Learn more about the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program

EQUAL EXCHANGE INTERFAITH PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
August/September 2008

Journey to the Coffee Harvest

Every coffee harvest season faithful and passionate Fair Trade supporters like you choose to join Equal Exchange's Interfaith Program on delegations to coffee growing regions and learn firsthand about the realities of coffee farmers. The following trips are now accepting applicants until the deadline or capacity is reached.

Globalization, Justice and Coffee - Chiapas, Mexico
January 24 - February 3, 2009

This interfaith delegation is sponsored by the Jubilee Justice Task Force of the United Church of Christ, Brethren Witness/Washington Office of the Church of the Brethren, the Interfaith Program of Equal Exchange and Witness for Peace. You will learn about the lives of small coffee farmers in Chiapas, visit an indigenous coffee co-operative and one of its member villages, pick coffee, and reflect with other members of our delegation on social and economic justice in our faith traditions and how to express these themes to members of our communities.

For more information and to request and application, contact Peter Buck at pbuck@equalexchange.coop or 774-776-7414.

Application deadline is November 1, 2008.

Presbyterian Coffee Project Trip to Nicaragua
January 10 – 17, 2009

This trip, co-sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Enough for Everyone Program and Equal Exchange, will be an opportunity to learn about global economic issues and visit Fair Trade coffee and sewing cooperatives. You'll get the chance to pick coffee and stay with coffee farming families, and learn firsthand about the impact of Fair Trade versus conventional trade on communities and families in Nicaragua.

For more information and to request an application, contact Amy Wisehart at awisehart@equalexchange.coop, or 774-776-7423.

Application deadline is October 15, 2008.

Nicaragua: Pour Justice to the Brim
January 5-12, 2009

On this trip, sponsored by Lutheran World Relief (LWR), the Center for Global Education and Equal Exchange, you will learn about social justice issues of the coffee trade and the history of Fair Trade. You will also visit and stay overnight with families in a Nicaraguan coffee co-operative with whom LWR and EE have jointly supported an ecotourism project. For more trip and application information visit http://www.lwr.org/study/nica/

Application deadline is October 8, 2008.
For more information and to reserve a spot today visit our website.

Unitarians Creating Big Change
by Esther West

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is awarding grants through their Small Farmer Fund to two cooperatives dedicated to empowering their women leaders and to creating viable businesses amidst challenging social and economic circumstances. Money for the UUSC Small Farmer Fund is generated by UU congregations' purchases through the UUSC Coffee Project, a partnership between the UUSC and Equal Exchange. For of every pound of fairly traded Equal Exchange products sold through the Project, Equal Exchange gives 20 cents to the UUSC Small Farmer Fund.

Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op (SAAC), a cooperative in rural Georgia that grows and manufactures Equal Exchange's tasty Roasted Salted Pecans, has received approximately $15,000 from the UUSC Small Farmer Fund for training with the Co-operative Development Institute (CDI). CDI will assist SAAC members in creating long-term, sustainable development for this African-American farmer co-operative. Click here to order these pecans and our other snacks.

CESMACH, a coffee-growing cooperative located in Chiapas, Mexico, will be another recipient of UUSC Small Farmer Funds. This cooperative of 225 small-scale farming families from 18 communities will use the $14,375 grant for their Women's Project, an intensive grassroots-initiated training program designed to empower women in the cooperative. Through the training the women of CESMACH will gain tools for self-empowerment and effective co-operative governance. The program will also help women diversify their income through organic gardening and raising domestic animals.

Many thanks to the UUSC and UUSC Coffee Project participants for supporting small farmers as they create concrete, big changes in their lives! In 2007 UU congregations' purchases generated over $18,000 for the UUSC Small Farmer Fund. Equal Exchange's other faith-based partners also have Small Farmer Funds. Learn more about the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program.

New Faces on the Interfaith Team!

Four new people have joined the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program family. Please help us welcome Esther, Cari, Cody and Jamie when you talk with them on the phone or see them at an event. We're so happy to have them here and we look forward to the new ideas, talent and energy they will add to the Fair Trade movement.