Introduction....

So most of you hear me talk about this wonderful thing called "fair trade". However I realize that many of you do not fully understand what that means and why I am so passionate about it. As you may or may not know I work for Ten Thousand Villages. "Men and women around the world have a simple dream – to earn an honest living, provide a home, food and education for their children, and to be gainfully employed in a job that brings dignity and joy. Ten Thousand Villages partners with thousands of talented artisans in a healthy business relationship. Often referred to as ‘fair trade' our philosophy of helping to build a sustainable future is based on the principle that trade should have a conscience. Through ‘fair trade’ artisans receive respect, dignity and hope from working hard and earning fair value for their work."

"Ten Thousand Villages is a not-for-profit, self-supporting Fair Trade Organization (FTO). FTOs are non-governmental organizations designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize profits. They market products from handicraft and agricultural organizations based in low-income countries, providing consumers with products that have been fairly purchased from sustainable sources. Ten Thousand Villages is a member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), a global network of Fair Trade Organizations. IFAT’s mission is to improve the livelihoods and well-being of disadvantaged producers by linking and promoting fair trade organizations and speaking out for greater justice in world trade. Over 270 FTOs in 60 countries form the basis of this network." (for more information see our website http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/)

In Atlantic Canada Villages is on a much smaller scale than it is in the rest of the country. Out of our office here in Petiticodiac (yes I drive 50 minutes to work 4 days a week) we have a store, which is the only store in Atlantic Canada. However we also coordinate festival sales from here. This means that we send out a truck full of our product with two volunteers to go to places to set up a sale for the weeknd all over Atlantic Canada, on different weekends of course. Most of our sales are down between September to December, but we are now getting more and more spring sales as well. We have contacts who approach us because they are interested in doing a sale and we provide them with the materials and help that they need to do that. They are in charge or organizing volunteers for the sale (to unpack the items, work the cash, etc) and as well we give them advertising materials and a small budget for that and it's up to them to use that how they wish. We are always looking for more communities to have sales in. You'd be amazed at how well a sale can do in small towns and large ones all over Atlantic Canada. If any of you would like more information about this or have any questions please leave me a comment. It's a great activity for youth groups, women's groups, etc.

Working for this organization allows me to do a small part to help a greater cause. A cause that I've got such a passion for that it continues to break me over and over again (yeah Bill Hybels). It's important to me that I'm working towards something that I believe in. It's important to me that I'm following my God given passion using the gifts that He's given me. Everytime we sell 3500 dollars worth of product it provides for a fmaily of four for one year. How cool is that? We try to focus on families provided for and not dollar values around here. For example we have a chart in the lunch room here that tells us how many families we provided for last year. Atlantic Canadians, through purchasing our products, provided for 142 families. It blows me away everytime I think of that or see that chart. We worked our butts off around here but it was so worth it when you take a second to think about the lives that have been changed and the hearts that have been touched.

Now there's a million more things that I could write about and I will get to that so stay tuned. I just don't want to bombard you with too much info right away. I will be posting more on fair trade and giving more examples and info on that at later dates. Thanks for caring and for hanging in there with me on this journey!