Hey all,
Happy long weekend! I hope you are far away from idiots with fireworks!
Quick run down before we get into the week ahead.
Strooband Resign - Kevin Strooband is yet to resign, after four straight weeks of demonstrations out front of the LCHS, however, the second best possible news came through this week - CUPE 1287 is heading back to work! After 80+ on strike CUPE 1287 worked out an agreement last week and head back to work this upcoming week. This is good news for animals in the area and the changes that have come about as a result of their 80+ stand have changed the LCHS forever. With that said, we are continuing with our call for Kevin Strooband’s resignation as his incompetency still needs to be answered for. Our demonstrations will continue on Wednesday nights from 7-9pm. With the strike over it’s imperative we continue to bring bodies out and make pro-active steps in recommending the remaining changes we would like to see at the LCHS. The Strooband Resign #5 facebook event page needs invites and shares as does the Strooband Resign group on facebook. For a good laugh check out the St. Catharines Standard article about the end of the strike where the Niagara ADL is the “Niagara based animal rights group” that shall not be named.
Marineland Animal Defense - We had two demo’s this week at Marineland - one on Thursday for Opening Day and one on Saturday. In total we have had three demonstrations so far this season! We’ve already handed out hundreds of leaflets this year and so far have won Signgate 2012! We have some important updates coming later in the week about new tactics as well as a reveal of the summer demo schedule. Stayed tuned to the Marineland Animal Defense website/tumblr,
facebook, and twitter. Our next scheduled demonstration is Sunday June 3rd - 12pm to 2pm. Attached is a nice picture from yesterday of Ayden explaining poster design concepts to Jill.
Niagara ADL Sanctuary Tour 2012 - ADL members Lisa, Hannah and Ayden went up to Ruby Ranch today (north of Guelph) for a working visit and dropped of a $70 donation - raised by the Niagara Vegan Baking Militia! This was a last minute stop, so in following up we are urging everyone to “like” and share the Ruby Ranch Pig Sanctuary facebook page in order to help them extend their social media reach. In two months we have traveled to three Sanctuaries in Ontario and donated a total over $600.
Fundraising - The best update of all - WE HAVE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL! Launched two months ago, we managed to hit our $4500 fundraising goal with 3 days to spare. Individual thank yous will be going out very soon. All we can say is wow. We still have three more days left on our campaign - so any further donations are icing on the vegan cupcake.
Niagara Flying Squad - The Live Free Collective began rolling out their new working group this week - the Niagara Flying Squad. The Niagara Flying Squad is building off of community support for the CUPE 4207 Unit 3 strike as well as the CUPE 1287 strike and strives to be a hub for worker/picket line support in the Niagara Region. Like, share the page and smash capitalism.
UPCOMING
STROOBAND RESIGN #5 - WEDNESDAY 7PM (LINCOLN COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY) - As mentioned above, we are holding weekly demonstrations out front of the LCHS (corner of Fourth Ave. and Martindale) calling for the resignation of Kevin Strooband. Demonstrations run from 7pm - 9pm. Bring friends and invite friends to the group/facebook event page!
NIAGARA ADL OPEN MEETING - MONDAY 6PM/7PM (RISE ABOVE) - Our next open meeting is tomorrow night at Rise Above (120 St. Paul. St). All of our meetings are open meetings and the structure remains the same for all of them, first timers come at 6pm to get introduced to the group, others who have been to previous meetings come at 7pm. Anyone can add an agenda item and/or speak to any issue and everyone walks away with action items. As with the new structure to our mail outs, we are now committed to being at Rise Above every Monday from 6pm on. If there is no scheduled open meeting that night we will do prisoner support, sign making, brainstorming, etc. In the case that the space is booked, we will ensure everyone gets the notice.
NIAGARA ANIMAL DEFENSE LEAGUE FORMAL - Saturday May 25th - WE HAVE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL - COME CELEBRATE! Our two month long launch will come to an end with our Niagara Animal Defense League Formal at Brooklyn’s Restaurant (223 Richmond St. Thorold, On). The event begins at 7:00pm and will feature food, prizes, music, dancing and a lot of nice fancy clothes! Tickets are $20-$30 sliding scale and can be grabbed from Rise Above, Brooklyn’s, Dylan Powell, Karen Kelly, Crista Murphy, Lisa Mooney, Brittney Szucs, Ally Brinsmead Lachnit or Hannah Lachnit. Facebook Event page is linked above. We appreciate people sharing that page and inviting their friends!
INTO THE FUTURE
Niagara Action for Animals Potluck Series Friday June 1st. 7 PM. Niagara Unitarian Congregation Church (223 Church St. - St. Catharines, On). NAFA Potlucks are legendary in Niagara - come out and share (vegan) food with members of the community!
Niagara VegFest - Saturday June 2nd - Niagara’s very first VegFest is less than a month away! We wrote about our excitement last week and appreciate people lending a hand to promote the event. It is going to be an amazing day!
M.A.D. Demonstration Sunday June 3rd - 12pm - 2pm. Marineland (Niagara Falls, On).