The 2010 Santa Monica Walk for Farm Animals

Ani Phyo with rescued dog Kanga

On Saturday, Steve and I participated in Farm Sanctuary's 2010 Walk for Farm Animals in Santa Monica. What an inspiring, exciting experience! If we didn't feel like members of the Southern California activist community before, we majorly do now.  

There were over 150 registered walkers in attendance, amazing vegan food, and two very awesome speakers in our midst - Ani Phyo, raw vegan chef and author of Ani's Raw Food Essentials, as well as none other than Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary! Steve and I were able to capture a few moments of the Walk and Gene's speech in the video below:

The most inspiring part of the day, aside from Gene's poignant speech, were the honks! We were honked at so many times by supportive drivers who saw our posters as we walked and wanted to cheer us on - it created such a sense of friendship as we marched up and down the streets of Santa Monica.

Another favorite moment of mine in the Walk was watching with awe as a young boy - probably about nine or ten years old - passed out leaflet after leaflet until he was all out. It was so awesome to see compassion in action, especially coming from a child!

If you haven't done so yet, I highly recommend checking out your local Walk - you can visit www.walkforfarmanimals.org to learn more and register in your area. As I've written before, there are walks going on all over the country, and they are a wonderful way to be a part of the vibrant animal advocacy community.

Steve and I with Gene

To learn more about Gene's work at Farm Sanctuary or to donate, please visit www.farmsanctuary.com.