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Honoring Our Earth and its people! Thank you for staying tuned. We continue to work hard to spread the word about Fair Trade in our amazing town. Here is what we’ve been up to this month: We celebrated Earth Day by Fair Trading the Media FreeStore We continued to publish our “Meet Our Committee” series We began to envision a US FAIR TRADE WAY Look forward to our May edition! Until then, The Media Fair Trade Committee |
The Media FreeStore has been Fair Traded! |
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| Media Fair Trade Committee members Robin Kaufman, Barbara Bole and David Johnston (behind the camera) attended Media FreeStore volunteer meeting on April 27 to award the organization a Fair Trade basket in honor of the brilliant work they do in our community. |
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Fair Trade and environmental sustainability are strongly connected! Producers who want to become Fair Trade certified must meet a variety of standards that focus on conserving water, soil and biodiversity and limiting the use of agrochemicals, among others. To honor that connection and celebrate Earth Month, we chose a local champion that works to reduce, reuse, and circulate what otherwise would end up in a landfill, wasting resources and contaminating the environment. That is the Media FreeStore! Three members of our committee attended the Media FreeStore volunteer meeting April 27 and presented the group with a basket of Fair Trade items. The basket included Fair Trade soaps, cleaners, chocolate, and snack bars, stickers and brochures to spread the word about Fair Trade among the FreeStore clients and the community. The FreeStore, a project of Transition Town Media, is located at 350 W. State St and opens for browsing and claiming on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm, and for donations Sundays noon to 4 pm. Be sure to visit and ask them about Fair Trade! |
“Meet Our Committee” Series David Johnston |
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| “Fair Trade is about enhancing human dignity and increasing connections between consumers and producers.” David Johnston ~ Media Fair Trade Committee |
| Last month, we kicked off this fun series for you to get to know the incredible and committed volunteers behind the scenes here at the Media Fair Trade Committee. If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you will see our regular posts. We will feature them here monthly. So, without further ado, meet David Johnston, a professor of religious studies at St. Joseph’s University. He volunteered with us for years, took a break to do other amazing things like writing a book, and now he is back for more Fair Trade fun! He produces a wonderful blog to promote understanding and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Check it out here when you have a chance! In his words: “I’m a religious studies scholar and a specialist in Muslim-Christian dialog. My latest book is “Muslims and Christians Debate Justice and Love.” For me, Fair Trade is a great way to spread justice and love — empowering small communities of farmers, craftspeople, and small businesses in poorer countries to earn a living wage and be able to build schools and clinics for themselves. Fair Trade is about enhancing human dignity and increasing connections between consumers and producers.” |
Envisioning America’s Fair Trade Way! |
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| Have you heard of the Fair Trade Way? In our recent efforts to support the CHOCOLATE HAS A NAME project, we learned of this long distance heritage trail linking the first Fair Trade town in England with other Fair Trade towns, and historic, cultural and scenic points of interests. One of the project’s organizers, Joanna Pollard, will be walking this six-day trail at the end of May to raise funds for the project. When we asked ourselves about the possibility of joining Joanna, we realized that we could save resources and make a bigger impact if we walk on our own Fair Trade Way! The idea is to create a trail to unite America’s First Fair Trade Town with the City of Philadelphia and eventually, stretch it all the way to Lancaster, PA. On the way, we will identify Fair Trade businesses and points of interests to make a walk for everyone to enjoy while promoting trade justice and environmental sustainability. If this idea speaks to you, let us know! We need help to envision this trail. Stay tuned for more…we might start walking soon! |