User:MarcDelaney

Marc Delaney is the Founder/Director of the Salem Vegan Society, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970.

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1963. Delaney grew up in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, living in the home of his paternal grandmother Eve Delaney. Delaney's father, John Michael Delaney, died in September 1968, whereupon he was raised by his mother Roberta (Shastany) Delaney.

Delaney moved to Salem, Mass., in September 1998, and became a temporary member and volunteer with the Boston Vegetarian Society, Boston, Mass., assisting that group with public relations and media for Boston's North Shore.

In August 2003, Delaney created the concept of the Salem Vegan Society (SVS), a non-profit organization registered with the City of Salem, and held the group's first organizational meeting at Strega Restaurant on Lafayette Street in Salem, October 1, 2003.

The Salem Vegan Society now functions as an Internet, vegan and animal rights news and information source, based in Salem. The SVS site is currently viewed by more than 13,000 Internet users each month. The site provides vegan and animal rights daily news updates; regional vegan and animal rights event announcements weekly; seasonal vegan recipes; a vegan-oriented SVS Visitor's Guide to Salem for tourists and travelers; and more.

In June 2006, the Salem Vegan Society organized and launched the first annual Salem Vegan Food Drive to benefit the Salem Mission. The first 100-percent vegan food drive in New England, and possibly in the United States, the Salem Vegan Food Drive actively engages the entire population of Salem each June in a completely vegan event.

The SVFD encourages all residents to donate vegan, non-perishable food items to the Salem Mission's 56 Margin Street lobby, or via online donations. The Drive's Corporate Sponsorship donations doubled from 2007 to 2008, to over $1,000. All proceeds go to purchase 100-percent vegan food for Salem Mission residents and homeless and needy families in the region.