Our mission to provide one million plant-based meals continues as we support underserved communities, as well as showcasing vegan food to the wider world. This month we donated meals in Mexico, the USA, Germany and Spain.
Supporting Hospital Visitors in Mexico
During April, we joined the Adventist Church in Playa del Carmen to deliver 200 meals every Tuesday to people waiting in the streets to see their ill relatives in hospital. The church and its volunteers have been delivering meals here since the pandemic started, but this is the first time they delivered vegan meals.
New vegan business, Canek, supplied tortas, made with soy milanesas and avocado, tomato, lettuce and vegan mayonnaise. Luz, the owner and animal activist said: “It was lovely to participate with Million Dollar Vegan and be part of this action. With every meal, we are sharing important information and I am sure we are touching hearts and minds because the truth and justice cannot be hidden. Veganism is for everyone. Let’s reflect on what habits we can change for a just and compassionate world.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Thanking Healthcare Workers in Iowa
This month, we also gave 120 people in Iowa the opportunity to see just how amazing vegan food can be by handing out BBQ Chick*n Nachos to teams of health workers at a public medical center in Des Moines. The staff have been working hard throughout the pandemic, seeing patients both in the field and at their office.
Alongside the food, we shared information on how choosing vegan can protect our health, and the health of our loved ones. We received lots of great feedback and even questions about how to make jackfruit nachos at home!
Our deepest thanks to VegLife Des Moines who coordinated the action and to Veggie Thumper, the coolest vegan food truck around.
A Big Thank You to Medical Workers in Hamburg
This month we coordinated our first give-away in Germany, and took the opportunity to thank the medical workers at Kath. Marienkrankenhaus in Hamburg. We partnered with local vegan burger chain Vincent Vegan so that we might also support a vegan business that has been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.
Alongside the amazing burgers, we gave out brochures which allowed us to share information about the links between pathogens emerging from animals that can be transmitted to humans and our food system.
Topias Rohde, Managing Director of Vincent Vegan, was delighted to support this action: “We at Vincent Vegan are very happy to be able to give something positive to the people in the hospital thanks to this great campaign together with MDV. The fact that a few hundred people are eating our vegan burgers today means a lot to us in these particularly challenging times. We haven’t been able to do what we want to do for many months – make people happy with our food and show that vegan food doesn’t have to be a sacrifice, but that it can be honest, hearty and incredibly delicious! We are grateful for the opportunity and totally happy to be a part of the action!”
But perhaps the best feedback came from the recipients themselves. One person told us: “this is the best burger I’ve ever tried, much better than meat burgers!”
With thanks to Simon Heydorn Photography.
Celebrating Earth Day with Doughnuts in Madrid
At Million Dollar Vegan, we don’t just provide food to underserved communities; we like to educate the wider world about vegan food by showcasing just how delicious and familiar it can be. And so to celebrate Earth Day, we partnered with three cafes across Madrid to provide 1,500 doughnuts free of charge. Visitors to the cafe were able to choose from vanilla, chocolate and caramelized peanut, cream-filled glazed, seasonal jam-filled, and lime and basil flavours, while they also picked up some information on the many benefits of choosing plant-based foods.
Sandra Cárdaba Segovia from Bite Me Cafe, said: “We joined this initiative because we thought it was a super cool way to raise the visibility of veganism’s accessibility to anyone.”
For Enriqueta Gilabert Santamaría from Vegamazing Donuts, “the commitment to the earth and all forms of life that live on it makes us better people every day. We’re delighted to participate in this event.”
Sainza Rego Otero from Delish Vegan Doughnuts told us: “Earth day, every day! Opting for a vegan lifestyle, not only do we help end the suffering of millions of animals but also minimize our footprint on the environment.”
Seaspiracy Screening in Playa Del Carmen
Our educational work continued with a screening of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy at vegan community center, Casa Animal in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. And while they were there, the visitors were treated to delicious free vegan pizza, made by Jonny Como Pizza. If you haven’t seen Seaspiracy yet, we highly recommend it. It is so moving that many of the attendees became tearful and vowed there and then to stop eating sea life.
Thank you to the volunteers who help make our food give-aways such a success. And doesn’t that pizza look amazing?
