Three Great Opportunities to Celebrate and Inspire Compassionate Living

It's time to discuss our relationship with animals and encourage people to explore alternatives to cruelty. Starting June 6th, Compassion Week will include:

• The Compassion Cafe: An art sale to raise funds for animal sanctuaries in Ontario, plus live jazz music from Larra Skye and storytelling from Caitlin Black
• The Compassion Marketplace: A festival at Wychwood Barns featuring fabulous food, cruelty-free businesses and animal-focused non-profit organizations, special presentations from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Erika Ritter and Vivek Gupta, a workshop from Food Forward, plus the Wychwood Barns Farmers' Market
• Compassion Award: Your chance to nominate an activist doing amazing work for animals in the GTA

How Can You Get Involved?

• RSVP to Compassion Week events on Facebook – Compassion Café, Compassion Marketplace  
  
• Purchase tickets for Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s talk – available by phone at 416-544-9800. 
  
• Bring along your friends and family so they can be inspired to care about animals!
• Nominate someone for a Compassion Award!

Visit www.compassionweek.ca for more details.

Friday marks the beginning of Earth Week, so we've gotta ask: what are you giving up? Our friends at Earth Day Canada are challenging Canadians to help create a healthier world by making changes to their daily routines. Are you ready to try a meat-free diet or green your cleaning routine? Will you put an “out of order” sign on your TV or stop buying stuff? Learn more about what you can do and get signed up to make an impact, right here. 

Veggielicious continues this weekend as more than 20 restaurants across the GTA and even as far as Niagara showcase gourmet food that is good for you, good for the planet and cruelty-free.

Restaurants are offering amazing deals on cruelty-free vegetarian meals so be sure to check out Veggielicious.ca to get full details of what's on special at businesses such as Rawlicious, Sadie's Diner, Magic Oven, Bunners and many, many more!  

Where?  Restaurants across the GTA, as far away as Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton and St. Catharines

When?  April 9-24, 2011

How much? Meal costs vary by restaurant

Help spread the word!  Click here to download and print posters to drop off in your neighbourhood, and to access a link to quickly promote through Facebook and Twitter

Find out more at Veggielicious.ca

Have you heard the news that the Toronto Vegetarian Association has been selected as one of the three finalists in the Green Toronto Awards? Yes, it's true! We're a finalist in the category of Environmental Awareness, as a result of the work that TVA's outreach and Vegetarian Food Fair does to support people in making greener food choices.

Thanks to TVA's generous donors and army of volunteers, more than 100,000 Torontonians were empowered to take steps towards a more sustainable diet in 2010. We know that going vegetarian is one of the most effective ways people can lower their ecological footprint, and now the City of Toronto agrees!

In 2010, we attended 7 environmentally focused events including the Green Living Show, the Halton Eco Festival and Live Green Toronto, where we distributed over 1000 vegetarian fact sheets and over 800 vegetarian starter kits and recipe booklets, and signed up over 200 people for the Veggie Challenge. At our Annual Vegetarian Food Fair, we distributed thousands more and signed up an additional 200 people for the Veggie Challenge. As a result of our new Meatless Mondays program, by the end of 2010, 550 people committed to reducing their meat consumption one day a week.

Recently, volunteers at the York University Health Fair signed up almost 100 people to take the Veggie Challenge in just a single day!

These accomplishments are made possible by the generous donations of members like you and the work of more than 300 volunteers.

On April 15th, the winners will be announced at the Green Toronto Awards ceremony held at the Direct Energy Centre. Wish us luck!

Rock out to help others veg out! This Thursday night, Vegan Rock is back again. Come hear some great live music and sample some tasty vegan treats at this benefit concert for the Toronto Vegetarian Association. The concert will feature local veg artists:

Dream Awake

Hush Money

More Than Breathing

Jacqueline Rendell

Plus, there will be a pay-what-you-can bake sale.

When?

Thursday, March 31st at 9 pm

Where? 

The Boat (158 Augusta Avenue, in Kensington Market)

How Much?

$10, with all proceeds going towards TVA. The baked goods are free but donations are greatly appreciated!

Find out more on Facebook. 

Arbonne Information Session: A Benefit for the Toronto Vegetarian Association

If you’re into skin care and beauty products, you’ve likely heard of Arbonne. Arbonne is a health and wellness company that sells all herbal based products that are paraben free, but best of all, they are vegan certified and their formulas are never tested on animals.

Want to learn more and get your hands on some Arbonne products? Here’s your chance to do just that and support TVA at the same time!

Arbonne Consultant, Susy Bolieiro, will be hosting an Arbonne Information Session where 10% of all sales will go to TVA.

Come out on Saturday, February 26th to see the product lines set up, ask questions about the products, smell, touch and feel the products, and purchase products themselves if you like what you see! Everyone will get a handscrub with Arbonne’s natural aromatherapy line, topped off with fresh hand cream.

Plus, there will be a draw for those interested in trying their luck at winning a basket of Arbonne products worth $100. Raffle tickets will be 25 cents each and the prize will be given away at the end of the session.

Where? Central Eglinton Community Centre, 160 Eglinton Avenue East, in Toronto (enter through the East set of doors with the "Central Eglinton Community Centre" written above)

When? Saturday, February 26 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

Remember! 10% of all sales will be donated to TVA.

Please RSVP if you plan to attend. Click here to RSVP on Facebook, or email Barbi Lazarus.

Click here to find more info about Arbonne.

Enter our poetry contest to win a free vegetarian feast for two at L.A.B Restaurant!

Meatless Mondays and the Toronto Vegetarian Association have teamed up with vegetarian chef Howard Dubrovsky, to create a pairing that is nothing short of poetic.  L.A.B. restaurant, which is normally closed Mondays, will open up just in honour of Meatless Mondays and become a vegetarian restaurant for the day, with a special vegetarian Valentine's fixed price menu created by Howard.  All you need to do is write your best veggie-friendly love poem and you could win a green feast at L.A.B. Restaurant on Valentine’s Day! Plus, a random draw will be done for the runner-up prize.

The rules are simple.

Draft your winning poem and visit meatlessmondays.ca/veggievalentine to enter. All you need to enter is your name, your email and your poem.

The deadline to enter is February 4th and the winners will be announced on February 11th.

Click here to enter the contest now!

P.S Want to secure your place for dinner just in case you don’t win? Call the TVA office at 416-544-9800 to make a reservation for L.A.B Restaurant's special Veggie Valentine's fixed price menu. Dishes and price to be announced shortly. Note: Seating is limited. Reservations may be made for 7 pm and 9 pm on February 14th and must be made by February 10th.