We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Kozlak. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.
Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Food for Thought is a program of Animal Place, one of the oldest and largest sanctuaries for farmed animals in the United States. Animal Place’s Executive Director, Kim Sturla, used to work at an animal shelter. A pig named Zelda came into the shelter. Her guardian didn’t claim her. The only people who wanted to take her had plans to butcher and eat her. The animal shelter staff wanted to protect Zelda so they refused to let anyone kill her. Yet, the animal shelter staff were comfortable eating and serving pork at their events. Kim began to wonder why animal shelters and rescues that love and protect animals serve other animals at their events. She saw this disconnection and realized something needed to change. Kim rescued Zelda and co-founded Animal Place in 1989. Zelda was the first sanctuary resident of Animal Place!
What started as a volunteer-run, small sanctuary has transformed into one of the most respected sanctuaries in the country. Today, it is a model sanctuary with two facilities: 600 acres in Grass Valley, CA and a 12-acre Rescue & Adoption Center in Petaluma, CA. The sanctuary is home to over 400 farmed animals. Animals arrive from small and large farms, slaughterhouses, research facilities, and neglect or cruelty cases. Animal Place’s new Rescue & Adoption Center in Petaluma allows Animal Place to perform large-scale rescues. All animals find a haven where all their needs are met and their individual quirks are respected.
In addition to providing a sanctuary for farmed animals, Animal Place serves as an education and advocacy center. They offer tours, cooking classes, and workshops at the sanctuary as well as volunteer and opportunities. Kim also developed the Food for Thought Program to encourage animal shelters to adopt a policy to serve fully vegan or vegetarian food at their events.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
About Me:
I’m Crystal Kozlak, the Program Manager for Animal Place’s Food for Thought Program. I was inspired to live a vegan lifestyle after taking an animal ethics course during my undergrad at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I completed an internship with Animal Place during the summer between semesters. After graduating, I was hired as a Campaign Coordinator for Animal Place’s Brave the Cage Campaign. I traveled to college campuses in the Southwestern United States to educate students about the egg industry. After the campaign ended, I transitioned into working with their Food for Thought Program. I have worked with Animal Place for over 6 years and I have worked with the Food for Thought Program for about 4 years.
Food for Thought:
Animal Place’s Food for Thought Program asks animal protection organizations to align their menu with their mission. We help their board adopt a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. This policy states that they must serve only vegan or vegetarian foods at their events. We have worked with over 575 organizations to adopt a policy.
Our society trusts animal shelters and rescues to save and protect animals. Yet countless animal protection organizations serve meat at their events. The same organizations that are caring for animals are contributing to an industry of animal cruelty. This is inconsistent with their mission. Leaders in animal welfare have a responsibility to operate with compassion.
Animal protection organizations have the ability to impact behavior change to massive audiences. They influence their community, supporters, donors, and staff. People expect these organizations to set humane standards for animals. Many shelters may simply not know the extent of cruelty in animal agriculture. We want to inform them and help them do better.
“There seemed little sense in accepting donations from the public toward our cause of protecting animals only to then spend some of that money on unnecessarily supporting the very industries that were causing so much pain and suffering to animals. We are a humane organization; what is the point of protecting animals all day long, only to serve them up on a platter at that evening’s donor reception? — Nicholas Gilman, Executive Director, Montreal SPCA Montreal, Quebec, Canada”
Food for Thought offers several grant opportunities to help organizations adopt a policy. With the Vegan Event Grant, we’ll reimburse the food expenses up to $1,000 for an organization’s first fully vegan event. The Policy Grant is a one-time gift for organizations that adopt a new board-approved vegan or vegetarian menu policy. We offer $1,000 for a vegan menu policy or $250 for a vegetarian menu policy.
Adopting a policy is an opportunity for organizations to amplify their mission and broaden their impact. It’s also a chance to educate their supporters about cruelty to farmed animals. Serving vegan food at an event helps farmed animals and the planet. One 150-person vegan event saves up to 50 animal lives! One simple change has an impact tenfold. Animal protection organizations need to send the message that all animals deserve compassion.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Our entire Food for Thought team works remotely. We build relationships with animal shelters and rescues by email, phone, and video calls. We then encourage these organizations to have a discussion with their board about adopting a vegan or vegetarian menu policy. In 2020, our Food for Thought team started creating vegan and vegetarian menu policies on behalf of organizations. We create a custom document complete with their logo, Executive Director’s information, and wording of their policy. We send the policy by Dropbox Sign and ask the Executive Director to sign it. Creating custom vegan and vegetarian menu policies for organizations significantly increased the number of them that adopt a policy.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Building a work environment where my team members are happy is very important to me as a manager. In addition to completing my managerial duties, I also do the same work as my team members. I believe that’s key to understanding what my team needs. I’m not afraid to hear feedback on how I can support them better. I remind my team often that I am here for them and they are doing an excellent job. It’s also important to celebrate small wins, not just the big wins.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://animalplacefoodforthought.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodforthoughtprogram/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animalplacefoodforthought
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnimalPlace
- Other: Animal Place’s website: https://animalplace.org/