Join us for Fair Trade Sunday on May 8

Help us celebrate Fair Trade and the anniversary of our designation as a Fair Trade Congregation on Sunday, May 8. Come to the forum at 9 a.m. for a special presentation about Fair Trade by Maria Arroyo. She has spent several months living with a Fair Trade coffee cooperative in Chiapas. You will be treated to goodies made with Fair Trade ingredients compliments of members of the Cathedral’s Fair Trade Committee - Christie Batten, Suzanne Papp, Mary Doak, Sandy Lawrensen, and Carolyn Lief.

Mother’s Day is an especially appropriate time to celebrate Fair Trade since the lives of mothers and women across the globe are honored. In so many places women are enslaved and exploited, but when they are part of a Fair Trade cooperative or group of artisans, they must receive fair wages and treatment and can organize and be empowered to decide their own futures. At the 9 a.m. forum there will be a display of many Fair Trade items women have created. If you thought Fair Trade means only coffee, chocolate, and tea, you will be surprised!

 Please join us!

Carolyn Lief

Fairly traded: October is Fair Trade Month!

October is Fair Trade Month. Look for some homemade goodies (made with FT chocolate, of course!) at the Fair Trade table at coffee hours on October 4th and 18th. Even though we are blessing animals after the 10:30 service on the 4th, we’ll have a table in the 6th Ave. courtyard (people need snacks too!).

I also want to let you know of a new Fair Trade product in the markets: Fair Trade Ahi Tuna Steaks. They are wild caught and frozen, and you may find them at Vons. I barbecued mine and they were great!

HAPPY FAIR TRADE MONTH!

Carolyn Lief

Fairly Traded: New Partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development

Important news release!  The EPISCOPAL RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT FAIR TRADE PROJECT is now partnering with Equal Exchange to bring healing to our hurting world.  That means that for every pound of delicious chocolates, cocoas, teas, nuts, and our new coffees, 15% of the cost will benefit ERD. 

I hope you will be at church this Sunday, May 17, to celebrate our designation as a Fair Trade Congregation.  Taste the new coffees we will be selling, and sample several home-made treats made from Equal Exchange chocolate and cocoa.  Remember to buy more of the chocolates you love as well!

Remember, you can shop for great Fair Trade products at coffee hour on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month.

Carolyn Lief

Fairly Traded: A Passion for Fair Trade

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the trip I took to Nicaragua that awoke in me a passion for Fair Trade. With the help of others in our community a new organization was born on late 2005: Fair Trade San Diego (originally San Diego Friends of Fair Trade). Over the course of the intervening years La Mesa became a Fair Trade Town and UCSD and USD became Fair Trade Universities. Pt. Loma Nazarene University and SDSU are in the process.

In 2015 we celebrate the fact that St. Paul’s Cathedral is a Fair Trade Congregation. St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church is the only other San Diego area congregation.

 You can see a web page acknowledging our accomplishment by clicking on this link.   Our campaign is complete with the introduction of Fair Trade teas at coffee hour. Look for herbal teas: Organic Peppermint, Organic Vanilla Rooibos, and Organic Chamomile! We now use Kirkland Fair Trade Certified Coffee for hospitality.

More to be celebrated is the fact that as a congregation we make a statement in favor of economic justice for small farmers in the global south. Shop for great Fair Trade products at coffee hour on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month.

Carolyn Lief

Fairly Traded: Wearing the Green on St Patrick's Day

Dawn Stary writes, 

St. Patrick’s is synonymous with the color green. So what better way to celebrate a Fair Trade St. Patrick’s Day than with all things green (and one thing simply Irish)?

Here is my list of green things to wear for St. Patrick’s Day. There are options for women, men and babies and not to mention a tasty beverage and an accessory for the home.

Fair Trade Baby Onesie from Global Mamas

Fair Trade Women’s Necklace from 31Bits

Fair Trade Men’s Shirt in Green from Prana

Seven Hopes United Chevron Basket

Fair Trade Irish Breakfast Tea

Fairly Traded is our regular blog series about Fair Trade and how your economic choices can make a difference.

Fairly Traded: Take on Everyday Justice for Lent

This Saturday (Feb. 21), Simpler Living is sponsoring the film “The Dark Side of Chocolate” (come to the potluck first at 6 PM in the Guild Room.) Most of us are aware of the good side of dark chocolate, but how it’s produced is another matter altogether – the dark side.

Well, it turns out that there is a dark side to more than just chocolate. Many other goods and services we enjoy come to us at the expense of the lives of others(workers who receive low wages, or none, in horrific working conditions, mostly in developing countries). Fair Trade exists to counter that trend.

Richard and I have been reading a book, Everyday Justice, by Julie Clawson (available at Amazon). It explores the global impact of our daily choices – food, fuel, clothing, waste, debt, coffee, and yes, chocolate. We commend this book to you. There are Fair Trade alternatives to food and clothing; it may take some work to find them. Maybe that work would be a good thing to take on for Lent. Incorporate one new Fair Trade item into your life and become part of everyday justice. Have a blessed Lent.

  Carolyn Lief

Fairly Traded is our regular blog series about Fair Trade and how your economic choices can make a difference.

Fairly Traded: a fair trade Valentine's day!

St. Valentine’s Day!  It’s a time for chocolates, flowers and unique gifts for your special someone.  And it’s a holiday that can easily be made fair trade!!

Fair trade chocolates are available in abundance and can be found at your local grocers or online.  Sprout’s, Whole Foods and Ocean Beach People’s Coop all sell fair trade chocolate.  And perhaps your loved one likes frozen chocolate treats, anywhere you can buy Ben and Jerry’s you can buy fair trade.

Fair Trade flowers are beautiful and ethical. I have seen fair trade flowers at Whole Foods in the past but you can definitely buy them online. Check out One World Flowers (https://www.oneworldflowers.org) for great fair trade flower options.

Fair trade gifts are unique and gift back. Here are a few of my favorite online spots to buy fair trade gifts:

AshandRose.com – this site sells ethical and fair trade clothing and accessories from several different vendors.  You don’t need to search all over the Internet to find a great gift.  They sell Mata Traders, which is one of my favorite fair trade purveyors of clothing and accessories.

SevenHopesUnited.com – they are locally owned in San Diego and sell wonderful gifts for men and women.

TenThousandVillages.com – Ten Thousand Villages is one of the oldest fair trade sellers in the United States.  Again, their items are unique and a very good place to find gifts for men and women.

Happy Valentine’s Day – Dawn

Alternative gift Expo: Thanks!

I hope most of you were able to participate in the hugely successful Alternative Gift EXPO on November 23rd!

 I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the EXPO committee: to Paula Peeling for publicity and Emily Velez-Confer for graphics (posters and printing); to Doug Clark for organizing the cashiers (a big job due to using credit cards and centralizing check-out); Suzanne Papp for the soup café (and Paula Peeling who stepped right up to fill in for Suzanne’s ill husband); Elaine Graybill for setting up the hall and décor; Sandy Lawrensen for handling the Ten Thousand Villages crafts; Christie Batten for the coffee and chocolate sales with an enhanced inventory for the EXPO; John Stender-Custer for working with the high school youth on the Episcopal Relief & Development booth. Of course this meant a lot of background support from their families!

 

Special thanks to Erin Sacco-Pineda for helping with special accounting tasks! The sexton staff assisted, worked around us and with us.

Thanks also to other Cathedral parishioners who staffed tables: Robin Taylor (ECS); Bart Smoot (Haiti health); Dorcas House team, Richard Lee and others; Julia Nunez (Peruvian dolls); Colin Mathewson (Salvadoran crafts); Rob Donaldson (St. John’s Eye Hospital); Dale Hoppenrath (Uptown Interfaith); Phil Petrie (Simpler Living); High school youth (ERD); Marilyn Slater (Nonviolent Peace Force; Melinda Oslie’s great jams; members of St. Paul’s Foundation support team.



A real treat was the Karen dancers from the Episcopal Refugee Network program! The ERN leader reported that after the young people performed to people came to her to offer volunteer services. Several vendors commented that they enjoyed getting to know some of the outside organizations they worked beside during the event. As always we appreciated background piano music by Chris Schneider.

What a great gift we offered God’s world. Lots for which to be thankful!

Carolyn Lief 

Fairly Traded: On our way to a fair trade congregation

At its November meeting the Cathedral Chapter passed a resolution to have St. Paul’s begin the process of becoming a Fair Trade Congregation. “What does this mean?” you might well ask.

A branch of the Fair Trade certifying body, FairTradeUSA, began the Fair Trade Towns and Universities campaigns a few years ago, and just this year added the Fair Trade Congregations campaign. This is not a new idea. In the UK there are 7,300 fair trade congregations. La Mesa is a fair trade town and UCSD and USD are fair trade universities. Point Loma Nazarene University is almost there, and the church on its campus is the first fair trade congregation in the San Diego area. There is a Fair Trade Episcopal Congregation in Minnesota.

To become a fair trade congregation St. Paul’s Cathedral pledges to use 2 Fair Trade products (we already use Justo Café, registered with Fair Trade Federation). We will also be offering 2 educational opportunities and 2 other events a year (like the Alternative Gift EXPO).

For our second Fair Trade product we might use Fair Trade sugar or tea for hospitality. See if you can spot the change when it happens! Of course you know we regularly offer Fair Trade coffee, tea, and chocolate for sale. Simpler Living will show the film, “The Dark Side of Chocolate” in the winter. It is a moving film dealing with the use of child labor on cacao plantations.

Incorporating fair trade products into our lives is one way we can bring justice to bear in the businesses that so often exploit small farmers in the global south. Our purchases have the power to change lives! Show your support at the Alternative Gifts EXPO on November 23rd!!

Carolyn Lief

Alternative Gift Expo returns!

FORGET THE MALL… BUY A PIG at St. Paul’s Cathedral!

St. Paul’s Alternative Gift Expo returns on Sunday, Nov. 23, 8:30AM-1PM to the Great Hall!

Coming together with common values, our St. Paul’s community demonstrates an alternative to our commercial consumptive culture-a colorful and festive marketplace with choices for gifts that revolve around issues you care about. Donate chicks to a Central American family in the honor of a beloved friend. Perhaps you will buy savory soup mixes to feed your family on Sunday evening.

Enjoy yourself, and bring a friend and the kids!

P.S. Yummy Tomorrow Project soup and bread will be offered for refreshment, and we will accept both Cash and Credit cards

Offerings Include:

Fair Trade Chocolate, Coffee, Tea and more- $1-$15

Episcopal Relief and Development- Donations of mosquito nets, goats, chickens, pigs…! $12+

Episcopal Community Services- Subway and Target Gift Cards for Downtown Safe Haven (our close neighbor) and Friend to Friend (helping adults with mental disabilities get their feet on the ground), $10 and $25

The Meeting Place Clubhouse- sales of succulents in creative planters, candy cane flower vases, photo squares, hot chocolate in jars, and cookie mix, assist adults with mental conditions re-enter the workplace, $5-$10

Mission in Maseno (Kenya)- handcrafted note cards benefitting the AIDS/HIV hospital and small college, $15

Haiti Health Clinic- help purchase blood pressure medications for Dr. Bart Smoot’s Blood Pressure Clinic- $20+

Plant with Purpose- renew the earth with gifts of trees, chicks, family gardens, bunnies, $1+

Simpler Living- cloth shopping bags with Cathedral logo, $5

St. Mark’s City Heights- Taste of Community cookbook supports the Neighborhood Food Cupboard, $20

Salvadoran Crafts- crocheted aprons and purses, $20

Knitting4Peace- Peace Pal dolls that can be knitted or crocheted, $10, Note cards are $15

Nonviolent Peaceforce- Buy a Peace Bond or potholder to support this group’s training of civilians to provide unarmed civilian peacekeeping in violent areas of the world, $10

Ten Thousand Villages- a myriad of unusual small gifts from fair trade communities across the globe, a varied range of prices

Tomorrow Project- fabulous soups (enjoy a cup for lunch!), spice rubs, and rice mixes train and empower low-income women for work readiness, $7+

Other opportunities are hand crafted Peruvian dolls from the Q’ewar Project in the Andes, offerings from Dorcas House, Episcopal Refugee Network, Uptown Faith Community Service Center, and the St. John’s Hospital in Jerusalem. Melinda will be on hand with her delicious jams ($5)that support the St. Paul’s Organ Fund.

Fairly Traded: Alive and Well at St Paul's

“But let justice flow like water…”. This was the vision of the prophet Amos (5:24) in response to the corruption of the Israelites that was taking them away from their true relationship with God. At St. Paul’s Cathedral we are involved with several acts of justice which we believe flow from God’s Spirit in us.

I wonder if you have considered that purchasing the Fair Trade products we sell after services on the first and third Sundays of the month is one of these acts. Fair Trade Bishops Blend Coffees and the Equal Exchange chocolate, teas, and nuts, promise to compensate the growers who produce them with fair income. A primary goal of the Fair Trade movement is to empower all people and improve the quality of their lives.

Don’t let your Fair Trade shopping stop at the Cathedral, though! You can find Fair Trade products in the ‘hood at Café Bassam, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Balboa Park, Sprouts. I’ll bet you can find more. Look for these labels that indicated the product is Fair Trade Certified or follows Fair Trade principles.

Carolyn Lief

Fairly Traded: Introduction

What's Fair Trade?  Over the next few months Dawn and Carolyn will be telling us more about Fair Trade, and their efforts to have SPC designate as a Fair Trade Congregation.   

For the past several years the fair trade movement has been growing in the United States. Small groups of individuals have gathered to raise awareness about what fair trade is and why it is important. Soon those groups started to make whole towns, universities and schools fair trade. Now this enthusiasm to declare congregations fair trade is taking hold too.

In San Diego people of faith have been at the forefront of the fair trade movement and have shown leadership through the organization Fair Trade San Diego. They have felt called by their faith to support a movement that helps lift women, men and children in the Global South out of poverty. Fair trade is a system of trade that puts people, not profit first. Fair trade cooperatives are democratically run, guarantee healthy working conditions, no child or forced labor, gender equality and a livable wage. There are many different fair trade products for sale in stores and online. A short list of more common items include: coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate, ice cream, clothing, jewelry and children’s toys.

St. Paul’s Cathedral for the past several years has been supporting fair trade through educational outreach, serving fair trade coffee at coffee hour, selling fair trade items after church services and the annual Alternative Gift Expo.

Our baptismal covenant calls us to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being. Through our purchases of fair trade items we are affirming the dignity of all God’s people.

I hope that you enjoy the following video, which demonstrates some of the impact Fair Trade has on growers of cacao!

Dawn Stary  

Simpler Living: Fair Trade Holiday Shopping

The Holiday season is approaching!  Simpler living sends us this list of shopping opportunities that focus on Fair Trade and opportunities where your $$$ can make a  difference.  Bookmark this page so you can refer back to it throughout the season! 


              Fair Trade Holiday Shopping Guide!                  

Be Christ's blessing in the world this holiday season -- shop fair trade!

Holiday Markets THIS Sunday, November 24

• St. David's Episcopal Church, during 9 am forum and after 10:30 service. For further information call Linda Ten Eyck at (858) 277 6885.
• First Lutheran Church, 10:30 am to 12 noon
• Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, 8:30 am to 1 pm, or shop it online!

Saturday, December 7

• All Souls Episcopal Church Home Tour, Tea, and Marketplace
• San Diego Peace Bazaar, 10am-2pm

Online Catalogs

• Episcopal Relief and Development's Gifts for Life Catalog
• Tomorrow Project
• Thistle Farms
• Malia Designs
• 7 Hopes United
• VaVa Vida
• Exotic World Gifts

Local Stores

• Around the World Gifts, 2611 Congress St.
• United Nations International Gift Shop
• Fair Trade Decor, Del Mar (also at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market)

image from http://orgs.umbc.edu/lecm/pics/fairtradecomp.JPG

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