Ten Thousand Villages- Fair Trade Stores
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 4.06
Droning on as we do about the virtues of Fair Trade, we were surprised to learn that there were two stores in our own city devoted to selling fair trade goods under the banner Ten Thousand Villages. We found that they are a non-profit program of the Mennonite Central Committee, and that "Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed, providing sustainable income through fair trade. This income helps pay for food, education, health care and housing. Thousands of volunteers in Canada and the United States work with Ten Thousand Villages in their home communities." Furthermore we found that it is a retail empire of 160 stores across America that has been supporting the work of tens of thousands of artisans in 30 countries for over sixty years. Check out the store nearest you at ::Ten Thousand Villages
We got addicted to their Fair Trade coffee while living in a city that had a store - now we buy it via mail order by the case-load! It's hardly more expensive than the regular beans in the grocery store, but you get a lot more value for the money. And the shipping (at least in Canada) in free!
"Ten Thousand Villages" was formerly known as "Self-Help" but they changed their name because rather than bringing to mind third world people "helping themselves" through selling fair trade crafts, it brought to mind books on improving your self-esteem and so on.
Mennonites have some great ideas in the simple living realm. The former editor of Adbusters started a Buy Nothing Christmas campaign (Google it), and now he's involved in a magazine called Geez. Mennonites also have a cool series of cookbooks. The "More-with-Less Cookbook" was originally published in the 1970s, but there are newer ones like "Extending the Table". "Living More with Less" is also an excellent book.
Don't forget the newest "Simply in Season" Mennonite cookbook featuring recipes by season.
Back when I lived in Evanston, IL, there was a Ten Thousand Villages just a few blocks away (the Mennonites owned quite a bit of real estate in the area).
They have really fantastic organic, fair trade chocolate. Much of the stuff inside is similar to what you'd find inside a (CostPlus) World Market, but as fair trade, you'd often see pictures of the artisans that created the various pieces.
The staff was also amazingly friendly - hippy-ish in the best sense of the word. My kids love playing the various musical instruments there, and the staff would often jam along.
I was thinking of volunteering there, in fact I picked up an application the other day. Unfortunately, I work a LOT lately and it's not looking good. Oh well.
I love the stores though, so much. I should buy from there more often... unfortunately I never seem to have any money.
hey Lloyd, thanks for the shoutout. Though not news to the Treehugger crowd, I find that explaining fair trade is always a mouthful to the general public. My attempt in seven words: fair payment for skilled but disadvantaged producers.
Glad you are a fan of our work. ps: I volunteer at the Austin, Texas, store.