On the Difficulties of Volunteering
I want to share two personal stories of my attempts at getting the voice of my beliefs heard within organizations that don’t necessarily address my beliefs. My intention is to use my stories and the issues that arise in them as an entree to your experiences and what you learned from them.
First, as I commented on Deb’s “Wide-angle View of Animal Rights,” I volunteered at a sea turtle rehabilitation center where I was effectively prohibited from publicly voicing my opinion about sea turtle devastation that is caused by humans. The very, very obvious conclusion when you hear the litany of ways humans harm sea turtles is to go vegan – for starters. But the more diluted and human-friendly your message is, the fewer people you stand the chance of offending, and people represent dollars. People are donors.
At the rehab center, visitors stare at the direct consequence of human action, and it would make sense to me that this would be a perfect opportunity for substantial education about the impact of the choices of individuals on Planet Earth and its inhabitants. What was permitted was listing the human-based dangers to sea turtles, but no editorializing or conclusion-making was allowed.
Because this was a dicey situation for me as I was friends with the Executive Director, I bowed out diplomatically, saying that my beliefs about our relationship with Earth and animals were not supported by some of the work, and most of the rhetoric of the organization. They do some great work, no doubt, but my hands were tied; I was not permitted to be a vegan voice and I believed the turtles needed and deserved that voice. Maybe my thinking is faulty, but in my mind if I can’t even try to make the difference I want to make, my time is better spent elsewhere.
The other story comes out of eight years of volunteering for an organization that served at-risk youth and was my introduction to food injustice. The short version of the story is that when you look at the grocery store receipts for the program participants and compare them with, say, receipts for groceries intended for donor dinners or board events, you find a dramatic difference. The program participants were bought all varieties of inexpensive, unhealthy food, while the board members and donors were treated to all manner of organic produce, expensive cheeses and exotic animal products. And though I understand why donors were treated the way they were from a fundraising perspective (though not from a cost-efficiency one), what does the cost-allocation say about the program participants?
And though the program had a health (including nutrition) component to it, that component wasn’t supported by the purchases, and I’m not sure if it was even taken seriously. Why? Because the young people, I was told, have enough to worry about and proper food choices aren’t high on their list of concerns. But in my mind that’s a failure of the program, because they should have gotten a different message if the health component was done well.
What I found occurs in similar organizations, as well, is that they operate under a triage model, where nutrition simply isn’t a priority. And the result of that is the at-least-they’re-getting-something-to-eat mentality. But that’s not fair to them.
The importance of birth control and safe sex are emphasized, and there’s a strong anti-drug message in all of the programs I examined. But eating is something they’ll all hope to do every day for the rest of their lives, yet the food and financial choices around food aren’t given the priority status they deserve.
Anyone have similar experiences?
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
Regarding the at-risk youth, it is especially baffling that they would treat nutrition as a low priority, considering the huge (and documented) impact that nutrition has on a range of things (energy, concentration, memory, etc) that can have long-reaching implications. Not helping kids eat nutritiously means they’re more likely to do worse in school, which means they’ll be more likely to be stuck in jobs that have them struggling financially. And then the health problems…just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, especially when healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive at all! Kelly had a series of great posts about being a frugal vegan during VeganMoFo at easyvegan, and there’s lots of other resources along those lines as well.
I’ve never worked with animal shelters, but we’re always hearing about how they feed people animals during fund-raiser dinners, and are very resistant to examining the mixed message they are sending by doing so.
My experience is on the opposite end, with the sanctuary (Poplar Spring, and I imagine most sanctuaries have similar lines they draw) not allowing anyone to bring animal products (in food form; addressing what people wear is more complicated for a casual visitor to the sanctuary). There are occasional times when people haven’t realized or didn’t pay attention, and the resulting explanation of why, exactly, they can’t eat their chicken sandwich at the sanctuary has probably opened eyes very widely, as they are faced with the message in living color.
As you said, it is the perfect opportunity to get the message across. And I can’t imagine what message would be sent if the sanctuary didn’t draw this line for their visitors. (Most visitors and donors, by the way, are omnis, so there is a lot of potential for outreach with the visitors.)
We’re the same way at Animal Place. No animal products allowed. People get it too, and hopefully they’ll get that they can continue with the logic and reduce or eliminate animal products at home.
In theory, nutrition doesn’t appear to be that low, as it is given attention in program design. But implementation is apparently a different story. The documentation (grocery receipts) speaks to that (as do contents of refrigerators).
Regarding fundraisers, during “season” down here there is a week that I spend writing letters to animal groups regarding their annual event, where animals are served. Like seafood at the turtle rehab center. No joke. And of course dog and cat events serve high-end animal products and get much of the high-end crowd.
As a volunteer, the worst moments were when we’d feed the turtles lobster or shrimp and the visitors–and volunteers–would joke about sharing the food and what kind of sauce they’d dip the “meat” into.
I like the Poplar strategy of no animal food. I wish more groups that have animals as their primary clients would present a more consistent message.
I’ve generally volunteered for dog and cat facilities, but all have rescued farmed animals. The disconnect is startling. While staff ended up supportive of my choices and always had vegan options at events, there wasn’t a realization that the chickens and lambs rescued from cruelty cases are no different than the ones they were eating.
Frustratingly, trying to implement policy change at animal shelters, even the most progressive, is difficult. Look at the Humane Society of Missouri. They run a farmed animal sanctuary and adoption center. And their fundraising for the farmed animal adoption center involved having a horse polo event and raffling off a bbq dinner for four. There’s also Lollypop farm in New York – none of their events are vegetarian, let alone vegan, yet they rescue the same animals they serve at their functions. Most humane societies and spcas do not have vegetarian menu policies even though a) the public gets it (don’t serve who you save); b) it’s easy to implement and c) it properly aligns your rescue ethics with your actions.
I think it would probably be easier to create a paradigm shift with human-related programs from a health perspective than to create a paradigm shift with most animal-related programs from a compassionate point of view. That’s sad.
I used to volunteer at a thrift store run by a group that advocated for animals – both “food” and pet species – that was all about paper towels and disposable everything. When I pointed out that it was causing a lot o waste that could be easily avoided, I got some lecture about how they’re saving the animals, not the environment. It bothered me, but I continued to volunteer with them.
Maybe a week or two later, they asked me to run their sidewalk vegan hot dog stand for a few hours after one of the employees called in sick. After a couple hours I idly started reading ingredients. There was milk in the buns. I mentioned that to whoever was in charge when they relieved me at the end of the day. They weren’t concerned because it was just a little milk. I did not volunteer with them again.
A group’s ability to effect change in this area might also be limited by its focus and resources. For example, educating clientele about nutrition is a good start, but won’t have much of an impact if there aren’t any grocery stores serving the immediate area. Aside from lobbying the local government (e.g., to offer incentives to grocers who set up shop in the area; for better school lunch options), how can you (i.e., groups for at-risk youths and similar) provide better access to healthy foods, and on a regular, sustainable basis?
Of course, most of the people working/volunteering with these groups consume meat themselves, and see nothing wrong/unhealthy/unjust about a diet based on animal flesh and secretions. So, there’s that.
The more I read these stories and reflect on my own experiences, the more I am of the impression that these kinds of organizations need a communications specialist. By that I mean someone – likely an empathic someone – with either advanced training in the actual art of communication or perhaps a therapist/psychologist who can help people recognize the importance of diverse coalitions and honoring everyone’s needs and views. If you had someone on staff at one of these organizations who was truly gifted in dissecting words, intentions, and meaning, as well as facilitating constructive communication, don’t you think they’d have more long-term, energized volunteers?
I’m thinking that Food Not Bombs http://www.foodnotbombs.net/ might be a good place to go. There is one near me, but not operating currently. But there is one about 20 miles south and it would seem to me that they’d be a great partner for nonprofits who have a health component to their programs.
I used to volunteer with a cat rescue group run by someone employed by a large welfarist animal sanctuary, so yeah… we got in some interesting/frustrating discussions. Years & years ago, looking for my first post-college job, I had a job interview at the ASPCA & someone at their office mentioned that not infrequently board members would wear fur to fundraising dinners!
But what struck me most about this post (& the comments) was that more often I don’t even get to the point of finding out about these inconsistencies regarding animals. So often people who claim to advocate for animals (even those whose animal politics I do agree w/) end up alienating me right from the start as a non-white person. Or as a female. We don’t even get to debating the nitty-gritty of tactics because they are making it clear that I’m not welcome (or I’m only welcome if I shed anything that puts me outside white male straight etc. identity).
Wow, the fur thing is sort of incomprehensible. I know in the most important way it’s the same as leather, but society says they’re different and that there is definitely a controversy around fur (but not around leather) and that people who claim to love animals don’t wear fur.
They make it clear you’re not welcome? I remember the first time I read “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” I was amazed by all of the things I don’t think about and don’t affect me or are easier than they could be simply because of the color of my skin. I thought: I’m one of those people who some might call “white elitist” and I know it’s an insult and I have no idea what I’m doing to put myself in that category.
How about writing a post here at Animal Rights & Anti-Oppression, or a dialogue with yours truly? Pretty please?
Hi Mary — sorry for the delay in reply.
Being logged in as a WordPress user confuses me — if I leave a comment w/a username registered to a blog, shouldn’t it show up as linked to my name? Augh! Anyway — I started the Vegans of Color blog, & there are a lot of posts there from myself & the other bloggers about how white vegans often alienate POCs. There are also resources listed for people wanting to educate themselves more about race.
Thanks johanna.