Mary and Peter Max Will Host Benefit to End Chickens in Kaporos Rituals

Members of the Press are Cordially Invited to Attend This Special Evening

Thursday, September 30, 2010, 6:30-9pm

Peter Max Studio

37 West 65th Street, 7th Floor

Between Columbus & Central Park West, New York City

 NEW YORK, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mary and Peter Max will host a benefit for United Poultry Concerns and the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos on Thursday evening, September 30th at the Peter Max Studio from 6:30 to 9pm. The evening will include delicious vegan food, including kosher vegan food from some of NYC's finest restaurants, the art of Peter Max, and the opportunity to help end the practice of swinging and slaughtering chickens in Kaporos rituals – a custom preceding Yom Kippur in which chickens are ritually sacrificed in some Orthodox Jewish communities.

Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns & Founder of the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, will give a presentation about the formation of the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, talk about the sweetness of chickens, and show a delightful video – "Chickens At Play" – about the rescued chickens at United Poultry Concerns' sanctuary in Virginia.

Rina Deych, Brooklyn resident, animal activist and a Founding Member of the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, will present a short video of her courageous filming of a Kaporos ritual site in Brooklyn, NY. Rina has spent twenty years doing one-person demonstrations at places where chickens are swung and slaughtered. Rina will talk about her orthodox grandfather, a kosher butcher in Boro Park in the 1920s, who opposed the use of chickens in Kaporos rituals as well as the mindset of individuals who continue this practice.

Carol Moon, dedicated NYC animal activist and musician, and singer Joy Askew, will sing their own, creative versions of Donna, Donna and Mazel, and the choral group, Veggie Voices, will sing two songs including We Will Not Be Silent. Songs will be adapted to the plight of chickens.

Mary and Peter Max will personally welcome people to their beautiful studio filled with the great art of Peter Max. Members of the press are cordially invited to attend this special evening in which magnificent art and compassionate activism join forces to help chickens.

The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos is a project of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl (www.upc-online.org). The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos is an association of compassionate groups and individuals who seek to replace the cruel practice of swinging and slaughtering chickens in Kaporos rituals with mercy and charity in the true spirit of religious atonement. www.EndChickensAsKaporos.com

SOURCE Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos