Illinois, USA

Alternative Living posters greet shoppers at the malls in Illinois

Summer in Chicago is vibrant with outdoor activities, and initiates found various means to continue the ongoing project of promoting the Alternative Living message.  For instance, we distributed flyers at the annual Blues Festival in Chicago, a large outdoor music fest attended by thousands of people. On Sunday afternoons throughout the summer, some initiates would go to famous tourists spots such as Millenium Park in downtown Chicago for distribution. And in June, we signed a 3-month contract with CBS Outdoors, an advertising firm, to put up big Alternative Living posters at five different shopping malls in Illinois.

On August 5 and 6, Golden Year 3 (2006), initiates from Illinois and Missouri participated in the annual Evanston Lakeshore Art Festival by the beautiful Lake Michigan as a food vendor through a vegetarian restaurant run by a few initiates in Chicago. Many initiates came to help so that we were able to hand out flyers, prepare food, offer food samples and conduct sales, all at the same time. The materials distributed included Alternative Living flyers, vegetarian recipes along with local vegetarian restaurant lists, Master’s TV program postcards, sample booklets, “The Real Heroes” DVDs and seminar flyers for those who showed an interest in meditation.

Throughout the festival we had a continuous stream of people coming by, and the front of our booth was crowded almost all the time. Many people who tried our samples were surprised to find that vegetarian food could be so tasty. One little girl brought her dad back to our booth and told him, “You have to try the food. It tastes so good!” Some sincerely thanked us for doing such a wonderful job in sharing the vegetarian diet information with the public. Others asked for additional copies of the Alternative Living flyer and vegetarian recipes to give their friends. Even the lady at our neighboring booth who was selling ice bars offered to help us distribute Alternative Living flyers to her customers.

In sharp contrast to other stands run by two or three people, we truly had a “large staff,” as one of the event organizers described when she came by to talk to us. She was right: We worked together very happily, aware of Master’s love uniting us all. Everyone who participated in these events was overjoyed in the uplifting experience of serving others and improving ourselves.

<<	Contents	>>
Refer this page to friends