Thank you from Fair Trade Team: October 29, 2021
The Fair Trade Team would like to thank all those who attended our Faith Formation hour last Sunday. And a special thanks goes to Sheila and Kara Holder and their friend Jean Currie who provided creative planning and print materials – and the bananas – for the activities. It was fun to see so many enjoying the games and having good discussions while learning about fair trade. Some of our kids and adults especially enjoyed the chocolate milk made from fair trade cocoa while learning to spot the logos and words which identify fair trade products in our stores. Some have shown an interest in working with us which we happily encourage!
We hope to continue to provide information to you on where to find fairly traded products in our greater community and to offer a variety of products at our cart which will be open before and after the service each Sunday.
Fair Trade Halloween Treats: October 8, 2021
The goal is to avoid products of companies like Hershey, Nestle, Mars, Cadbury and Lindt. Why? These companies source cocoa for their chocolate from plantations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Although they have made promises to insure that children and forced labor are not used to produce this cocoa, they have not met their goals for many years and there is no effective enforcement.
Fair Trade certified chocolate is made from cocoa grown on farms without child or forced labor. In addition, working conditions are better, communities use profits to make improvements that they choose (like schools or clean water), and they use techniques that are more respectful of the environment. There is accountability.
So, alternatives to the usual Snickers and M&Ms include Fair Trade certified chocolate, non-chocolate foods, and treats that are not food at all. Let your imagination run wild – you will know what treats are best suited to your children and situation.
FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE
Check out:
- www.slavefreechocolate.org
- www.globalcitizen.org
- www.fairtradeamerica.org/chocolate
- Equal Exchange
- Divine
- Alter Eco Foods
- Theo Chocolate
- Evolved
- UnReal
- Dapaah
NON-CHOCOLATE CANDY
Check out:
- www.thepopcornfactory.com
- www.yumearth.com (allergy friendly)
- www.etsy.com
NON-FOOD TREATS
Check out:
- www.orientaltrading.com
- Stamps
- Stickers
- Glowsticks
- Slap bracelets
- Laser finger lights
- Temporary tattoos
- Spider rings
October is Fair Trade Month!: October 1, 2021
Fair Trade principles and practices are based on the belief that people should receive a living wage for what they produce and that their products should be created using environmentally sound practices for socially responsible outcomes. These principles are implemented by an array of organizations who devote themselves to finding farmers and artisans throughout the world who need assistance in producing and selling their products for a fair wage and who can provide assistance to their communities in developing resources needed to provide for their basic needs. Fair Trade practices have been responsible for developing schools, clean water resources, and many other basic necessities throughout the developing world by furnishing the economic means formerly missing from their communities.
UCE will be celebrating Fair Trade month in October by providing information, fairly traded products from the Fair Trade Cart and hosting a Faith Formation event at the end of the month. We hope to help broaden our understanding of the importance of supporting fair trade and we invite you to talk with us about our mission and become reacquainted with what is offered at UCE. We look forward to seeing you!
Fair Trade Cart Update: October 20, 2020
The Fair Trade Cart has donated its food items to the pantry at Family Focus here in Evanston and will purchase new foods when we return to services at UCE. If you have a fairly traded food item you would like to see included in the future, please send the information to Joan Retzloff (jr1100@comcast.net) and we can see if it can be included in future inventories.
Hopefully, we will be together again in the near future. In the meantime, be safe.
Fair Trade Cart News!: November 22, 2019
This year the Fair Trade Cart will be donating half of its holiday profits to Team Brownsville to support its efforts to help immigrants at the border. The remaining half will continue to provide grocery gift cards for selected families at Chute Middle School here in Evanston.
Come browse the new items and the old favorites on the Cart and help many have a good holiday this year!
More News from the Fair Trade Cart: December 1, 2017
This year Fair Trade Cart funds are being used to support activities for the children at Family Focus here in Evanston in addition to our long standing contributions to Chute Middle School. We met JoAnn Avery, who is the Program Manager at Family Focus, at the “Women Making Change” event last March and her presentation inspired us to ask about how we might help. She had many ideas and we are working to make them happen!
So far, under the direction and continuing work of Jackie Seaman, we have reorganized their library and are maintaining it as necessary. We also provided a tutor during the last summer camp session, funded a trip to the “Just Us Girls” conference at Benedictine University this fall, and we are currently providing gifts for selected families for the holidays. In addition to all this, we hope to fund scholarships and field trips in the coming year.
So your purchases are being put to good use, both in helping the farmers and artisans who produce our goods, and in helping the children at Chute Middle School and Family Focus in our community. Thank you!
News from the Fair Trade Cart: November 17, 2017
This year your Fair Trade purchases have help fund the “Healthy Eagles Club” at Chute Middle School for another year! The students have, among other things, planted and harvested both flowers and vegetables, turned their potatoes into baked french fries, learned how to make guacamole, and saved the seeds from their crops to plant next year’s garden.
You may have also seen the flowers they planted to beautify the school grounds and the neighborhood. All this in addition to funding gift certificates for selected families at holiday time. May what you give bring you joy!
News from the Fair Trade Cart: December 15, 2016
Here are some of the kids who are enjoying learning about healthy living at Chute Middle School with support from UCE’s Fair Trade Cart.
We have provided funds for their Healthy Eagles Club to plant and tend a garden at school and then to learn to prepare their harvest from visiting chefs. Your purchases make possible this year-long activity at Chute School in addition to paying for the gift certificates given to selected families at holiday time. We, and these kids, thank you for your continuing support of the Fair Trade Cart and wish you a Happy New Year!
News from the Fair Trade Cart and FAST: June 2016
The Fair Trade Cart and F.A.S.T. are happy to announce that we are now supporting a new enterprise at Chute School here in Evanston. This is in addition to our yearly donation to help selected Chute families at the holdays. Our contact is UCE member Randy Barrengos who is a social worker at the school and here is what Randy wrote to us to describe this project.
“For the past couple of years, Chute has had a garden club led by two or three dedicated teachers, that had about 12-15 kids attending each week for part of the school year. This year we decided to expand the student’s work in the Chute garden to include other healthy lifestyle activities. Hence, we have renamed our club, Actions For Healthy Eagles Club. (Eagles are our school mascots). At the first meeting, we had 25 students attending. Our club activity that day was picking kale from the garden, and preparing the kale and other ingredients to make healthy smoothies. The kids were totally into it and I was personally surprised how they took a risk and actually drank their smoothies that had healthy kale in them!!!! We also had the students fill out a survey about what they would like to do in the club. We are very excited about our new club and some of the great activities we are putting on the calendar which includes having guest chefs cook with the students, professional yoga teachers for yoga classes, nature walks to the lake, and our list goes on.”
Randy tells us now that the club meets three times each month and averages between twelve and twenty students at each meeting. They have already had sessions with a cook and a yoga instructor. She welcomes ideas, donations, and volunteers who can share a healthy living skill or talent with the students for one or two class sessions. Contact Joan Retzloff at jr1100@comcast.net to share your ideas for the club.
FAIR TRADE PRINCIPLES IN THE USA
The Fair Trade team is hoping to find additional socially responsible vendors who pay fair wages and subscribe to sustainable production standards in the US. The vast majority of Fair Trade efforts are focused on helping people in developing countries, but we think we need to support responsible American enterprise too. We now sell Women’s Bean Project soups from Colorado and the perfumes produced in Chicago community gardens. We have sold soaps and personal items from a women’s group in Chicago too . We are now adding “Sweet Beginnings”, a Chicago company that employs and trains people to produce and sell products made with honey from their own hives. If we can find more groups like this, we would like to support them and tie that support into the UUSC income inequality project. These groups pay fair wages and focus on providing good jobs and training for disadvantaged communities and that is something we can all get behind! Watch for new products and give us your ideas at the Fair Trade Cart.
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