http://www.livinglakecountry.com/sussexsun/news/79908922.html

Partnership will stretch support across the globe
New fundraiser is win-win for both organizations

Posted: Dec. 22, 2009

Sussex-area Outreach Services (SOS) recently announced a new, global partnership. Village Markets of Africa, a fair trade business headquartered out of Kenya, has partnered with SOS in a win-win situation that will benefit both entities.

Village Markets of Africa organizes African artists into cooperatives that become a second family for them by means of the support structure for the work they do. Village Markets works with the artists to determine a fair price for their products alleviating the need for a middle man to help sell their goods. Village Markets spokesman Jacob Schmalzle, said the artists receive 5 to 10 percent more this way and Village Markets pays the cooperatives 75 percent upfront so that they can purchase more materials and also have money immediately Schmalzle explained.

The products are shipped to a warehouse in the United States where volunteers ready them for display and sale on the Web site, villagemarketsofafrica.com. Schmalzle said Village Markets stands out among other fair trade organizations because after selling the products in the U.S., 50 percent of the profits are returned to the cooperatives. He said Village Markets is one of the only fair trade organizations to engage in direct profit sharing because, “Our philosophy is anything less than 50/50 is not fair,” Schmalzle states on a video found on the Web site.

Through the partnership between SOS and Village Markets of Africa, when you make a purchase, you simply type in “SOS fundraiser” under shipping instructions and 20 percent of the sale will be donated to SOS for assistance programs it sponsors in the community.

SOS Director and Jacob’s brother, Aaron, said the neat thing is members in both our local communities SOS serves and Africa benefit from this partnership.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you put in ‘SOS fundraiser’ the money will be directed locally,” Aaron Schmalzle explained.

For more information, visit villagemarketsofafrica.com.

Why Fair Trade? www.villagemarketsofafrica.com

Village Markets of Africa

Why Fair Trade? 

FAIR TRADE IS A CHRISTIAN BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

BETWEEN CONCERNED CONSUMERS AND ARTISAN COOPERATIVES

WORKING TOGETHER FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC JUSTICE.

FAIR TRADE IS A CHRISTIAN BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP…

Fair trade is honorable trade. A Christian business is Christ-like, just, and compassionate.

A fair trade partner treats others how they would want to be treated.

PAYS local artisans a fair wage that enables the sustainable development of their business cooperatives.

BYPASSES exploitive middlemen to directly empower artisans with sales opportunities and higher profits.

REPLACES sweatshop labor with community-based artisan cooperatives managed by the Church.

BETWEEN CONCERNED CONSUMERS AND ARTISAN COOPERATIVES…

Concerned consumers understand the needs of others and relate with Christ-like compassion.

Artisan cooperatives unite communities to work toward sustainable development and global economic justice.

EDUCATES concerned consumers about global economic justice through responsible purchasing choices.

REINVESTS in artisan cooperatives by providing ongoing job training and micro credit loans.

PRESENTS strategies for artisan cooperatives to accommodate changing market trends.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC JUSTICE…

Global economic justice conducts business with Christ-like service to empower everyone involved.

Global economic justice recognizes that the human family is worldwide.

CREATES sustainable markets to provide artisans with a way to bring their families out of poverty.

PRODUCES environmentally friendly goods and protects natural resources for future generations.

REDEFINES the global market to include principles of honor and justice for all people.

www.villagemarketsofafrica.com

Fair Trade

Unfortunately, the term “fair trade” is misused more often than not. Please research how a company will use money from your purchase. If they don’t tell you, then it’s probably a scam. If they only give 10% of the money back to the artist, that’s no different than any other corporation donating money for a tax write-off. Make sure you know what you’re supporting so you can feel good about helping those in poverty through your purchase!

Fair Trade should be more than a marketing buzzword, and at Village Markets of Africa, we make fair trade our core philosophy. We pay fair market prices directly to producing artisans and eliminate any exploitative middlemen. After sales, we return 50% of our profits to the artisans in the form of microloans, job training, machines and tools.  How is anything less than 50/50 fair?

For more information, please visit our website.

www.villagemarketsofafrica.com