Philanthropic Things You Can Do to Help Animals

Here are some fabulous philanthropic things you can do to help animals.


Garage and Yard Sales

You can find some treasures for your animal local shelter(s) by going to garage and yard sales. Pet and wildlife rescues use baby toys to entertain their animals; blankets and most standard pet supplies (aquariums, cat scratching posts, pet bowls) are always welcome donations. Even throwaways like cardboard boxes and plastic bags are useful for bedding and to pick up waste. You could also hold your own yard sale and donate the profits to your favorite shelter.


Knitting Party!

Shelters constantly need blankets to comfort and warm their animals, but many don’t have the means to provide soft, clean bedding. Hold a knitting party to make blankets (or other warm garments) for a needy shelter. Collect some yarn, fabric, and knitting equipment and gather with friends in a cafe or living room for a relaxed evening of friendly chit-chat or TV viewing while your hands keep busy making blankets.


Make Your Own Cruelty-Free Cosmetics

We all know the horrors of animal testing...but products that don’t test can be expensive and/or hard to find. This applies to items required for basic hygiene--toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant--as well as purely cosmetic beauty aids. To save money, you can have fun making your own cosmetic concoctions with all-natural vegan ingredients available at most health food stores. Recipes for vegan soap, vegan lotion, vegan shampoo, and other vegan necessities are readily available on the Internet, and can be left plain or scented with your own special blend of essential oils.


Build a Backyard Mini-Sanctuary

Depending on your funds and acreage, you could do any number of things to invite wildlife to your backyard. Something as simple as installing a small feeder could prevent birds from going hungry over the winter (make sure to research your favorite birds to learn what foods and feeder types attract them). You could even have a bat house for your sanctuary. If you have the space, plant native shrubs and wildflowers to attract native insects and animals, and install a birdbath or pond to keep animals clean and hydrate. Don't forget to keep cats inside and remove any lawn chemicals and chemical pesticides or your nice new sanctuary will become an animal death trap. 


Have an Animal Themed Fundraiser

Recently for her birthday, actress Doris Day had an auction and tribute dinner to benefit her animal foundation. You can do the same with your upcoming birthday, wedding or any special day. Doris Day’s bash included a doggie fashion show, but if that sort of thing is too gimmicky to fit in your plans, you can simply ask guests to donate to your favorite charity instead of bringing a gift. A menu of tasty vegan entree dishes and snacks would help set the right mood for the occasion!

(source: One Green Planet)

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World

This is a documentary on environmental threats and how Jewish teachings can be applied in responding to these threats.

Produced by Emmy-Award-winning producer, director, writer, and cinematographer Lionel Friedberg's, A Sacred Duty discusses issues on global warming, but it goes beyond that by showing how religious responses can make a major difference and why a shift toward a plant-based diet is an essential part of efforts to reduce global climate change and other environmental threats.

10 Environmental and Animal Activists Who Were Killed for Taking a Stand

Supporting veganism in the face of overwhelming and powerful opposition can be a courageous and sometimes dangerous act. For many activists, unfortunately, taking a stand for what’s right becomes the last thing they ever do.

Between 2002 and 2013, for example, an incredible 908 people in 35 countries were murdered for trying to defend the environment, according to an April 2014 report from Global Witness. During this period only 10 perpetrators were caught and punished for these crimes.

The link below shows just a few committed activists who were killed over the last 25 years fighting for the causes they believed in:

10 Environmental and Animal Activists Who Were Killed for Taking a Stand

Medicine Comes with Four Legs and a Wagging Tail

I found this video showing how animals can make such a huge impact on people that are ill. Some of the best medicine comes with four legs and a wagging tail!

In this video, the dog Roscoe has the incredible ability to give voice to a man with Alzheimer's disease who has lost most of his verbal communication skills. When Roscoe is in the room, the man's ability to speak magically reappears.

According to The Alzheimer's Association, pet therapy dates back to the 1860s, though the positive impact of animals on their guardians wasn't studied in earnest until the 1980s.

Dr. Steve Best Interview: Total Liberation

Dr. Steve Best gives a terrific interview here, and I can't wait until the book, Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century comes out.

Three Cruelty-Free Soaps

I just came back from grocery shopping and bought these 3 cruelty-free soaps.

Unfortunately, the companies that sell the vegan soaps are not vegan companies overall, so be careful, please read the ingredients before purchasing soaps from these companies to make sure it's 100% cruelty-free vegan like the ones above.

"Skinny Bitch" Vegan Chicklit Novels

This is one of the very few vegan novel for adults that I know about. I just got it from my library. It's a chicklit book so it's an easy read.

Synopsis from Amazon:

How bad could a little butter be? Bad enough to get rising culinary star Clementine Cooper blackballed from every vegan kitchen in Los Angeles after a backstabbing coworker sabotages the biggest night of her career. Fortunately, any vegan chef worth her salt knows how to turn lemons into delicious, cruelty-free lemonade cupcakes. Clem launches the Skinny Bitch Cooking School with dreams of opening her own neighborhood café. So she’s livid when sexy millionaire Zach Jeffries puts a fork in her plans with his new steakhouse.

When Zach signs up for her cooking class, however, she’s astonished. He’s far from the simple meathead Clem imagined him to be. In fact, he’s a very good kisser. Clem thought she was open-minded, but as she confronts the challenges of budding entrepreneurship, old rivals, ex-boyfriends, and two tempting suitors—a charming British vegan chef and a traitorously attractive carnivore—Clem wonders if she can ever say “I love you” to a man who hates tofu.

320 pages. Published: June 4, 2013

I just found out now, the author has recently written a second follow-up to that book called...

It comes out in May.

Synopsis from Amazon:

For the second time in just a few short months, Clementine Cooper’s professional reputation hinges on one restaurant review. Clementine’s No Crap Café is poised to score the Holy Grail of publicity—a mention in the New York Times Sunday travel section—if Clem’s veggietastic lasagna can bowl over the food critic.

Clem has no time for distractions. Or surprises. But when her meat-eating millionaire boyfriend Zach Jeffries shocks her with a sweet and romantic marriage proposal, of course she says yes! Now she has to plan the most important menu of her life while fending off her domineering future mother-in-law’s extravagant plans for the wedding.

As if there wasn’t enough on her plate, Clem decides to open a second restaurant on her parents’ farm—Clem’s No Crap Outpost— against Zach’s advice. Just when she needs his support the most, Zach grows distant. The only person who really seems to understand is Clem’s friend and biggest competition, the cute vegan chef Alexander Orr. Putting out fires in the kitchen is easy—but in her relationship? Suddenly, her time with Alexander feels . . . hotter . . . than usual, and Clem starts to wonder if the charming carnivore she’s engaged to is really the man she should spend her life with.

320 pages. Published May 6, 2014

Looks to be two cool light summer reads!