Why the Green Team Sells Fair Trade Products

Fair Trade Products are available for purchase every 3rd Sunday in Fellowship Hall after worship service (excl. July and August).  Why do we sell these products?

Through the UCC Fair Trade (Coffee) Project, small farmers and their families gain more control over their lives, earn a fairer share of income, have access to credit and technical support, and gain a trading partner they can trust, a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange.  By making this consumer choice, you support small scale farmers and workers throughout the world and encourage careful stewardship of God's creation. 

For each pound of fairly traded coffee, chocolate, tea, and foods purchased through the UCC Coffee Project, 15 cents per pound from Equal Exchange goes to the Justice and Witness Ministries' Small Farmer Fund.

At fellowship coffee hour, you will be taking action in a spirit of love.   We also include a small donation above the wholesale cost to help the coffee hour fund.   Cash and checks accepted.

Why Fair Trade Chocolate Matters

Americans consume millions of pounds of chocolate per year, but where does it all come from? 

Forced child labor and child trafficking are a rampant, documented problem in the conventional chocolate industry, but big companies have done little to solve this crisis. So what can you do?

Fair Trade chocolate means that cacao farmers are paid a fair price, that they are able to invest in their communities and land, and that their farms are free of forced child labor. By choosing Fair Trade chocolate, you support a system that is better for farmers, their families and the planet. 

Say no to forced child labor. Choose Fair Trade chocolate.

Watch this video:
https://youtu.be/lnpsFRcsnE0

Equal Exchange: Fair Trade & Our Environment

At Equal Exchange, we believe in the power of authentic Fair Trade to make the world a better place. Here are 3 ways that Fair Trade supports environmental stewardship.

Video:

https://youtu.be/xYzl_YwTULk?list=PLXPcCPkwqAvhn2-_t55XJ3kNcSi-Vzl5L

The Importance of Fair Trade

Equal Exchange is a worker-owned fair trade company, founded in 1986, that offers consumers fairly traded gourmet coffee direct from small-scale farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Equal Exchange seeks to establish an alternative model of trade, one that benefits small farmers directly through the following fair trade standards that apply to all Equal Exchange products:

• Always pay a guaranteed minimum price to the farmer.
• Work directly with democratic cooperatives of small scale farmers.
• Provide vital advance credit to farmers.
• Encourage ecologically sustainable farming practices.
• Develop long-term trade relations based on trust and respect.
• Offer consumers the finest gourmet, certified organic, shade-grown coffees.

Video: Equal Exchange: Fair Trade & CommunityAt Equal Exchange, we believe in the power of authentic Fair Trade to make the world a better place. Here are 3 ways that Fair Trade supports healthy, vibrant communities.
https://youtu.be/VB8WYvimu7w
 

Your Fair Trade Purchase Counts Twice: UCC Small Farmer Fund

Equal Exchange contributes $0.15 to the UCC Justice & Witness Ministries Small Farmer Fund for every pound of fairly traded products sold through the UCC Coffee Project. Since the Coffee Project began in 2004, Equal Exchange has nearly $100,000 to the UCC Justice & Witness Ministries Small Farmers' Fund. 

Small Farmer Fund contributions totaled $7,309.32 in 2014. This money is used to support the Small Farm Project at the UCC Franklinton Center at Bricks. This is one component of the Just Food Project which supports a farmers' market held at FCAB where local small farmers sell their produce and local residents purchase affordable fresh vegetables and fruits. FCAB is located in eastern North Carolina in an area where many people are in poor health, experience food insecurity, and have poor access to healthy foods.  The Small Farm Project is part of a comprehensive approach to comm unity economic development, environmental education, social justice, and health.

Equal Exchange: Who We Are and What We Believe In

The UCC Fair Trade Project (formally the UCC Coffee Project) allows your congregation to partner with the UCC and Equal Exchange in building fair trade for small farming communities by serving fairly traded coffee, tea and cocoa, and chocolate, snacks, and olive oil for justice at fellowship hour on Sundays.

The UCC Coffee Project is a way for your congregation to join hands with communities in the developing world. As Christians we can address a consumer dilemma by buying coffee and other commodities that are fairly traded. Through the project, small farmers and their families gain more control over their lives, earn a fairer share of income, have access to credit and technical support, and gain a trading partner they can trust, a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange. And, through the project, members of your congregation can learn about consumption habits that support small scale farmers and workers throughout the world and encourage careful stewardship of God's creation. At fellowship hour, you will be taking action in a spirit of love.

What does it mean to create change with your everyday choices? We believe that something as simple as the coffee you drink has an effect on the planet and our global community, and you have the power to make that effect a positive one.

(See the video Equal Exchange: Who We Are and What We Believe In.) https://youtu.be/H3Cx5Jn9hgA

A World of Solutions: The U.N. Climate Sequel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5DxojGAEI

A week after the short film What's Possible opened the U.N. Climate Summit, Lyn Lear and director Louie Schwartzberg are back with a sequel that expands on their vision for climate change solutions.

Lear wrote in The Huffington Post:

Director Louie Schwartzberg and I had similar visions about the beauty and natural violence of evolution and the millions of years it took before human beings arrived on this planet. Then beginning with the Industrial Revolution, in less than two hundred years, man had almost brought this beautiful, complex creation to the brink of extinction. Inconceivable…right?

We wanted to show that we are still in peril, but more, we have the means to solve our problems in the present. There are many reasons to be optimistic and hopeful.

Part of that hope was to make a comparison of the semi-conscious mycelium root/soil system of the earth that feeds all plant life to the burgeoning Internet-connected global society we are evolving into today. If we could learn to use the Internet and mass media wisely we could be a powerful means for good and for progress.  

Learn more about climate change, and take action at takepart.com/climate.

Join Us in the Equal Exchange Red Cherry Challenge

Our pledge is 100 lbs of coffee sold.

This year, support farmers in growing healthy, red coffee cherries for generations to come.

Coffee farmers are facing many dire challenges, including changing weather patterns, natural disasters and agricultural diseases like coffee leaf rust.

Help farmers protect their futures and their farms. When you join the Red Cherry Challenge, we will donate 10 cents for every pound of coffee you buy through May 31, 2015 to the Red Cherry Fund, to finance farmer-led initiatives toward resilience and recovery.

for more information, visit http://equalexchange.coop/red-cherry-challenge#red-cherry-challenge

UCC Coffee Project Purchases Count Twice

United Church Of Christ

Started in 2004, the UCC Coffee Project is a collaboration 

between Equal Exchange and the United Church of Christ 

Justice and Witness Ministries to involve more 

Congregational churches and individuals in supporting 

small farmers around the world.

For each pound of fairly traded coffee, chocolate, tea, and foods 

purchased through the UCC Coffee Project, 15 cents per pound 

goes to the Justice and Witness Ministries' Small Farmer Fund, 

supporting the UCC Franklinton Center's Just Foods Project, which enhances the

 viability, vitality, and sustainability of families and small farmers in Edgecombe County, 

one of the poorest areas in eastern North Carolina and the United States. 

That Fund amounted to $8,965.02 in 2012 alone!

April 21, 2013 Bulletin - Earth Day/Green Sunday Celebration

Earth Day/Green Sunday Celebration
When confronted with environmental responsibility, people of faith face a choice: to live in despair or to live with hope. We in the United Church of Christ are called to live with hope. We are called to spiritual and lifestyle transformation based on justice and reverence for all of God’s creatures and creation. We are called by Jesus to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Today, we celebrate that hope with a special worship service and Green Sunday Exhibits.  

Mission 4/1 Earth Kickoff
Green Up, Power Down, Shout Out Today, our congregation kicks off Mission 4/1 Earth (ucc.org/earth) for the next 50 days, an opportunity to examine and change our patterns of behavior and to deepen our understanding and engagement of earth care and environmental justice in the process. This all-church mission intensive will be a concerted effort, ensuring a greener future for planet earth and a greener faith for us as followers of Jesus Christ.

How can you participate?
Earth Care Hours - take the next step with engaged earth care, including clean up, advocacy, education, and behavioral changes that will impact the environment.
Plant Trees - plant trees or donate to have trees planted on Church grounds, locally, or globally
Advocacy Letters - Collectively write/send ADVOCACY LETTERS on environmental concerns to elected officials and local and national newspapers

Keep track and let the Green Team know as we contribute to the National UCC Goals (1,000,000 Earth Care Hours, 100,000 trees planted, 100,000 advocacy letters).

Green Sunday Exhibits - today during Coffee Hour in Fellowship Hall to inform you and provide opportunities for action.

Fair Trade Sales - support global farmers by cutting out the middle man. Organic coffee, tea, and dark chocolate for sale at wholesale price plus a small donation to ASP. Cash and checks accepted.
 Church Recycling - what can you bring in to recycle at Church in the Coat
room? Where does it go and how is it reused?
Local Recycling - find out more about MDC Hazardous Waste Collection
days, local electronics recycling, local retail recycling.
Donations for Tree Planting on Church Grounds - 2 small Flowering Trees
will be planted on the Church Grounds with a dedication by the Church
School later in the Spring. Please help by making a small donation.
Planting Trees - find out more about the benefits of planting trees from
one of our Green Team Experts. Stonehedge Landscaping generously
will offer a 20% discount on trees to anyone in the Church.
Home Energy Solutions - find out how to sign up for a low-cost home
energy audit to save significantly on your energy costs. Let's get at least
10 people to sign up.
Clean Energy Options - find out how to sign up for clean energy electricity
- Let's get at least 10 people to sign up and GO GREEN!
Composting - find out how to start composting and find answers to your
questions to dispel myths about composting. Let's get 10 people to
commit to composting.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - find out what a CSA is, how it
works, and local opportunities (Fair Weather Acres Farm in Rocky Hill,
Urban Oaks in New Britain, Eddy Farm in Newington -pork shares only).
Petitions - petitions will be available to sign to support: GMO Labeling,
Tar Sands/Keystone Pipeline environmental impact, Green Building
codes, Save the Whales. Please support based upon your individual
decision.

Upcoming Green Events
Riverfront Earth Day Festival - Today from 1pm-4pm at Riverfront Plaza in
Hartford. This is to be a full festival event, which weaves together the
threads of fun, family, faith, education and awareness of the sober realities
of climate change. Performers, speakers, delicious food for sale, and
there will be exhibits and activities for adults and kids the entire time!
More events will be announced over the coming weeks.