below is the announcement. / Tom Billings

*From [log in to unmask] Wed Jul 26 10:46:45 2000
*Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
*Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 10:20:00 -0700
*From: Larry LeVine <[log in to unmask]>
*Organization: Vibrant Living
*Subject: EXPO: Major schedule change
*Status: R

To all raw fooders and friends,

We have decided not to hold the Living Food Health EXPO this year.

The EXPO is the world's largest event about raw and living food.
Nevertheless,
it still appeals primarily to the living food community.

One purpose of the Institute for Vibrant Living, host of the EXPO, is
to
create
awareness among the general public through education and positive
experiences
involving living food. Our goal is to expand our message beyond food
-- to
embrace and communicate to the general public a total lifestyle
approach to
vibrant living and well-being.  We envision an EXPO attended by 5,000
people
or
more!

To accomplish this, the Institute and the EXPO team believe we need to
recast
the EXPO from an entirely new mold. This means

   * holding EXPOs on both coasts (west coast beginning fall 2001,
east coast
     beginning spring 2002).
   * engaging a PR firm of national stature, to help bring our message
to the
     media on a scale never before achieved on a sustained basis.
   * expanding the number of speakers that we can accommodate --
creating
     opportunities for nationally known teachers to present more than
once,
     while also supporting emerging teachers and leaders.
   * integrating other essential elements of vibrant, healthy living,
such as
     movement, breathing, sunshine and light, etc.
   * adding a new Center for Well-Being.
   * adding a free child care program.
   * and many other program changes.

>From our discussions, we realize that we cannot produce this year's EXPO and
>have sufficient time and resources to launch an entirely new EXPO next year.

Instead, we are already working on the design of the new EXPO. Our
intention is
to publish a draft document this fall that outlines the new EXPO. We
will invite
suggestions from the entire community as we move forward.

We are already beginning this new journey. For the first time, we are
creating a
dedicated team focused entirely on the EXPO and other vibrant living
projects.
We are gathering resources and implementing computer systems and other
infrastructure that can handle events of the magnitude we envision.

We are also planning the first National Vibrant Living Leadership
Conference, to be held early in 2001. The purpose of this conference
is to create
a public agenda, to build a solid foundation for the living food
movement. We intend
to focus on information and beliefs that we all hold in common, so
that we can
project a coherent, effective message to the world. From this
foundation, we
envision an annual National Living Food Day and many other programs
that
reach directly to the general public and the media.

Though we realize that not holding an EXPO this year may disappoint
some, we
deeply believe that this decision allows us to bring the whole
movement onto
center stage  much more quickly than would otherwise be the case.

Please direct all questions and comments to [log in to unmask] .

If you are a speaker or living food community organizer, we urge you
to
share this information with your own community as quickly as possible.

We appreciate your patience and continued support as we chart a new
course.

Wishing blessings and abundance to all,

Institute for Vibrant Living
The EXPO Team