Last night we had another fantastic gathering of the Hartford chapter of VegUp, an organization founded by Jane Velez-Mitchell to promote a sense of community among vegans.
After our first meeting just a little over a month ago, I already feel like I've known everyone forever, as we've fast become good friends. I'd even go so far as to say my second family!
Sixteen of us gathered together at Fire & Spice, a vegan Jamaican restaurant in Hartford. We started out in the front room, thinking that there would be around 8-10 of us. That rapidly grew to the point where we were crowding the entire tiny space, so we moved our group to the back room. There we were able to spread out and have a lively conversation about the topic of being vegan for the holidays.
Everyone had a chance to introduce themselves and share a little about their vegan journey. We were thrilled to have four new members, one of whom was celebrating his first day being vegan with us! It was an honor to be able to answer any questions he had and share our personal experiences to help him prepare for the journey. This felt like true community support, and exactly what every vegan who has ever felt lonely and confused needs.
Al celebrating Day #1 as a Vegan!!
Here's what one participant had to say about her experience:
"I had *SO* much fun tonight. You are such an inspiration and excel at repeatedly organizing a bunch of strangers to come together and have some heartfelt, meaningful discussion. Every time I walk away feeling so happy to know I'm not the 'only one' around... there is a whole community of fabulous humans who were just waiting for a little (vegan!) glue to pull us together I'm excited to meet new friends who share my passion... thank you!"Our next get together will be a holiday potluck in December. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is already looking forward to it and scouring cookbooks and food blogs for the perfect impress-your-guests dish to bring.
Thank you all who attended!!
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