywhere—at the Laundromat, in
waiting rooms, on the bus, or in dressing rooms, bookstores, coffee
shops, and grocery stores. Never pass a bulletin board without tacking
up a leaflet or poster. How much easier can it get?
Engage in
button and sticker activism. Wear compassion on your sleeve (or backpack
or hat). It's amazing how effective simple activities (like
strategically placing a PETA
sticker or
button
on your jacket or backpack) can be. Quick and easy actions like these
can help you get your message to dozens of people every day. You'll be
amazed by the conversations that one little button or sticker can start!
It's also a great way to meet like-minded people.
Make your
refrigerator into a billboard for animals. Magnets, posters, and
stickers are always great things to put in the kitchen, especially if
yours is often visited by nonvegans.
Set up an information table. A great way to reach a large number of
people is to set up an information table in a busy area of your town
(try the local mall, concert venues, street and craft fairs, middle
schools, high schools, colleges, etc., and be sure to get permission).
Stock your table with fliers and factsheets, and get ready to amaze and
educate passersby! Check out our
guide to tabling.
Donate animal rights DVDs to your local video rental store. Order one or more of PETA's compelling and informative
DVDs about animal rights and donate them to the documentary section.
Ask
your library to order animal-friendly books. Libraries are always
looking for books and other materials that appeal to the needs and
interests of their patrons, so let them know that animal rights issues
are important to you! Ask your librarian to order a few of your favorite
books on animal rights and a few vegan cookbooks. We'll send out our
books to libraries for free—just ask the librarian to write us a letter
on library letterhead to receive PETA's free library pack of books,
videos, factsheets, and colorful display boards. Requests can be sent
to: PETA's Library Pack, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510. The more
readily accessible books on animal rights are, the more animals will
benefit.
Make a library display. Public libraries usually have
prominently placed display cases that members can use to educate others
about issues that concern them. A display with a collage or poster, some
leaflets, and appropriate books from the library is sure to get
attention!
Plan a demonstration. Organizing a demonstration is a
great way to help animals, and it's not as scary or difficult as it may
sound. In fact, demonstrations can involve as little as passing out
leaflets and holding posters. PETA has all the
information that you'll need to hold a successful demonstration.
Promote
animal rights on cable-access TV. Expose thousands of people to the
plight of animals on factory and fur farms, in laboratories, and in
circuses by organizing your own cable-access television show. It's easy,
and we can supply you with all the information and tapes that you'll
need for free! E-mail
ActionTeam@peta.org for more info.
Use your connections. Members of local organizations can talk to
their clubs about offering vegan meals at all functions. Church members
can speak with pastors about vegan options at church dinners and
fundraisers. Be sure to write letters on animal rights issues to the
editors of all magazines that you subscribe to. Actions like these will
take very little time but make a big difference for animals.
Host
a vegan dinner party. Many people would like to try veganism but just
don't know what to eat. We can't think of a better way to promote
compassion than by showing your officemates, ball club, or nonvegan
friends just how exciting vegan dining can be. Your humane fare is sure
to be the talk of the next office party. Not sure what to make? Check
out PETA's
vegan recipes for some great ideas.
Teach
a college or community education course on animal rights or living a
cruelty-free lifestyle. This will allow you to reach countless people
who read the catalog, as well as everyone who signs up for the class.
Most communities have alternative colleges or community education
programs through which you can sign up to teach a course.
Sponsor
a speaker (or arrange to give a talk yourself!). Sponsoring a speaker
or giving a talk is easier than it sounds, and it's very effective. Many
local schools, universities, and civic clubs will host speeches on
animal rights.
Contact us to
find out if we have a contact at the venue that you're considering. We
can also provide you with ideas for possible speakers and information on
becoming a speaker yourself.
Place our
banners
on your blog or Web site. Encourage your friends to do likewise. You
can also include a link to an animal rights Web site in your e-mail
signature.
Find free advertising space. Many billboard
companies, bus shelter advertisers, and even newspapers and magazines
will donate unused space to nonprofit organizations. A bit of time on
the phone to your local advertising representatives can help reach
thousands. Call around and chat with advertising people to find out
what's available in your town, and we'll help you place our various
vegetarian ads.
We need your help! If you come across any
articles or letters in your local publications that are written by PETA,
please let us know. You can mail them to PETA, Attn.: Action Team
Coordinator, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510, or send the details to
ActionTeam@peta.org. Include the publication, date, and topic of the piece. Thank you!
Volunteering in your community is a great way to spread the word
about animal rights. Volunteer at your local animal shelter—most animal
shelters welcome volunteers who can help walk dogs, clean cages, and
dole out love and attention to needy animals. Walk your neighbor's
dog—all dogs deserve exercise and attention, so be a friend to a lonely
neighborhood dog.
Cook vegan meals for a local soup kitchen or for someone you know who
is stuck at home. Help build doghouses for chained backyard dogs in
your community, and include dry straw for bedding.
Enlist the
help of a local wildlife rescuer to stop cruel trapping or drowning of animals in your community.
Hold a weekly volunteer work party to write letters, help out at an
animal shelter, or make banners or signs for a demonstration. And show
animal rights videos every chance you get.
Set up an information table during community events and
gatherings—anywhere that there are people to talk to about animal
rights. Or stand on a busy street corner and pass out free PETA
literature to passersby. We'll send you everything that you need and
give you tons of great tips and talking points.
We are always looking for passionate, hardworking people to join our
team at PETA. You can get paid to make a difference by working for
animals. Or, as an
intern, among other things, you can get the animal rights message to local, national, and international media.
Apply to work at PETA today.
