Archive for the 'Coffee' Category

I recently stumbled across the “do it yourself” or DIY movements. Although I have been an arts and craft fan since my childhood days at summer camp, this growing community of people creating small businesses or influential hobbies based on their own talents and skills had somehow passed me by. That’s kind of [...]

Read the entry: DIY: Your Parish Can Make Fair Trade a Priority →

When I first joined CRS about 2 and a half years ago, my colleagues told me I needed to get to know some “superstars” in El Paso. They were referring to Joesph and Linda Michon, who direct the Maryknoll Blindness Prevention Project and who also have embraced Fair Trade as a tool of economic [...]

Read the entry: Diocese of El Paso Declares its Support for Fair Trade →

One of the things that keeps getting better and better about my job as a Fair Trade educator is that more and more consumers are aware of Fair Trade. TransFair USA, for example, reports at least 20% of all U.S. coffee drinkers are aware of the Fair Trade label. As a part of the [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade and more in Spanish ~ Comercio Justo y mas en espanol →

It’s true that most college and university students are out for the summer and taking a break from their studies, but for many, it’s time to look back over the year and realize what’s been accomplished. Last week we were talking about parishes on fire, this week we have some outstanding Fair Trade progress [...]

Read the entry: School’s out! Time to learn a lesson from students. →

The summer season means travel time for many people, and Fair Traders are no different. Our own Simone Blanchard, Program Officer and Fair Trade Enthusiast in the CRS Atlanta office, is joining our friends from Cooperative Coffees to visit Central America. Simone and her traveling buddies aren’t taking a summer vacation though. They [...]

Read the entry: Three Coffee Countries in Eight Days: CRS Hits the Trail →

As a follow up to the Business Week article Jackie blogged about earlier this week, I wanted to share a couple examples of some parishes that are on fire about Fair Trade. These just happened to land in my inbox this week, but they’re great examples of how numerous parishes out there are rallying [...]

Read the entry: Parishes On Fire About Fair Trade →

I confess I am behind on my blog postings. But Business Week did my job for me today by posting a story about faith-based commitment to Fair Trade. Check out this news about our friends at Lutheran World Relief and Presbyterian Church USA, as well as how the Adrian Dominican Sisters helped get our [...]

Read the entry: Business Week Reports on Faith-based Fair Trade →

The Economic Justice team just wrapped up another successful CRS Fair Trade Ambassador training near Seattle, WA. Eighteen individuals, alongside CRS-West staff and our program partners, received intensive training and were offered space and time for spiritual reflection, before committing themselves to be word-of-mouth marketing Ambassadors. Our first such training was this time [...]

Read the entry: What is a Word-of-Mouth Ambassador Anyway? →

 The Fair Trade Labeling Organization International (FLO) has increased the price for Fair Trade Coffee! FLO sets the minimum price for Fair Trade coffee and, effective this June, increased the price to $1.25/lb. The price increase is the result of extensive field research into the real costs of sustainable coffee production, which indicated that an adjustment [...]

Read the entry: A Better Price for Coffee Farmers →

The backs have been slapped in congratulations, the hugs of accomplishment exchanged, the coffee mugs rinsed, the crafts packed up, and the soup refrigerated for another day. Such is the satisfying aftermath of a World Fair Trade Day event.

Yesterday I was fortunate to be with the good folks at San Diego Friends of Fair [...]

Read the entry: Reaching Across the World →