The CRS Fair Trader
Volume I, Issue 4 — Fall 2005
Make A Difference Host a Fair Trade Sale
Think it's too late to host a Fair Trade sale? Think again!
You can still host a holiday sale of Fair Trade gifts from around the world at your parish, at your office, in your home—wherever you want! A Greater Gift, our partner in the Work of Human Hands program, prioritizes orders based on the date of your sale, so once you place your order, you should receive your handcrafts within about two weeks!
New to Fair Trade? Short on time? Then order a convenient Preselected Package in one of three different dollar values—we want to make it as easy as possible for you to sell gifts that give hope.
When you host a sale, you give people in your community the opportunity to buy beautiful, one-of-a-kind handcrafts. More importantly, you give them the opportunity to provide hope and dignity to the talented artisans and farmers around the world who created them. What better way to bring the spirit of Christmas into your community?
Find everything you need online at www.crsfairtrade.org or call 1-800-685-7572 for a free no-obligation packet.
Make a difference this year. Host a Fair Trade gift sale.
Click on the catalog image to order a free, no-obligation consignment sale kit.
Make the World Sweeter for Cocoa Farmers CRS Launches Fair Trade Chocolate Program
CRS has launched a Fair Trade Chocolate Program—now you can make the world sweeter for cocoa farmers! The program is a partnership between CRS and A Grater Gift to promote Divine Fair Trade chocolate—the same chocolate that is already available through the Work of Human Hands Program.
The Chocolate Program invites you to participate in four ways: BUYING Divine Fair Trade chocolate to eat (YUM!), GIVING it as a gift, SELLING it as a fundraiser you can feel good about, and ENCOURAGING store managers in your community to offer Divine wherever chocolate is sold.
Click here for the press release.
Click here for more information about the CRS Fair Trade Chocolate Program.
Click here to buy Divine Fair Trade Chocolate now!
CRS Announces Chocolate ChallengeProgram Working to Generate $200,000 in Chocolate Sales
The CRS Fair Trade Chocolate Program wants to have a real impact on the lives of cocoa farmers, so we are setting an ambitious goal: we want to help our partner, A Greater Gift, sell over $200,000 of Divine Fair Trade chocolate by the end of 2006. And we need your help! Buy Divine Fair Trade chocolate and eat it—yum! Give it as a thoughtful and tasty gift to the people you love. Sell it to raise money for a good cause, and to raise awareness about Fair Trade. Let's work together to make life sweeter for cocoa farmers!
Click here to learn more about the CRS Chocolate Challenge!
More than 750 Attend Fair Trade Conference CRS Sponsors First National Fair Trade Conference
Over 750 Fair Trade producers, importers, retailers, advocates and consumers from more than 20 countries gathered in Chicago from September 30 to October 2 for the Fair Trade Futures Conference—the first national Fair Trade conference ever held in the United States. The three-day event featured dozens of workshops on every conceivable aspect of Fair Trade, keynote addresses by Fair Trade leaders, and a Fair Trade fashion show. Participants learned from Fair Trade leaders and peers, and left with new tools and inspiration to promote Fair Trade in their communities.
CRS was one of nine organizations that sponsored the conference, and CRS staff members from Baltimore and Nicaragua were featured panelists in four different workshops.
Click here for more information on the Fair Trade Futures Conference, and to learn how you can become part of the Fair Trade Futures Community.
CRS Awards 26 Conference Scholarships
The CRS Fair Trade Program awarded scholarships to help 26 university students and other CRS allies participate in the Fair Trade Futures Conference. The scholarships, which covered conference registration and lodging, were made possible by a Market-Building Grant from the CRS Fair Trade Fund. Scholarship winners were selected by CRS Regional Directors throughout the United States in consultation with campus leaders and other CRS partners, and represented St. Joseph's University, St. Mary's University, Santa Clara University, Seattle University, Southern Methodist University, Villanova University, University of the Incarnate Word, University of Portland, University of San Francisco, the Diocese of Spokane, and the Diocese of Springfield, MA. Click on the images below to meet some CRS scholarship winners and read their reflections on the conference.
Marisa (en español) Jordan JuliaWhat's New for You
CRS + Villanova + Pura Vida = Good Things for Coffee Farmers Villanova University has announced that it will serve Fair Trade coffee from Pura Vida at 11 campus locations. Pura Vida participates in the CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program, and will donate a percentage from the proceeds of its sales at Villanova to the CRS Fair Trade Fund. Click here to read a press release regarding the CRS-Villanova-Pura Vida connection. CRS Makes Fair Trade Fund Makes Grant to Women's Roastery in Guatemala The CRS Fair Trade Program made a Development Grant in September to a group of CRS-supported indigenous women in Guatemala to help them modernize their artisanal coffee roastery. Click here to learn more about the women of APECAFORM. Teens Win Fair Trade Chocolate Rap ContestDay Chocolate, the company that produces Divine brand Fair Trade chocolate, recently announced the winner of its Fair Trade rap competition in England: two 13-year-old artists who call themselves Shudda and Ablaze. Their rap "Dubble Trouble" was selected from among thousands of entries, and they were invited to record it with British rap star Shystie. The title refers to the Dubble bar, Day Chocolate's leading product for youth in England.
Click here to listen to the winning entry! Click here to download the lyrics. Bad News and Good News for CRS Fair Trade Coffee Drinkers The bad news: CRS learned last month that nine of the companies that participate in the CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program—the same nine that are carrying coffee grown by CRS-supported farmers in Nicaragua—lost roughly a half-million pounds of green coffee in the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, including much of the coffee grown by CRS-supported farmers in Nicaragua. If you are specifically interested in purchasing a Nicaraguan blend containing this coffee, please ask your roaster when you order about its availability. The good news: the farmers who grew the coffee have been paid, our U.S. partners are insured against the loss, and our partners here in the United States will be offering this coffee again next spring.