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Vegan activist Earthling Ed is opening a non-profit vegan diner in London to help raise money for grassroots animal rights movement SURGE, Plant Based News can reveal.
The animal rights advocate, who is well-known for his YouTube videos, university tour, and for appearing on mainstream media programs to talk about veganism, said he is ‘beyond excited’ about the plans.
Unity Diner will open Hoxton, East London ‘very soon’, offering an array of tasty vegan dishes, including vegan ‘chicken’ pancakes and the diner classic, cherry pie.
Big plans
Funds raised through the diner will allow SURGE – who are campaigning to end all animal oppression – to launch large-scale vegan advertising campaigns in London and across the UK, and to fund the development of The Surge Sanctuary, which will open in late 2019.
Ed exclusively told Plant Based News: “My vision is for people to come into the diner, eat delicious vegan food and on their way home come across the advertising campaign that they’ve just funded through their meal.
“Unity Diner allows people to become an active part of creating a world where compassion towards all non-human animals is the norm.”
A kind individual
Writing about the plans on social media, Ed said: “Over a year ago I was approached by an extremely kind individual who wanted to help us turn our animal rights organization Surge into something more, but they wanted us to be able to fund ourselves and be self-sustainable – so we collectively conceptualised Unity Diner.
“Within one year of opening, the income generated from Unity Diner will have allowed us to run large scale vegan advertisement campaigns in London (and hopefully across more of the UK), as well as funding the development of The Surge Sanctuary – which will open in late 2019.
“We’ll also be producing new and unique content (such as mini-documentaries) and pushing our workload to the next level. We’re also currently in the process of registering Surge as a UK charity, which is incredibly exciting too.”
An exciting plan
Ed, who recently returned from doing advocacy work in the US and Canada, said he’s been busy working on menu design and interior development for the diner – something he ‘never expected to be doing’.
He added: “The rest of September will be more of the same as we put the final pieces together of this huge, beautiful project. This community has provided me with so much support and I am constantly overwhelmed by your wonderfully kind messages and comments. I hope that Unity Diner can give the community something back, that our campaigns will change and saves lives and that next year.
“Thank you of course, to the incredible individual who has made this dream a reality. Thank you for believing in myself and the team and for trusting us with such a huge concept. You and your family are a constant reminder to me that there are selfless, good people in the world.”
For more information and updates, follow Earthling Ed on Facebook
