Combined
report by USA News Group
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Sharing the Message of Love in America
(Originally in English)
Since
Supreme Master Ching Hai launched the Alternative Living project
in January, Association members from 30 Centers in the US and
Canada have participated. In total, more than 3,000,000 flyers
have been distributed in the US & Puerto Rico, plus about
300,000 in Canada. Wherever people are gathered—festivals,
expos, busy streets—fellow practitioners appeared to share
Master Ching Hai’s love for all creatures. Another few million
copies were distributed in the form of advertisements in newspapers
and magazines. Several Centers have broadcast the flyer on TV
or radio, dozens of internet forums and chain emails. In total,
approximately 10,000,000 Americans have been exposed to the message.
Association
members devised many ingenious ways of presenting the flyer. One
sister initiate used the flyer, in addition to the list of Eminent
Vegetarian Scientists, as teaching materials for her elementary
school class. Another distributed flyers while volunteering as
a vegetarian Product Demonstrator in grocery stores. One brother
emblazoned his car with magnetic decals which advertised a website.
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Locations of distributing flyers in USA.
More than 3,000,000 flyers have been distributed in the
US & Puerto Rico since January. |
The “Alternative Living” car:
One brother emblazoned his car with magnetic decals. |
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Notes
from the Field
Austin
One enterprising brother initiate stood at a highway intersection,
passing out 300-400 flyers within the space of 3 hours. He reported,
“When drivers were waiting for the green light, I walked
to them and showed the flyers. Some drivers would read the flyers,
and then decide to accept or deny them. But at least they read
the flyers already. Although the number I distributed is limited
at a few hundred, a lot more people read the flyers already, which
cannot be counted.”
Florida
“I gave out one flyer at work and pinned it on the bulletin
board. When I came back to work, the flyer was on the desk at
the main nurses’ station and has been sitting there for
days, and the girls have been making copies of it!”
“There is a new movie coming up called “Celestine
Prophecy”…They are running a full-length previews
at churches and spiritual organizations. This is a very good opportunity
to give out flyers. I attended two previews myself.
“After viewing the movie, many people were deeply inspired
by the notion of an upcoming spiritual era of love and divine
power and they were very happy to receive a flyer about love for
our animal friends. In the first preview, I asked the hostess
for permission to distribute the flyers and she said okay (her
husband is almost vegetarian). Later in the second preview, I
saw a ticket lady (who is vegan herself) actually pointing people
to take the flyer after they got the tickets as if it were part
of the program.”
Virginia
After the ad in The Washington Post Express newspaper came out,
a disciple who works in Washington DC reported that several of
her co-workers came to tell her that they received the Express
newspaper in the Metro subway stations and saw the ad from our
organization, and that it was good information.
As fellow practitioners handed out the flyers to pedestrians,
there were several occasions that people turned back to tell us
that it was very good information. A couple stopped to tell us
that they have been vegetarians for 30/40 years and wanted to
know more about our organization. We gave them our website and
contact information, and they later called back requesting to
be notified of our upcoming seminar in April.
When one of the fellow practitioners was giving out flyers in
the Fairfax area, an Indian lady liked our flyer and asked for
a soft copy by e-mail. She is Hindu and has been giving out vegetarian
booklets to people around her. She thought our flyers are better
and wants to print many copies to give to others.
We went to the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC to hand out
flyers to the tourists outside the Museums for two weekends. Washington
DC is one of the most popular tourist destinations, where visitors
come from all parts of the US, as well as from all over the world.
We plan to pass out flyers routinely at various tourist attractions
as the weather warms up, especially at the very popular Cherry
Blossoms Festival.
Canada
One of the initiates was scheduled to visit her sister in Winnipeg,
Manitoba just after the flyers came out. The instructions Master
gave were to distribute in all parts of our country, so she quickly
changed her flight plans and was able to continue onto the east
coast of Canada, to Halifax, Nova Scotia (for a minimal change
flight fee). She felt this was an exciting opportunity, for though
she has been to other continents, she had never been to the east
coast of Canada.
In Winnipeg, she was pleasantly surprised. She went to stores,
coffee shops, and a university, and in each place she came across
young people who told her that either they were vegetarian, vegan,
or their parents were. At the University of Manitoba, one young
man said, "I’m so happy you are doing this. I am vegan."
Many of the people seemed interested in the flyers.
However, her biggest surprise was in Halifax. Prior to her visit
she had the notion that Vancouver (west coast) was somehow more
“advanced spiritually” than the east coast. She found
out how wrong she was. People were open and friendly in accepting
flyers. Almost all the shops she went into accepted the flyers
happily. Quite a few of especially young people (in their 20's
or so) said they were vegetarian or vegan. The whole feeling of
the city was absolutely uplifting. For example, she went to an
art college to see if she could put some flyers on the billboard.
The college happened to be closed that day, with a security guard
sitting at the entrance. When the initiate found out it was closed,
she asked if she could leave flyers, half expecting to be refused.
However, the security guard looked at it and said that of course
he would put them up on the board and leave some in the animal
protection area, and that students were very interested in this.
Another example: the sister went into a pet store to buy a toy
to bring back to her dog. Usually pet stores have got a lot of
meat products, so she was not sure they would
be interested in
the Alternative
Living flyer. However, the owner was a vegetarian who was totally
delighted to accept
them, and has another business of dog
daycare where she gives the dogs vegetarian snacks. The conversation
led to meditation, and the woman soon was the very happy recipient
of a Sample Booklet.
The initiate was able to leave many flyers and some Sample Booklets
(mainly in a spiritual bookstore) in Halifax, so was very happy
with her short stay there. She would love to go back whenever
possible.
By the way, this initiate now takes her dog for "distribution"
walks, where they go house to house giving out flyers. The dog
just loves it; she has been told the good work she is doing.
There are also good stories from Greater Vancouver. Many people
said they, their brother, sister, or boss are vegetarian. One
sister was handing out flyers on the street. A couple passed and
the woman said, "No." However, the flyer had already
caught the man's eye and he happily accepted it. Both of them
then read it intently. Many people seem to be looking at them
carefully after they received them.
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We are all (including the dog!) loving this distribution work.
Thank You, Master.
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Refer this page to friends |
What
can human beings do to deal with repeated outbreaks of epidemic
diseases? To address this question and save the lives of countless
animals, Master has personally compiled a concise article complete
with colorful illustrations entitled “Alternative Living”,
providing basic information about vegetarian alternatives to the
meat-based diet and a list of the “Vegetarian and Vegan Elite
of the World.”
Please refer to http://AL.Godsdirectcontact.org.tw
for details. The print version in various languages will be available
later. You are welcome to forward, reproduce, reprint or set up
an Internet link to this flyer. |
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