Fair Trade Partners

We in the Fair-Trade Corner are honored to partner with the myriad companies whose mission statements and values seem to so accurately reflect UU core values and beliefs. Purchasing goods produced by these companies speaks volumes about you as a consumer. By buying products from these companies which we have so carefully screened, you are making a difference in the lives of families around the globe! To follow are excerpts from the mission statements of some of our partner companies.

The mission of A Thread of Hope  (athreadofhope.org) is to help economically disadvantaged Mayan women in Guatemala to improve the standard of living for themselves and their families and to empower themselves while preserving their cultural traditions.

The long term plans of Mr. Ellie Pooh  (www.mrelliepooh.com) and Maximus are to introduce what has been coined Project Peace Paper. The idea is to help the Human/Elephant conflict that currently rages in the rural village areas of Sri Lanka. Beautiful paper products from elephant dung.

Global Mamas  (www.globalmamas.org) enhances the international marketplace with unique, high quality, handmade apparel, and at the same time provides sustainable livelihoods for women and girls in Africa. We believe that helping women gain economic independence is the most effective way to reduce dependence on foreign aid and steadily create a prosperous society.

Ten Thousand Villages ( www.tenthousandvillages.com), a company which our Corner has partnered with for many years now, has roots that harken back to 1946. In that year, imports of needlecrafts from low-income women in Puerto Rico and displaced people in Europe began. These early efforts laid the groundwork for the company that would become, in 1972, Ten Thousand Villages, North America’s first Fair Trade organization.

SERRV, ( www.serrv.org) formerly A Greater Gift, was established in 1948 as North America’s second fair trade organization. It began by importing wooden clocks from German refugees of World War II.

Equal Exchange, ( shopequalexchange.coop) yet another very familiar name in our Corner (think coffee, tea, olive oil, and chocolate – bars, baking supplies, and drinks!), was established in 1986 as the first Fair Trade cooperative in North America, importing coffee from Nicaragua as a way to make a political statement with a high-quality household item.

Among the many other partners whose fair trade or environmentally just products are available in the Fair Trade Corner are: Made By Survivors, Women of the Cloud Forest, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Peacemonger, Global Crafts, Minga Imports, Jabebo, Women’s Bean Project, and Good Paper.

Visit the Corner before or after Sunday service, Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 until 4:00, or before or after Emerson Center Florida Humanities evenings or Live from Vero Beach entertainment events.

Denise Haight

Fair Trade Committee

For questions about our Fair-Trade program:Contact: fairtrade@uufvb.org, or call (772) 778-5880.