The CRS Fair Trader

The Drive for Five: We Need Your Help!

Do you really want to help grow the Fair Trade movement in the United States? Then tell your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues about the CRS Fair Trade Program, and encourage them to join the CRS Fair Trade Network. We are working to get to 5000 members before the start of the Fair Trade Futures Conference on September 30, and we need your help! Remember, your enthusiastic referral will be more effective than all the fancy marketing materials money can buy.

So tell everyone you know -- click here to get started!

Planning Begins for Work of Human Hands Sales

Work of Human Hands volunteers in parishes across the country are already busy planning for fall and winter consignment sales. Although fall may seem far off, it will be here before we know it. Last year, more than 400 parishes nationwide hosted gift sales, generating nearly a half-million dollars in sales to benefit low-income artisans and farmers around the world. With your help, we can involve 500 parishes and generate over $600,000 through Work of Human Hands consignment sales this year. Start planning your sale now -- a few hours of your time can change the lives of low-income artisans around the world.

Click here to order your free consignment packet online, or call toll-free 1-800-685-7572 to get started.

Join CRS at the Fair Trade Futures Conference: September 30-October 2!

Discounts available for early registration CRS is one of nine organizations organizing the first-ever national Fair Trade conference in Chicago this fall, and we want you to join us! Hundreds of Fair Trade activists, companies and producers from all over the world are gathering in Chicago from September 30-October 2 to discuss how together we can make international trade work for the world's poor.

Come to Chicago to learn and enjoy: attend workshops, exchange ideas with fellow Fair Traders from all over the country, and meet the talented individuals who create the Fair Trade items you buy. Go home with the practical tools and inspiration you need to build the Fair Trade movement in your community.

Click here for more information about the Fair Trade Futures Conference . To register for the conference, click here or call 202-234-6797. See you in Chicago!

CRS to Launch Fair Trade Chocolate Program on September 30

CRS will formally launch its Fair Trade Chocolate Program during the first day of the Fair Trade Futures Conference in Chicago on September 30. The event will feature presentations by Joan Neal, CRS Vice President for U.S. Operations, Pauline Tiffen, one of the founders of the Day Chocolate Company that makes Divine chocolate, and Kwabena Ohemeng-Tinyase, Managing Director of the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana that grows the cocoa in Divine chocolate bars. They will tell the Divine story and explain how your decision to buy and sell Divine chocolate makes the world a little sweeter for cocoa farmers in Ghana.

Come to the conference early and join us at 1:30 pm in the Holiday Inn Chicago-Mart Plaza for the launch of the CRS Fair Trade Chocolate Program. Can't make it but want to get involved? Click here or more information about the CRS Fair Trade Chocolate Program.

What's New for You

CRS Introduces All New Fair Trade Resource Center The CRS Fair Trade Program is proud to introduce its all new and improved online Fair Trade resource center. The new Fair Trade Resource page now has more downloadable materials than ever, and a new online order form that allows you to order brochures, posters, catalogues and other items instantly over the Internet. Click here to visit the new CRS Fair Trade Resource Center, and be sure to keep coming back, as new resources are posted continually. Conference on Ethical Commerce in State College, PA, September 23-24 Join fellow Fair Traders and other citizens working for economic justice for the Conference on Ethical Commerce on September 23d in State College, PA. Stay in town for an all-day Fair Trade street fair on the 24th. Click here for more information about the conference and early-registration discounts. Kick Off Your Soccer Season with Fair Trade this Fall CRS Fair Trade Program participant Peace Coffee now carries the world's first Fair Trade Certified soccer ball. This high-quality ball is not made in a sweatshop, but a place where workers are paid fairly and given the kinds of benefits that are denied to many sweatshop workers around the world. Buy them for your school's soccer team or your own personal use. Click here to order yours online today, or call 1-888-324-7872 . Mention the CRS Fair Trade Program when you order, and Peace Coffee will donate a percentage of your purchase to the CRS Fair Trade Fund!