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Amanda Hymansmith’s 7-year-old daughter had a diverse group of friends in her North Portland neighborhood in many ways except one: Nobody else was vegan.
“She often feels ‘othered,’” Hymansmith says. “She doesn’t have a lot of peers that understand veganism, so she gets a lot of questions.” It was particularly tricky to explain to her friends why she couldn’t go on the class field trip to the zoo, for example.
Hymansmith, who has been vegan for 18 years, has fond memories of her time in the Girl Scouts as a kid. She was considering enrolling her daughter but realized she’d probably feel left out of some of the activities: Horseback riding and campfire weenie roasts, for instance, were both off the table.
Hymansmith envisioned a scouting program “where all vegan children could feel they belong and feel empowered and proud of their veganism,” so she founded the Vegan Scouts in 2023.
After a series of monthly “all-Scout gatherings” that were open to the community, the fledgling organization hosted its first official troop meeting two weeks ago. Seventeen members are enrolled in two troops: one in Northeast and one in Southeast Portland.
The Vegan Scouts, ages 3 to 12, will have vests and caps, earn badges, and attend a campout in the summer. The curriculum so far focuses on the effects of veganism on the environment, such as a taste-off of plant milks (cookies served on the side) and a lesson on how many gallons of water go into producing dairy milk versus nondairy milk.
“Vegan Scouts is this space where kids can develop life skills,” Hymansmith says, “but also enrich their communities and have a positive impact on the world.”