Fair Trade Coffee Project
Since early 2011, we have provided fair trade coffee and tea for our Connections Café and at many church functions. We offer fair trade products for sale about once a month after church service. Products we regularly sell are: organic regular coffee, organic decaf coffee, hazelnut coffee, hot cocoa, many different varieties of organic tea (some decaf), and dark chocolate bars. In addition, the Fair Trade Fund donated coffee to the Café when Equal Exchange offered sales credits for large orders of Fair Trade products.
A portion of the proceeds from products we purchase from Equal Exchange helps to support the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The UMCOR Coffee Project is an innovative way to reach out to small-scale farmers in the developing world while enjoying fellowship. (See the You Tube video below!) By supporting fair trade we help small farmers in Latin America, Asia and Africa earn a fairer share of income, obtain access to credit and technical support, utilize sustainable farming practices, and gain a trading partner they can trust-- a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange. It also helps to reduce the use of child labor and lessen poverty in these countries.
Our efforts to actively support fair trade products are in accordance with a 2008 UMC General Conference resolution calling on all UM congregations to use fairly traded products. Equal Exchange is a democratically organized worker-owned fair trade cooperative located in Massachusetts. Your support of fair trade products provides needed income to UMCOR in addition to helping out small farmers in third world countries.
Last year, United Methodist Congregations and communities across the United States purchased 96,000 pounds of fairly traded products from Equal Exchange. As a result, Equal Exchange made a $14,411 donation to UMCOR. In 2015, UMCOR used Small Farmers to support two projects, one in India and the other in Nicaragua that aim to increase the food and nutritional security of women and children in rural communities through training in gardening and nutrition.
We encourage anyone who might be interested in joining this effort to please contact the church office so that we may help you get involved. Your participation will be greatly appreciated.
Your Fair Trade Coordinator -- Stan Lockwood
A portion of the proceeds from products we purchase from Equal Exchange helps to support the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The UMCOR Coffee Project is an innovative way to reach out to small-scale farmers in the developing world while enjoying fellowship. (See the You Tube video below!) By supporting fair trade we help small farmers in Latin America, Asia and Africa earn a fairer share of income, obtain access to credit and technical support, utilize sustainable farming practices, and gain a trading partner they can trust-- a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange. It also helps to reduce the use of child labor and lessen poverty in these countries.
Our efforts to actively support fair trade products are in accordance with a 2008 UMC General Conference resolution calling on all UM congregations to use fairly traded products. Equal Exchange is a democratically organized worker-owned fair trade cooperative located in Massachusetts. Your support of fair trade products provides needed income to UMCOR in addition to helping out small farmers in third world countries.
Last year, United Methodist Congregations and communities across the United States purchased 96,000 pounds of fairly traded products from Equal Exchange. As a result, Equal Exchange made a $14,411 donation to UMCOR. In 2015, UMCOR used Small Farmers to support two projects, one in India and the other in Nicaragua that aim to increase the food and nutritional security of women and children in rural communities through training in gardening and nutrition.
We encourage anyone who might be interested in joining this effort to please contact the church office so that we may help you get involved. Your participation will be greatly appreciated.
Your Fair Trade Coordinator -- Stan Lockwood