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St
Thomas’s Church has been busy working with Churches
Together in Stourbridge to raise awareness of Fairly
Traded produce and crafts in the town. The national
annual Fair-trade Fortnight ran in March and St Thomas’s
Church Hall was open for 2 Friday lunchtimes to offer
free fairly traded refreshments, to sell fairly traded
produce and to give out information on what “Fair
trade” means.
Fair
trade foods are available from “Traidcraft”
and increasingly from many local supermarkets. Fairly
traded crafts and clothes are also available from “Traidcraft”
and “Tearcraft” and their goods are now
regularly available in the Stourbridge Farmers market.
There are over 1000 fairly traded items around from
coffee to chutney, from footballs to fruit.
The
Fairtrade mark is an independent, international certification
that goods have been traded fairly. More than 5 million
farmers, workers and their families across 49 developing
countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
Matthew Matoli, a coffee farmer from Tanzania says :
”Without our co-operative and selling to the Fairtrade
market, our life would have been terrible. Fairtrade
gives us hope and courage. We are able to earn a higher
wage and better provide for our families”.
The
Mark guarantees :
-
Farmers a fair and stable price for their products
-
Farmers and plantation workers the opportunity to
improve their lives
-
Greater respect for the environment
-
Small farmers a stronger position in world markets
-
A closer link between shoppers and producers
In
addition to foods and craft Fairtrade wines are increasingly
available and a “Fair-trade Wine Tasting”
was held at the end of Fairtrade Fortnight where 8 wines
were tasted that had been bought locally from the Co-op,
Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. Over 70 people supported
the evening and we welcomed our MP , Lynda Waltho and
her husband to the event. Even the roses on the tables
were Fairtrade ones from Sainsbury’s!
A
small working group has recently started up to look
at what needs to be done to reach Fairtrade Town Status
for Stourbridge. If you are interested in Fairtrade
locally please contact Virginia on 01384-394118
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