Fair Trade

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Fair Trade

Prosperity Candle

Eco-Palms

SERRV: Supporting Artisans and Farmers Through Fair Trade

Zimele: Building Women Leaders

Equal Exchange

Wisconsin Annual Conference

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The Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church, with headquarters located in Sun Prairie, is a connection for ministry linking all United Methodist clergy and the 480 congregations in Wisconsin. This year’s conference theme is to “Live, Give, Love…Beyond All Expectation!”

Project Information

UMCOR and Fair Trade (World Hunger and Poverty #982920)

Fair wages and access to credit allow farmers and artisans to feed their families, send their children to school, gain access to healthcare, care for the environment, and much more. UMCOR’s fair trade program provides a gateway for United Methodists to put their love into action by learning to make informed buying choices that can directly impact the lives of people living in poverty throughout the world. When United Methodists choose to buy fair-trade items they support just and sustainable economies. Our choices have meaning!

UMCOR connects United Methodist consumers with Fair Trade Certified and other socially responsible businesses. Our current partners include:

• Equal Exchange (EE): This worker-owned cooperative was the first US-based company to have 100 percent fairly traded products.  EE is a pioneer in promoting authentic fair trade, which ensures partnerships with small-holder farmers. The UMCOR Coffee Project includes coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas, sugar, olive oil, almonds, and other snacks. For every pound of product sold through the UMCOR Coffee Project, a portion goes to support UMCOR’s Sustainable Agriculture & Development Program. In celebration of UMCOR’s 10-year partnership with EE, UMCOR is introducing Hope’s Blend, an UMCOR fellowship coffee, this fall.
• Eco-Palm Project: This project enables United Methodists to get fronds for Palm Sunday and other events that provide farmers a fair wage and ensures that the palms are harvested in an environmentally sustainable way. Eco-palms enable farmers to send their children to school, employ women, and build community centers.
• Prosperity Candle: This company and its foundation work with women in conflict areas and in the aftermath of disasters by providing training and resources to empower women to earn an income as candle makers. Ten percent of purchases go back to UMCOR to support women’s economic development programs.
• SERRV: This nonprofit is a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization and the Fair Trade Federation. It supports equal rights for women, guides sustainable development, and helps artisans market their fair-trade crafts and food. SERRV provides an opportunity for United Methodist church groups to offer fair-trade consignment sales to help eradicate poverty.
• Zimele: Zimele is a nonprofit organization in South Africa that helps vulnerable women develop their communities through community mentoring, fair-trade marketing, self-help groups, and skill building.  Zimele enables women to be leaders and agents of change through a self-help group approach that involves social, economic, and political empowerment.