San Francisco History Preceding Veg Day Resolution

By Dixie Mahy, President San Francisco Vegetarian Society

SFVS has an energetic outreach program tabling all over the city and bay area with its newsletters, free recipes, and other pertinent information. In May of 2009, SFVS participated in the San Francisco Richmond District neighborhood Health Fair. The Supervisor for the district, Eric Mar stopped at the SFVS table where we were giving out our free information and vegan food samples (humus in pita bread with condiments). After talking with our volunteers, he stated he would try giving up meat at least once a week.

One of our members, Carmen Lee, who happened to know him from school, dropped by his office in the fall of 2009. She was delivering post cards and posters for the upcoming 10TH anniversary of the WORLD VEG FESTIVAL that October sponsored by SFVS and invited him and his staff to attend. He indicated support of our efforts and suggested he would be willing to sponsor a Proclamation for the society’s accomplishments but that he would need something in writing. I sent his office information about the society, its purpose, its history and accomplishments. After working on the wording, his office notified me that they had a Proclamation that the entire board of supervisors were willing to approve and that we were invited to their chamber meeting when it would be brought up and voted upon formally. Some of our SFVS officers and board members attended that meeting and I accepted the Proclamation on behalf of the Society. When the supervisors were voting, one of them, Sophie Maxwell, stood up and said she had been a vegetarian for thirty-five years! We were surprised. None of us knew that. With the assistance of Ann Wheat, co-owner of the Millennium Vegan Restaurant, I arranged for a reception in Supervisor Eric Mar’s office and invited all of the supervisors and their staff to come after their meeting. Since Millennium is a premiere award-winning restaurant, their vegan food was impressive and well received.