studentanimalrightsalliance's Xanga

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Wed, 18 May 2005 13:20:01 GMT

Please forward as appropriate! Thank you!!

Announcement of Job Opening: Student Animal Rights Alliance Executive Director

Founded in 2001, the Student Animal Rights Alliance (http://www.defendanimals.org) is a small, independent 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization dedicated to youth mobilization, education, and leadership development to build a strong & diverse youth movement for animal protection.

Approaching its fifth anniversary, the Student Animal Rights Alliance's (SARA) national network includes thousands of young activists from over 600 schools across the country.

SARA works to support the growth and development of young organizers and student groups in the animal protection movement by empowering young animal advocates with the skills, knowledge, and support necessary to organize in their schools and communities. Some of our programs include the "Liberation Now!" national student conference, "Demand Liberation" regional student action conferences, Grassroots Training Program for youth leadership development, and "Get On The Hill" legislative skills training and lobby day.

We are offering an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and enthusiastic Executive Director to lead the Student Animal Rights Alliance to the next level of its growth by planning, organizing, and implementing all aspects of the organization's education, mobilization, development efforts.

The Executive Director will have the choice to work from and base the organization out of the following cities: New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; or Washington, DC.

Deadline to apply is June 30, 2005.

Primary Responsibilities include:

I. Program Management

- Recruit and support volunteers and interns to support all program activities.
- Organize all trainings, conferences, and other program activities as directed.
- Involve supporters and advisors in the design and implementation of programs.
- Develop resources and materials, and provide support to individual organizers as needed.
- Grow the Student Animal Rights Alliance's national action network with a vision for diversity.

II. Fundraising & Development

- Develop and implement a fundraising plan and action calendar to meet the organization's needs.
- Build and strengthen relationships with supporters and prospects.
- Engage board members and volunteers in fundraising and development activities.
- Build a diverse base of financial support from nonprofit organizations, foundations, individuals, and other earned income opportunities to sustain and develop SARA's programs and activities.

III. Organizational

- Work in partnership with national animal protection organizations to proactively involve youth in the movement.
- Raise awareness of SARA and youth activism in the movement and public, youth, campus, and movement media outlets.

Qualifications:

- Thorough knowledge of organizing principles and extensive experience in activism and organizing.
- Strong event organizing experience.
- Outgoing and personable personality with exceptional communication skills.
- Possession of a "Can Do!" attitude and " Do Whatever Necessary" dedication.
- Ability to take initiative and work independently.
- Ability to represent the organization in a friendly, professional manner.
- Thorough knowledge of all animal rights issues.
- Knowledge of animal protection movement, organizations, campaigns, and trends.
- Basic computer, typing, and word processing skills.
- Willingness and ability to travel extensively.
- Commitment to animal rights, veganism, and other social justice issues.
- Sense of humor. =O)

To Apply:

Please send a résumé, cover letter, and phone numbers of at least two references to the attention of Patrick Kwan at pkwan@defendanimals.org. No calls or postal applications please. Position open until filled. APPLICATIONS ARE ONLY ACCEPTED BY EMAIL.
Deadline to apply is June 30, 2005.

Student Animal Rights Alliance

Friday, April 29, 2005

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 09:13:05 GMT

Hey! Sorry that this blog has been updated for a while. We're still catching our breath after our cross-country tour that landed us all over the country, and we're working on unveiling our new website, you can get a sneak preview here: http://www.defendanimals.org/newphp/indextest2.php

Oh! Our dear friends Kevin and Beth in Philly sent us a bunch of super rad pics from the KFC demo during the Philly Demand Liberation conference!!!! Check them out here!!

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:52:02 GMT

Sorry that these pics took so long. Here they are! Thank you folks in Minneapolis so much for an absolutely incredible weekend!

Here are some feedback we received. Aren't they sweet? Awwww....

"Over the course of the weekend I really learned a lot. I learned a lot about what I could be doing and how to do things the right way. This weekend was not only informative and helpful but it was funny."

"The people who come to this are the kind of people you want to meet. The speeches made empower you to take action if you haven’t already."

"Wow. This was so helpful and rather inspiring – impressive."

"Overall this was such a fantastic experience. It was amazing to come together with people who share the same concerns and desire to make a difference. I feel that several people have become my support base. My greatest thanks for this opportunity!"

"I have been to many conferences regarding youth activities and volunteering. This was by far the best: informative, interesting, and personal. A wide variety of topics was covered, the speakers were excellent, and the activities were fun. Also, the food was delicious."

"Informative, entertaining, memorable, and effective! Thanks!"

We took a pic of the other side of the classroom too, but it didn't come out.

Hooray for stickers!!!

Dear Evil KFC Colonel,

You Know, with your lies, PR games, evilness, and of course torture and abuse of millions of chickens, we'd never thought we'd actually find common ground with you. Seeing that you've placed a "Do Not Enter" sign at your KFC murderhouse in Minneapolis really warmed our hearts. We're so thrilled to finally find something we'd agree with you on!!! Perhaps now, you've finally found it in your heart to actually listen to your own animal welfare advisory committee and implement the basic animal welfare improvements for the millions of chickens you torture and slaughter each year?

Anyhow, you really, really should go national with your "Do Not Enter" sign campaign and place it at all your pathetic KFC stores. In the mean time, we're happy to help you by rawking at your stores with our "KFC Tortures Chickens" and "Boycott KFC" signs!!

For the animals,

Student Animal Rights Alliance

Hehe.

Thanks so much y'all!!! This wraps up our Demand Liberation regional student animal rights action conferences for this school year! Thank you for everything you do for the animals!!!

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 21:09:35 GMT

Hey! We're in Minneapolis right now! Yay!

Here are some pics, we will add more tomorrow with more details and stuff.

Just wanted to add some pics right now before running back to workshops!!!

Yay food!!!!

Vegan Arm Wrestling!!!!!

Who wants to wrestle when you can just ATTACK?!?!?!

Free stuff!!!!

More pics tomorrow!

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:16:28 GMT

Hey! A few more pics from Texas as promised!

Here are some feedback we received (We love Texas too! ):

The program has been great!! The speakers have been very informative; I’m looking forward to starting a group on my college campus.

Conference was well organized, easy to plug in, fun atmosphere, great food.

Very specific, good information. Well organized. Good speaking, engaging…I felt I learned some great new skills.

I found the conference to be very insightful. They were able to touch base on some really important issues. Everybody had a lot of energy and made going over the issues more fun and friendly.

I am so completely appreciative of this overall experience. I can’t thank you enough.

All of these segments were very informative. I can use them in my day to day life, and plan to incorporate them in my activism.

I really enjoyed all the unbelievably useful information.

Super! I like that it was community as well as school-based.

This was my first animal rights conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I found all the info was very useful. I’m excited to go home and organize activities in my community!

Amazing value ($10?! whoa!)

And now, getting ready for the Demand Liberation regional student action conference in Minneapolis! Yay!

Monday, February 14, 2005

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 07:27:27 GMT

HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY!!!!

It's 3AM in NYC. Just got back from the Austin, TX conference, just wanted to put up some pics from the first day of conference. More pics and details to come!!!! Can't wait till the Minneapolis conference this weekend! See you there?

Yummy, yummy, yummy vegan food!!!!

hmmmmmmm...........vegans make weird faces.

awww....happy face. more pics and details tomorrow(-ish)!!!!

Monday, February 07, 2005

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:03:41 GMT

Here are more pics from the Demand Liberation in Gainesville, FL. It totally rawked!

Our demonstration against KFC's torture and abuse of chickens made it on the WCJB - Channel 20 news in Gainesville, FL - it was a great piece around 15/20 seconds that raised awareness of thousands and thousands of folks about KFC's horrific cruelty towards animals and what animal advocates are doing about it! YAY! GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

Ok, here are the pics (and some super sweet reviews from the conference - we love you too! ) from the second and final day of the conference! We are totally looking forward to going to Austin, TX this weekend and Minneapolis, MN the week after! (If you haven't registered for those conferences already, please do so now - it's only $10 now, but it will jump to $20 bucks later! Register at http://www.DemandLiberation.com!)

"Great experience! Thanks for all the good tips on how to become a better activist! It got me very pumped up!"

"Yey! Great Food, Great People, Great Resources!"

"Lots of fun and informing!"

"Engaging and entertaining – lots of info."

"I feel like I could motivate the world to get active for animals."

"Great ideas for organizing events, it doesn’t seem like such a hard thing to organize my campus to get involved."

"Very heartwarming, connecting."

"Absolutely fabulous darling!"

The shirt says "Powered by Tofu" - how cute! Made by the folks from Orlando!

Yummy, yummy vegan food. Thanks soooooo much to Chas Chiodo for catering our conference!

Hanging out during lunch.

Yay! Group photo!

Photos from demo against KFC cruelty!

Nuff said!

Even if you can't make it to Austin, TX or Minneapolis, MN for the next Demand Liberation regional student animal rights action conferences, you can definitely still HELP US spread the word! For some ideas, check out http://www.DemandLiberation.com , click on the city and then "Help Us." Thanks!

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 01:48:00 GMT

Hey! We had so much fun today in Gainesville, FL for the first day of the Demand Liberation regional student action conference down here. (We'll be in Austin, TX and then Minneapolis, MN next!)

We thought Florida would be nice, warm, and sunny. But it was actually sorta chilly and windy - it's 46 degrees right now.

Burrrr!

But anyhow, here are some pictures from the conference today. We'll take more pictures tomorrow!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:55:29 GMT

"What kind of movement will we have if we do not invest in the young animal advocates who will later become the ethicists, vets, teachers, artists, doctors, media experts, and academics?" - Andrew Linzey, in The Animals' Agenda Nov/Dec 2000

A very generous donor of the Student Animal Rights Alliance who attended our very first "Liberation Now!" national student animal rights conference in 2002 when he was in college (an alum!) has created a $5,000 matching challenge grant to support the Student Animal Rights Alliance.

We need YOUR help to meet this challenge grant! In order for us to get the $5,000 donation in support of SARA's youth mobilization, education, and leadership development efforts, we must raise a total of $5,000 from you and other SARA supporters by March 31st, 2005 - this deadline has been generously extended by the donor.

Every dollar, up to $5,000, you contribute to SARA, will be matched by our anonymous donor. In other words, if you donate $15, SARA will receive a total of $30! This is a great time to show your support for the Student Animal Rights Alliance's work to build a strong and diverse youth movement for animals! Please make as generous of a donation as you can right now!

In addition, the donor has earmarked a portion of the donation to create an Action Fund for student groups to apply for funding through SARA to support organizing efforts at their schools. Your generous donation will help create this fund and make a world of difference! Thank you!

All of the Student Animal Rights Alliance's youth mobilization efforts are made possible by the generous contributions of our supporters like you.

Now is the best time to make a donation to support the Student Animal Rights Alliance! We need your support to continue our programs throughout the rest of the school year! Please make an online donation now via Paypal to support our work to build a strong & diverse youth movement for animals!

You can join the Student Animal Rights Alliance as a supporting member for just $15. And all donations in any and all amounts are greatly needed and appreciated!

Student Animal Rights Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.

http://www.defendanimals.org/support.htm

Thank you so much for your support of our work!!!!

Friday, January 28, 2005

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 01:14:07 GMT

Hey! Sorry that it's been so long since we've updated our blog. We took some time off after our events in California, Boston, and Philly, and everything's been quite crazy!

We just updated our awards, scholarships, contests, and fellowships listings, check them out at http://www.defendanimals.org/involved/awards.htm

We took out our calculator and the total cash value of all the prizes is over $1 Million! Hopefully, all the winners will be folks like you who are friends of SARA!

We're gearing up for our "Demand Liberation" regional student animal rights action conferences that will start in just a week in Gainesville, FL, Austin, TX, and Minneapolis, MN! Really looking forward to them and we hope to see you there!

And here's something you can post on your blog, lists, or whatever to help us spread the word, thanks!

Student Animal Rights Alliance presents:

Demand Liberation
Regional Student Animal Rights Action Conferences
http://www.DemandLiberation.com

Gainesville, FL - February 5 & 6, 2005
Austin, TX - February 12 & 13, 2005
Minneapolis, MN - February 19 & 20, 2005

Want to meet and organize with other young activists in your region?

Well, the Student Animal Rights Alliance is going cross-country in a series of regional action conferences - "Demand Liberation" - to unite hundreds of young activists to take a leading role in the animal rights movement.

Come to Gainesville, FL, Austin, TX, and Minneapolis, MN in the next semester in Feb 2005 to join the Student Animal Rights Alliance and hundreds of other young activists across the country to plan and organize in national and local campaigns to end animal exploitation!

Registration is now open for all of the "Demand Liberation" regional student animal rights action conferences. The registration fee is just $10 with pre-registration (save 50% off the $20 regular registration by pre-registering online now!) - yummy vegan lunch and snacks are also included!

Visit http://www.DemandLiberation.com for more info. Please help us spread the word by passing on this message to your friends and posting it on your livejournal, Xanga, MySpace, friendster, blogs, email lists, or whatever else! Thanks!

"Demand Liberation: Regional Student Animal Rights Action Conferences" are also nationally-sponsored by:

AnimalsVoice.com
Farm Sanctuary
Fund for Animals
PETA2.com
Saving Our Resources Today