wfn.org | Presbyterian fair-traded coffee project now available to

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6682 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

congregations
14-June-2001
GA01123

Presbyterian fair-traded coffee project now available to congregations

by Midge Mack

LOUISVILLE, June 14 - Last April Jerry Van Marter of the Presbyterian News
Service wrote:  "The slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro met the shores of the Ohio
River today as representatives of five Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) program
areas introduced employees at the Presbyterian Center to "fair-traded"
coffee."

Now this program is available to congregations and individuals through Equal
Exchange in Canton, Ma.*
This company was founded in 1986 to create a new approach to trade, one that
includes informed consumers, honest and fair-trade relationship and
cooperative principles. As a worker owned co-op the Exchange offers
consumers fairly-traded gourmet coffee direct from small-scale farmer co-ops
in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Coffee is big business, the second (after oil) most heavily traded commodity
in the world, but for the majority of small coffee farmers, the benefits are
small. The chain of events that leads from the coffee farm to your cup is
long and expensive, often leaving the former with little to live on and no
guarantees of the price
The coffee is endorsed for flavor, variety and price by the coffee-drinkers
at the Presbyterian Center, and a great many others both in and beyond the
Presbyterian family. More importantly buying coffee this way helps small
coffee growers around the world receive fair prices for their products,
eliminating middlemen.

Congregations can order and serve this coffee at church events and
fellowship hours, make it available to members for home use, offer gift
baskets of sample brews for new members or any special occasion, design fund
raisers for youth groups, and discuss fair trade issues in Sunday school and
study groups. The coffee is available in regular and decaffeinated, bulk,
packaged or pillow-pack form.

 * Equal Exchange, 251 Revere St., Canton, MA 02021; 781-830-0303 ext. 228;
or via the Presbyterian Center, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202;
1-888-728-7228 ext.5626, www.pcusa.org/coffee

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