On Sunday 27th, 2020 our group finally got outside to visit the Plant for the very first time in order to interview and document the many events of the non profit organization Cruelty Free You + Me.
Cruelty free you + me is an organization that works to get vegan food and sustainable living material to communities in need such as food desserts. This non-profit organization was founded by Vick Hauptman in 2020 and has grown to host programs and gain partnerships with other sustainable and vegan organizations. They aim to educate these communities about a more sustainable lifestyle and how it does not have to be as hard as it is made out to seem. Cruelty free you + me works to help and educate communities and vegan eating and sustainability without being preachy or demonizing those who choose not to be vegan and is very impactful in their mission and message. Their events are warm and welcoming and it is nice to see a community of vegan and vegan curious people come together to share their stories and what the work of Cruelty Free You + Me and sustainability mean to them. They were featured on NBC 5 Chicago news where Vic Hauptman talked about their vegan farmers market as well as their vegan food drive and are now have a Patreon you are able to sign up for. Cruelty Free You + Me is now also searchable on Amazon Smile where those who wish to support the organization are able to by normally shopping on Amazon
“The pandemic happened...What do we do?...”
Vick Hauptman is the founder and Executive Director of Cruelty Free You + Me. Starting off as originally a teacher and being vegan for 11 years, she has decided to create a compassionate organization in Chicago named, Cruelty Free You + Me.
Our Experience
It was lovely meeting Vic and witnessing the event of reading children books followed by doing arts and crafts towards families and their children. Meeting Vic and witnessing her passion towards veganism and spreading it to others was very inspiring.
Our group got to also interview one of the families that took part in this Sunday event. They both exclaimed were they were doing this for their young daughter, in which everyone should be extremely mindful of what they eat and how they are affecting the world as a whole.
Afterwards, our group and I found lunch within the Plant itself and had extremely delicious, vegan cheese pizza. It was a lovely Sunday overall.
For more information visit their website: https://crueltyfreeyouandme.org/team/