Thursday, 7 Feb 2002

BALTIMORE, Md.

One of my favorite parts of my job is finding and supervising interns. When I work with interns, I try to help them gain an in-depth understanding of nonprofit organizations, think in sophisticated ways about making change in the world, and learn advanced research methods. Hopefully they can apply what they learn to whatever they do in the future to make the world a better place.

Because we expose our interns to such a wide variety of skills and programs, I often think they learn more here than they would at larger, more “glamorous” placements. It is very time-consuming to interview interns, orient them, and try to teach them as much as we can in a short time. Our payoff, of course, is that we are constantly exposed to fresh new ideas. Our current intern, Raena Blumenthal, hopes to be an environmental writer, so today I’d like to give her a chance to contribute to this entry. (Raena is an avid reader of Grist, so it’s fun for her to get a chance to participate from the other side.)

Thursday, 07 Feb 2002
It’s close to 9 a.m. when I enter the Vegetarian Resource Group’s building and pick up my mail. When I first saw the office, it met my expectations of how a nonprofit organization would look. It was cramped, but well-organized. Bins of envelopes waiting to be mailed filled the main entrance, and the first few covers of the Vegetarian Journal were proudly displayed on the wall. Today, as I head to my desk, there’s a new batch of envelopes waiting to be sent out; glancing at my paper-cut hands, I think to myself how glad I am to have less dangerous tasks to do today.

I read my mail as the computer warms up. Charles Stahler, one of the editors and coordinators of the Vegetarian Resource Group, has given me more news articles and clippings to help me understand the complexities of running a nonprofit organization. Thanks to these readings, as well as to my internship’s up-close-and-personal view of what goes into running a nonprofit organization, I am in constant awe of the people who devote their lives to this work.

For the past two weeks, I have been working on a project that was spurred by a question from one of our readers: whether or not synthetic leather contains leather scraps. Trying to find the answer has been harder than you would think. Many emails and phone calls later, I finally have a response that seems to be based on actual information, not just guesswork. Still, I wonder if this information applies to just one item, just one company’s products, or to all articles labeled as having been made with synthetic leather. More research!

The question posed by the reader could not have come at a better time, because I’m currently working on an article about how to have a vegan backpacking and camping experience. In the article, I discuss, among other things, non-leather alternatives for such essentials as hiking boots.

In addition to my own projects, I work with different members of this small staff to learn the various aspects of running a nonprofit organization. More than anything, I am getting an education on how to multi-task. Today, I’m helping to update a natural foods restaurant guide, the cause of much hand cramping. On the plus side, if I’m ever in Massachusetts, I will know exactly where to find a restaurant that serves vegetarian food.

Everyday I enter this office and am confronted with new and interesting tasks. The experience I am gaining from the Vegetarian Resource Group is not only helping me learn more about vegetarianism; it is also helping me learn how dedicated, hard-working, and organized a nonprofit must be to effectively advocate for its cause.