Our annual Fair Trade Bazaar, typically held on Saturday and Sunday of the first full weekend in December, offers opportunity to cross off some gifts on your holiday to-buy list — as well as browse for yourself! — all while shopping for a difference.

Some years this event is held in person in Anderson Hall; other years it is held online (as in 2022), with links posted for shopping Fair Trade as well as encouragement to visit the vendor’s shop.

This year as you look for holiday gifts, the World Mission and Social Justice Council encourages you to shop with Ten Thousand Villages Evanston, our longtime fair-trade partner, and be part of the “global maker-to-market movement that breaks the cycle of generational poverty and ignites social change.”

Every purchase we make of a fair-trade gift has a ripple effect of benefits.

Artisans produce their products in safe working conditions and earn a fair wage for their labor, which enables them to provide food, shelter, education, and health care for their families. The sales at each of our recent Fair Trade Bazaars benefited people in more than thirty countries. In doing so, those proceeds supported more than forty families with a year’s income.

The environment is sustainably treated through healthy soil practices and the minimal use of chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

And we, the consumers, make a conscious choice to be part of a community striving for a more just world.

Ten Thousand Villages Evanston has a store at 915 Chicago Ave. in Evanston, where you can browse the constantly changing inventory of unique home decor, jewelry and personal accessories, apparel, musical instruments, greeting cards, soaps, coffee, chocolate, baking mixes, and much more!

You can also visit www.tenthousandvillages.com/evanston to shop for a difference from home.

This year consider giving gifts that give twice: to the recipient and to the maker and their family. And perhaps you will find some treats for yourself — your coffee cup, your clothes closet, your holiday table, and more — as well!

Why Fair Trade?
The annual income of the richest 1 percent is equal to that of the poorest 57 percent. Each day, 24,000 people die from poverty and malnutrition.

What Is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a competitive business model that builds equitable, long-term partnerships between consumers in developed areas and producers in developing regions. It seeks to alleviate poverty and sustain development, creating opportunities for producers who have been marginalized by the conventional trading system.

Principles of Fair Trade Businesses
• Pay a fair wage in the local context
• Offer employees opportunities for advancement
• Provide equal opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged
• Emphasize gender equality
• Engage in environmentally sustainable practices
• Practice transparent and accountable business procedures
• Build long-term trade relationships
• Provide healthy and safe working conditions within the local context
• Provide financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible

For more information about the Fair Trade Bazaar at Fourth Church, contact Nancy Davis.

We also invite you to take part in our many other Advent and Christmas opportunities.

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