'Fair Trade Is A Priority in My Parish'

By Kim Pozniak

With increasing commitments to green living and alternatives to consumerism, more and more Catholics throughout the United States are joining Catholic Relief Services in promoting fair trade options for shoppers.

Since early 2007, a band of CRS-trained Fair Trade Ambassadors has set out to expand the model into U.S. communities by personally spreading the word about fair trade. The ambassadors promote fair trade in their communities, workplaces and parishes. They bring with them sweatshop-free and fair trade products to support their outreach on behalf of Catholic Relief Services.

Last year, parishioners from more than 130 Catholic dioceses held fair trade sales, selling handicrafts, coffee and chocolate through CRS' Fair Trade program. With the help of these dedicated Catholics, CRS sold about $2 million worth of fair trade products, up from $1.3 million the previous year.

Below, Linda Coughlin, one of CRS' Fair Trade Ambassadors in Miami, speaks about her work:

Kim Pozniak:

Why did you get involved in fair trade?

Linda Coughlin:

In today's world economy, where profits rule and small-scale producers are left out of the bargaining process, farmers, craft producers and other workers are often left without resources or hope for their future. Fair trade helps exploited producers escape from this cycle and gives them a way to maintain their traditional lifestyles with dignity. But for fair trade to work, consumers have to purchase the products. That's where we Catholics come in. Fair trade provides an opportunity for us to trade on our Catholic values.

Pozniak:

How does your parish promote fair trade?

Coughlin:

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish in Cutler Bay, Florida, has developed a strong model for offering fair trade products for sale to parishioners. What started as a small Christmas project four years ago has grown into a full-time ministry, selling fair trade products such as coffee, tea, chocolate, soup mixes, jams, nuts and many other consumable products on a monthly basis. Drop by the parish during the first weekend of each month and you will find ministry members manning the fair trade sales table after every Mass.

Pozniak:

How successful have your sales been?

Coughlin:

The project grew out of an idea to provide a sales outlet for fair trade products as well as to promote a nonmaterialistic alternative to purchasing Christmas gifts at the mall. The ministry ordered a variety of fair trade products and packaged them into attractive gift baskets wrapped in cellophane and topped off with Christmas ribbon. It was definitely a leap of faith because the products could not be returned. We struggled to sell 25 baskets. I was calling everyone I knew and encouraging them to purchase a fair trade gift basket to give as a Christmas gift. We managed to sell the 25 and the following year, we decided to go for 50. They sold quite rapidly the second year. In fact, we sold out the first week of sales. The third year, we sold 75 baskets and realized that the fair trade products were becoming very popular among our parishioners. So we requested approval to hold monthly sales one weekend per month. That's when our sales really took off. We donate our 20 percent of the profit to the St. Vincent de Paul Society and have been averaging about $100 a month in donations. Last Christmas, we sold 125 fair trade gift baskets and were able to donate $1,000 to St. Vincent de Paul from the Christmas sales alone.

Pozniak:

What types of fair trade products do you sell?

Coughlin:

Last year, the ministry decided to try adding some fair trade handicrafts to the line of food products they offer. We supported one of the school groups to sell the Work of Human Hands products at the annual Arts and Crafts festival last fall. There was about $600 of unsold handicrafts left which were offered to the parishioners at the next fair trade sale. The items were snatched up quickly and I am thinking of adding a few handicrafts to our monthly sales on an ongoing basis. I like to have new and different products to offer to keep things fresh and interesting.

Pozniak:

How is fair trade received by parishioners?

Coughlin:

Our parishioners have really embraced the fair trade concept. We have a fairly small parish, but our fair trade table is mobbed after every Mass. Everyone has their own favorite, whether it is the coffee, the 10-bean organic soup mix, the hazelnut milk chocolate or the dark chocolate bars. We give out samples of fair trade coffee every month and our total monthly sales average around $700.

For more information about CRS' Fair Trade program, to order products or get tips on how to hold a fair trade sale, visit http://www.crsfairtrade.org.

Kim Pozniak works as a communications officer for CRS and is based in Baltimore, MD.