barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf
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“Children pick up what is around<br />
them. They learn by watching. If<br />
we want our kids to be kind<br />
people, they have to see people<br />
being kind.”<br />
Tell us about your <strong>vegan</strong> journey…<br />
My sister was given a baby chick for Easter in her school.<br />
We took care of this baby chick and he grew into an<br />
amazing rooster who came when called, who liked to<br />
cuddle, who was a member of our family. Piolín (Spanish<br />
word for Tweety Bird) changed the way I thought about<br />
food, and he started me on the path of <strong>vegan</strong>ism. As I<br />
became an activist later and helped some people transition<br />
to <strong>vegan</strong>ism, and as I raise my son <strong>vegan</strong>, I think about all<br />
the animals this one particular rooster saved, and it is sort<br />
of amazing how powerful love can be. The love that he<br />
showed me changed me, and has allowed me to change<br />
others.<br />
What was it about the plight of the homeless<br />
in particular that spurred you into setting up<br />
Chilis On Wheels?<br />
In the beginning, our work did not have a name. I wanted<br />
my son, Ollie, who is four years old, to experience<br />
volunteer work with people. We are always talking about<br />
<strong>vegan</strong>ism and the plight of animals, and I realised that he<br />
needed to understand the plight of people too. I wanted<br />
him to know about building community and helping one<br />
another, because we too are animals, and my definition of<br />
Click here to watch a<br />
video of Ollie talking<br />
about Chilis On Wheels.<br />
90 | BarefootVegan<br />
<strong>vegan</strong>ism includes compassion for everyone. There are<br />
no <strong>vegan</strong> soup kitchens in NYC, so we decided to make<br />
the food ourselves and distribute it. After that initial<br />
outing, in the winter, seeing people shiver, seeing people<br />
eat very fast because they were hungry, I could not<br />
ignore it again. And I committed myself to doing it more<br />
often, and more often, and right now we operate weekly,<br />
but that still does not seem like enough.<br />
Have there been any challenges that you’ve<br />
had to overcome in setting the charity up?<br />
We have run out of room in my kitchen and so we can<br />
only make 100-200 chili a week. We are trying to look for<br />
a rent-free kitchen in churches or community centres, so<br />
that we can serve more people in need, but we have not<br />
had any luck so far.<br />
What has been the highlight since you’ve<br />
launched?<br />
The highlight is always the people. As we kept returning,<br />
people started getting to know us. Some call us “The<br />
Chili Ladies” or “The Chili Group” and some share little<br />
bits of their story, and that is always the highlight, it’s<br />
what keeps me going.<br />
We met Chris, who is a young Rastafarian. He is a<br />
vegetarian, and he finds it really hard to find options in<br />
the soup kitchens. He has such a positive attitude, and<br />
he always smiles when he sees us. The first time that we<br />
met him, he said he had read about us in the paper. I felt<br />
like a star!<br />
We have also met Matthew who receives a big bag of<br />
leftover bread from a bakery and who takes it back to the<br />
park to distribute among his friends. He also always has<br />
an inner shine and his presence enthrals you.<br />
We have met Jesus, who begs us to keep coming back<br />
because “people are hurting”. And we have met Esi Grant<br />
who had just come out of the hospital and who recited a<br />
poem for us. You can find it on our website’s blog.<br />
We also love our volunteers, Veganteers as we call them,<br />
some of whom have become an extended part of our<br />
family. The teenagers from Edward Murrow High School