Fair Trade Ambassadors

The success of the CRS Fair Trade program is built upon the work of countless individuals across the country hosting Work of Human Hands sales, converting their parishes to Fair Trade coffee, or educating about Catholic Social Teaching through the Raise Money Right chocolate project.  Often a community is blessed with a superstar:  someone passionate about the values of Fair Trade and Catholic Social Teaching, someone who believes that solidarity will change the world, and someone who--by virtue of his or her own talents, skills and connections—serves as an excellent messenger of the CRS Fair Trade mission.

We have dubbed these messengers "Fair Trade Ambassadors." Ambassadors tell others how Fair Trade is a way for Catholics to live their faith in solidarity with the disadvantaged overseas.

Here are bios on just a few of these fabulous Ambassadors

Joanne Kratz works as a corporate trainer with Merck & Co., Inc..  However, in her free time, she has organized a Work of Human Hands fair at St. Maria Goretti in Hatfield, PA and has volunteered at a local 10,000 Villages store.  She is also a recent graduate of the three-year program to enhance the spirituality of lay ministers in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at the Church Ministry Institute.  She teaches Confirmation Prep at her parish, and she has been promoting the Fair Trade concept in numerous ways, such as giving Fair Trade gifts to family and friends, speaking at her Parish Council to use Fair Trade coffee and tea at all parish events.   Joanne is pictured here with her husband.

Working as a Global Studies Teacher and Global Concerns Moderator at St. Vincent Ferrer High school in New York City, Sinead Naughton has been enthusiastic about promoting Fair Trade to youth.  She has written about the Fair Trade movement on her Facebook page and enjoys experimenting with social media, just like her students.  A native of Ireland, Sinead promotes Fair Trade through her involvements with international groups such as Concern.    She is involved with many Human Rights Education groups in New York City and is a part of a large teacher’s network through classes and workshops that she has taken.   Here’s Sinead at a workshop.

Lois Harr is the director of Campus Ministry and Social Action at Manhattan College in New York City.  She became interested in the promotion of Fair Trade coffee when Catholic Relief Services spoke about this topic to a group of students on campus.  Then, she was one of the chaperones on Rostro de Cristo trip in Duran, Ecuador.  She also has advocated the use of Fair Trade coffee in the cafeteria at the university and has been selling Fair Trade chocolates around campus.  She also would like to sell Fair Trade shirts around campus and Eco-palms for Palm Sunday.  In addition to these activities, she has been working to establish a connection between a banana cooperative in Ecuador and the US.