Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

Today we celebrate the work of Ms. Erica Meier, executive director of Compassion Over Killing, a prominent non-profit animal rights group in the USA. Compassion Over Killing actually started in 1995, as a high school club here in the (Washington) D.C. (USA) area. The founder is no longer with the organization. But he is still involved in an advisory capacity on occasion. The organization was put together by a bunch of students who wanted to get together and take part in protecting animals.

And as the organizers graduated from high school, the organization continued. There were members in the community that wanted to get involved and so it just kept growing and volunteer-based. And in 2001, we hired our first employee. And we’ve grown since then, changing from a small high school club with no budget and a handful of dedicated volunteers to a full-time staff of six. We are a national organization working to protect farmed animals.

How did Erica Meier become involved in animal advocacy?

I was in high school. I had made the connection with eating animals and not feeling comfortable with it. But it wasn’t until I was 15 in high school that I really decided that I as a person can actually do something. I can choose to not eat animals and so I became a vegetarian. And I became active in high school. But I mostly became active in environmental issues.

Our high school had an environmental studies program. They fostered the development of an environmental organization that I participated in. And then in college, I was in western Massachusetts (USA). I went to Clark University, and I discovered the world of animal activism. There was an animal rights group on campus, and I met some other people who were vegan. In high school I didn’t even know another single vegetarian.

But when I became vegetarian, a few of my friends also did. But in college I had no idea what veganism was and I had never really been exposed to the suffering inside factory farms. I knew about slaughterhouses and I didn’t want to support that – the cows, and the pigs, and chickens being killed for meat. But I didn’t fully understand the misery that egg-laying hens endure and that dairy cows endure.

And I learned about that and in college I decided to become vegan. And I decided that this was something I felt so passionately about that I wanted to dedicate more of my time to doing it. And so my interest in animal activism just ontinued to grow from there.

Through the years, Compassion Over Killing has acted as a strong voice for farmed animals by doing undercover investigations of factory farms, running effective advertising campaigns and conducting public outreach activities. Compassion Over Killing informs communities about the inherent suffering involved in producing meat, egg, and dairy products, and that we as consumers have the power to make caring choices by always selecting plant-based foods.

We’ve actually conducted multiple investigations inside factory farms and slaughterhouses. One of our organization’s primary focuses within factory farming is the egg industry. Most people have no idea when they go to the grocery store and they’re buying a dozen eggs, where those eggs actually came from and the overwhelming majority of eggs sold in the US are coming from hens who are so tightly crammed inside wire cages they can barely even move. So we have made it our mission to expose the suffering of these hens and to encourage people to leave eggs out of their shopping carts. What was the public’s response when you released this information? There is always outrage. The general public is shielded from these images by the industries. When you go to the grocery stores, you’ll see packages showing happy cows with an idyllic barnyard in the background. So there’s a myth perpetuated by the industry that only happy animals are going to produce meat, milk or eggs. But the reality is that they turn these into literally factories where they are treating these animals like meat, milk, and egg producing machines. And so these animals are suffering for our sake of being able to buy cheap food at the grocery store.

And most people have this understanding or they believe that of course we protect dogs and cats, all 50 states have anti-cruelty laws, therefore we must be protecting farm animals as well. It’s the moral thing to do. And the overwhelming majority of the public believe that farm animals should be protected by law. But the reality is that most states exempt farm animals from those statutes.

When we come back, we’ll have more from our interview with the wonderful Erica Meier and how her organization is building a better world for humans and animals. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to this edition of the Shining World Award series featuring Ms. Erica Meier, executive director of the animal advocacy group, Compassion Over Killing. Under Erica Meier’s leadership, Compassion Over Killing has been quite active in getting the word out on the beautiful vegan diet and why we should always treat our animal friends with kindness and respect.

We have a range of campaigns and, factory farming investigations that we do. We use that footage not only in media exposés but we actually put together 30-second commercials using some of that footage and we air them on MTV stations nationwide. It’s what we call our Pro-Vegetarian Commercial campaign. And we’ve been doing that since 2004.

And because we have a limited budget, we choose to air on MTV because studies show that a youthful audience is more likely to take our message of compassion and turn it into action for animals and choose vegetarian foods. Millions and millions of times these ads have been viewed and we are constantly getting feedback from people about how their lives have been changed from these ads. So that’s one of the campaigns that we run. And that’s a national campaign. We also have regional campaigns.

For example you guys (Supreme Master Television) actually came out here to our “Maryland Veg Week” in April, where we encouraged people to pledge to go vegetarian for a week. We gained the support of politicians this year, we had federal, local and county representatives who pledged to go vegetarian for the week and talked about why they felt these issues were important for our health, for the environment, as well as for animals.

Thanks in part to Compassion Over Killing’s local initiatives, in July 2010 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) named Washington, DC as the most veg-friendly city in all of North America.

We work with restaurants in the area, and we’re branching out to other cities now. But several years ago in the area we started reaching out to restaurants asking them to offer more vegetarian and vegan options. And one of the first restaurants we worked with was Java Green which is located in downtown D.C. They decided to take meat completely off from the menu and they are now nearly an all vegan restaurant.

So that’s the type of work we do as well as ensuring that there are options available in the community so that when people are thinking about vegetarian or vegan foods they realize that you can go anywhere and find these options. And it becomes available and removes some of the social hurdles to choosing plant-based foods.

For the organization’s noble example, Supreme Master Ching Hai recently honored Ms. Erica Meier and Compassion Over Killing with the Shining World Compassion Award. Ms. Meier received a letter of gratitude from Master, of which the following is an excerpt: With your determination and courage to speak the truth, you are helping to turn the tide towards a more humane world.

Ms. Meier, you are a gem sparkling for us all to see, motivating people to change their lives and see our animal co-inhabitants as intelligent, conscious, feeling and loving beings. We thank you for your strength in speaking out against animal cruelty and for standing tall as one of their most loyal and best friends.

For outstanding advocacy and untiring passion promoting animal rights, for unconditional love towards all beings, and for being a dedicated and noble role model, we hereby applaud and celebrate the brave and compassionate deeds of Ms. Erica Meier, Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing. With Great Honor, Love and Blessings, Supreme Master Ching Hai

Thank you very much.

(Thank you.) It’s a true honor.

(Our pleasure.)

Erica Meier also received a beautiful crystal Award plaque.

In Recognition Of Exceptional Humane Loving Concern, Kindness, And Dedication Devotedly Nurturing And Protecting Our Precious Animal Friends Creating A Brighter Future For All Of God’s Creation With Compliments And Gratitude For Your Inspirational Sacrifice And Compassion Caring For Our Cherished Co-Inhabitants

Thank you. This is beautiful.

Compassion Over Killing was presented with a gift of US$10,000 from Supreme Master Ching Hai to further its mission.

Thank you so much. This is incredible. It’ll go a long way in helping us help animals.

To close today’s program, Shining World Compassionate Laureate Erica Meier has a message for Supreme Master Ching Hai:

I would like to thank her dearly for her incredible support for Compassion Over Killing to help us help more animals and that I have known about the Supreme Master for many years. In fact the first restaurant when I became vegan that I started to eat at was Quan Yin in western Massachusetts where I learned about the Supreme Master. And so I am absolutely appreciative of all that she has been doing for many, many years to make the world a better place for animals.

Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet.

Many thanks, Ms. Erica Meier and Compassion Over Killing for your animal- promoting endeavors. May Compassion Over Killing continue to spread a message of love in Heaven’s blessings and protection.

For more details on Compassion Over Killing, please visit

Thank you for joining us today for this edition of the Shining World Award series. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May peace, happiness, and love forever be known by all lives on our planet.