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Daily Inspiration: Meet Elaine Epstein

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Epstein.

Elaine, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I became interested in a Whole Food Plant-Based lifestyle after learning about the benefits of proper nutrition to improve and enrich our physical and mental well-being. As a caretaker of others, my journey began as I was learning to work toward improved self-care.

While visiting a sober living community the owner provided information and education about the benefits of transitioning residents to a vegan diet. This information led to taking a Forks Over Knives class with Caryn Dugan (aka STLVegGirl).

The physical and mental health changes have enriched my life, which drives the passion to continue learning and sharing knowledge with others. My commitment to myself and others is to educate through fellowship within the community.

Plant-Powered St. Louis is part of the PlantPure Communities (PPC) Pod Network (https://plantpurecommunities.org/plantpurepods/), which emerged out of the 2015 film PlantPure Nation with the goal of creating and supporting a grassroots movement by empowering a network of independent local groups (Pods) and people to promote the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.

Our mission is to educate others through fellowship within the community on the importance of a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle and the healing impact this has on our physical and emotional well-being.

“At PPC, we offer a range of Pod Support Programs to help Pod leaders with leadership, networking, outreach, activities, and community involvement.

These programs include a mentor program, regular virtual networking hours for Pod leaders, call-to-action campaigns to engage local or national leaders and politicians, or even sometimes funding like Square Foot Gardening mini-grants to support local gardening initiatives.

Everything we do and offer is to help Pod leaders share the message of whole food, plant-based lifestyles in their communities!” – Ella Stephens, Pod Support Programs Manager.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Plant-Powered St. Louis was established in January 2021 during the pandemic.

We are proud of our growing (500+ members on social media) group but have had limited opportunity to meet in person. We have held zoom meetings, but find zoom fatigue has impacted many resulting in limited (20-30) members.

We are looking forward to scheduling in-person meetings and know that once we are introduced in person the work we can do together and in the community is limitless.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My full-time career is in the insurance industry where I have worked for 37 years.

Contact Info:


Image Credits:

Jack Glenn Logan

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