Buying fair trade is a choice for a better world
Photo by: NY State Labor-Religion CoalitionRehima Hussein and her coffee-farming family live far from town, but thanks to the economic benefits of fair trade, Rehima completed high school and now attends college. Fair trade premiums benefit the entire community by allowing farmers to support their families. Parents can afford to keep their children in school rather than sending them out to work. Rehima's family is a member of the Orimia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia.
Brian O’Shaughnessy, the Executive Director, recently wrote a letter of thanks to the Synod of the Northeast and Albany Presbytery for our support, saying in part, “We thank you for your prayers and are happy to publicize that our grant is made possible through the sincere responses of Presbyterians to the love of God expressed in Jesus Christ through One Great Hour of Sharing.”
The LRC Fair Trade Project builds support for the fair trade movement among union members, their families and their communities. International worker-to-worker solidarity trumps the ravages of corporate monopolies as union members "walk the walk" with workers around the world.
Fair Trade creates a relationship between a consumer who receives a product of excellent quality and a producer who gets a fair price for it. In addition to quality we have something other sellers cannot offer the consumer — the chance to help communities develop by supporting farmer-owned organizations and care for the environment through the purchase of organic coffee.
—Victor Perezgróvos, Unión Majomut Coffee Cooperative, Mexico.
Presbyterians are connected to the Orimia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union through their One Great Hour of Sharing donations, which benefit the Union through the LRC. And those PC(USA) congregations that participate in the Presbyterian Coffee Project, especially those who purchase Ethiopian coffee, support them by drinking their coffee.
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