For the past several months, RAVS has been busy and thriving.

At our February meeting, dietitian and RAVS member Allyson Prace talked to us about the practical and social challenges of being vegetarian. We hope to bring back Allyson soon to be peppered with nutritional questions.

Our March meeting featured a lively panel of organic produce suppliers: Jack and Steve Porter of Porter Farms, Elizabeth Henderson of Genesee Valley Organic CSA, Deb Denome of Seeking Common Ground, and Suzanne Morgan of the Genesee Cooperative Food Store. We are grateful to these people for urging us to save our health and the planet by eating organic--and equally grateful to them for growing and distributing organic veggies.

Our April meeting was the 8th Annual Peter Berg Memorial Dinner, co-sponsored by Animal Advocates of Upstate New York and featuring a slide show of Peter Berg's paintings and a lecture by vegan author Erik Marcus. More than ninety people enjoyed this program followed by a vegan Chinese banquet at the Shanghai Restaurant. Our heartfelt thanks to Peter's parents, Bern and Flora Berg, for organizing and hosting this event, which gives us a chance to honor Peter's memory and to advance the causes of vegetarianism and animal compassion which he cared about so deeply.

For several months running, membership in RAVS has been growing and attendance at meetings has been high. Welcome to all members and guests--old, new, and prospective. Together we can enjoy being vegetarian and take our message to more and more people in the community.

We've had a flurry of recent outreach activities. On the first day of spring, we celebrated the Great American Meatout with tables at three locations: the Genesee Coop, staffed by Felicity Brach, Kathy Covley, Beth Hall, and Greg Lattanzio, with the help of Jon Greenbaum and Sue Morgan; at Lori's Natural Foods, staffed by Kim Gorall, Cheryl Paine-O'Connor, and Allyson Prace; and at the Marketplace Wegmans, staffed by Jo Ann Arcarese, Leena Isac, and Lynne Smith with her baby Willow.

For Earth Day, Leena Isac staffed a table at the University of Rochester; Kim Gorall along with Jo Ann Arcarese, Felicity Brach, Kathy Caldwell, and Leena Isac distributed vegetarian literature while representing Animal Advocates at a Xerox event. Carol Barnett staffed Wellness Fairs at Bay Knoll Seventh Day Adventist Church, and at SUNY Brockport with Honey Bloch. The Barnetts, along with Lyn and Ron Klement (who volunteer regularly at Farm Sanctuary) and Kim Gorall, distributed literature at Farm Sanctuary's Race for the Animals, in which Ted Barnett finished the 5-mile race with a good time but, alas, without a medal. Thanks, as always, to Judy Dillon for keeping us supplied with vegetarian literature and delivering it as needed. She is vital to our outreach efforts.

Happy spring and summer to us all, and viva veggie!