Trade As One

They call themselves a “regular” church community group, but we aren’t totally buying it. It isn’t everyday that the phone rings at the warehouse and the woman on the other end of the phone explains that her community group wants to spread the word about Fair Trade to 60 of their neighbors. We were thrilled to brainstorm ways they could do this creatively and on a budget. They ended up with a Fair Trade goodie bag filled with tea, chocolate, and a coupon code for tradeasone.com.

Sharing Fair Trade with their neighbors is just one example of the way this community group is extending themselves outside of their group.  Each month, the group takes a new challenge ranging from developing relationships with those who are homeless in San Jose or San Francisco to a plan they have next month to do household chores for neighbors.

We love seeing how faith communities are articulating the connection between how they use their spending and justice issues around the globe. Seeing them take that a step further to educate their friends and neighbors is even more exciting.

It didn’t surprise us to learn that this group is part of GrX Fremont, as this community has already partnered with Trade as One in many ways. We’re proud to have partners like these. If you’d like to do something similar,email us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or leave your info in the comments.

One of the most encouraging things for the team at Trade as One is when individuals and organizations contact us because they want to educate others about fair trade. Even more exciting is when the next generation is leading the charge. In November, Youth Pastor Erik Strom and volunteer Kat Magnuson from Winnetka Covenant Church in Illinois contacted us with an idea their students had generated. After attending CHIC 2009 conference and learning about slavery around the world, the students wanted to get actively involved in fighting against it.

They chose a few projects including selling Fair Trade goods at church on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights. Most compelling, perhaps, is the fact that the students each contributed money to raise $400 to be able to start their own Trading Post featuring Trade as One products. We’re proud to be a small part of the big ideas coming out of these students. You can read more about how they partnered with other organizations and hosted an evening for their friends to educate about human slavery by clicking here.

We’ve had not one, not two, but count ‘em, three events here at Trade as One these past couple weeks.

First, on August 30th, yours truly hopped on a plane out to Heartland Community Church to spend some time with the good people at PM, their “twentysomethings” ministry. It was a great night. Casey Bankord and I spent the evening talking about fair trade and about our role as consumers, and I got the chance to meet some really committed and earnest people. I’m really excited to see what comes out of PM, I met some great people who are excited to bring this idea to their communities, both inside and outside of the church. So all that to say we’re big fans of Heartland and of PM.

Secondly, we got to be a part of HOPElives at Mountain View Community Christian Church outside of Denver this last weekend. They spent a weekend highlighting some organizations they believe in, and some causes that they’ve gotten behind, and encouraged their congregation to get involved. Our partner on the MVCCC end was Brendan Yost, who led their team of volunteers. Orders are still coming in every day from Mountain View, and I hope we get many more chances to work with them.. Plus, any excuse to head out to Colorado is a good one, right?

And finally, we had one event right here in our own backyard. Centerpointe Presbyterian Church hosted us this last weekend, and we piloted our JustOne idea, which you’ll be hearing much more about these next few months. We had some great conversations, got some great feedback, and (i hope) shared an idea that will be in loads of churches this fall.

Next up: our good friends at Riverbend. We love them, and we can’t wait to get back to Austin.

We’re hard at work and getting excited for tomorrow night’s event with Shepherd of the Hills: Slavery No More. This free event at their Porter Ranch Campus will showcase a 30-minute documentary, followed by a panel discussion on the issues of slavery and human trafficking. The night will also provide opportunities for attendees to explore different ways to get involved, including purchasing Trade as One products made by our partners who work directly with women who have been rescued out of the bonds of slavery and oppression. We have a couple of awesome volunteers helping us out and are excited to have a presence alongside other groups also taking a stand against the issues of slavery and human trafficking. If you’re in the area, stop on by!

For more information: Slavery No More

We’re all back from San Antonio and thoroughly enjoying sub-100 degree temperatures back in California. Nathan George spent some time with Doug Robins, one of the teaching pastors at BRCC, and was interviewed about Trade as One and fair trade in each of their five services. The teaching for the weekend was from the book of James, and focused on the need to treat workers fairly.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend, where we got to connect with yet another amazing church in Texas, enjoyed San Antonio despite the heat, and created some desperately needed employment for our producers in the developing world. Today we’ve got an amazing team of volunteers here in the warehouse from Compassion Network helping us pack up all of the orders from the event. Now the real work begins!

A quick recap of things we learned at BRCC:

1. Texas LOVES fair trade (we already knew this, given our connections with BGCT, Woodlands, Ecclesia, Riverbend, FBC Austin, Wilshire, ChaseOaks, etc.)
2. Kelly Schuetz and her volunteer team are absolute stars
3. Shelton Green is one of our favorite people in the world
4. Olive Oil+ 105 degree heat= Corks unexpectedly shooting dozens of feet into the air. Awesome and kinda terrifying.
5. San Antonio is a really cool city
6. Bandera Road Community Church is an amazing community

Next event on the horizon is “Slavery No More” a justice night at Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch, CA. We can’t wait.