“PEACE: Five Tales of Compassion for a Better World” by Cindy Vera (vegan), Part 2 of 2

“I had a rule in my classroom – and it was just one rule – and that was: respect. It started at the core of respect yourself. And it kept getting bigger and bigger – respect your school, your community, and then the Earth.” Cindy Vera took a transformative course from the Institute for Humane Education, highlighting connections between human rights, animal-people protection, and environmental sustainability. “The Humane Education course helped me kind of shift more toward global issues. We ended up doing an activity. It was called ‘The Power of One.’ The whole school did a Meatless Monday. And it was so cool because the kids felt like they had power to make change, but also the students were getting healthy meal options that were plant-based every Monday.”

“They were talking about fair trade and everything that goes along with that. I think that it’s really important to open our eyes and our hearts to it and then stop doing the things that we don’t believe in.” “There are a number of organizations that help people go vegan. For example, I’m a Switch4Good athlete. It is a vegan organization, but it helps people go dairy-free in a safe and healthy way.” “Everything that I had my students do, I did. So, we could be doing yoga, basketball, or whatever it was – I was doing that activity with the kids every period, five periods a day. I was doing intense exercise. I love being able to set an example for people, saying that this is what I’m doing: I have a vegan diet, a vegan lifestyle, and I’m still strong.” “I want kids to see that they’re capable of making change and that they’re capable of doing big things. I want children to be compassionate and empathetic, and to help people, and to be grateful.”