Fair Trade Team
What is "fair trade"?
"In today's world economy, where profits rule and small-scale producers are left out of the bargaining process, farmers, crafts producers, and other workers are often left without resources or hope for their future. Fair Trade helps exploited producers escape from this cycle and gives them a way to maintain their traditional lifestyles with dignity. Fair Trade encompasses a range of goods, from agricultural products from the global South such as coffee, tea, chocolate and bananas, to handcrafts including clothing, households, and decorative arts."
Find meeting minutes and other information in: Lawrence Fair Trade
The annual Fair Trade Holiday Gift Market dates for 2009 are Nov. 27 – Dec. 3. We need approximately 40 volunteers!!
The annual Fair Trade Holiday Gift Market in November 2008 raised approximately $19,000. Most of these dollars were sent to cooperatives in countries where two dollars is the average daily wage. In addition, local vendors were able to provide unique items. Alternative gifts were also available with cards to send to recipients, telling them a contribution had been made to Habitat for Humanity or the Heifer Project. 45 volunteers helped make this year's gift market possible!
We welcome new members for the Fair Trade team.
2009 Priorities
We'll be doing the Holiday Market again, but other possibilities include:
- -Teaming up with KU Students Against Sweatshops for their Workers' Rights Consortium Designated Suppliers Program (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Rights_Consortium)
- -Teaming up with Lawrence Fair Food to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (http://ciw-online.org)
- -Starting a FT Coffee on Campus campaign
- -....? What else? Come with ideas to share!
Hope to see some of you there!
For meeting information, please contact one of the coordinators:
- Meredith Walrafen (mwal22@ku.edu)
- Hadley Gailbraith (hadles@ku.edu)
- Anna Hoard (ahoard@ku.edu)