Our 31 Days of Fair Trade has begun!

Have you heard? Global Exchange along with our friends at Equal Exchange and Green Halloween have set up 31 days of fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

So far so good!

So far this month, we’ve had folks getting in the Fair Trade habit and watching a movie about Potong Cooperative Tea Garden in India. (With every viewing, Equal Exchange is donating a tea bush to farmers in India.)

And we’re just getting started…the month has barely begun, so there’s lots of actions still ahead to look forward to. Let’s take action together.

Here’s how to TAKE ACTION:

• Check out the calendar of 31 Days of Fair Trade Action activities so you can take action daily to support Fair Trade
• Visit FairTradeHalloween.org for the whole list of actions
• Follow us on twitter @GXFairTrade or on Facebook where we will deliver your daily action each morning at #fairtrade31.

Looking forward to taking action with you.

For 31 days we’ll set out fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

So Oct. 1st, check out our website for the whole list of actions, or follow us @GXFairTrade or on Facebook where we will deliver your daily action each morning at #fairtrade31.

We’re thrilled to announce that Equal Exchange is selling organic milk chocolate minis and organic dark chocolate minis in bulk, so this Halloween you can support cocoa farmers (including children!)  by passing out delicious, socially responsible chocolate to trick-or-treaters. Equal Exchange will be taking orders starting October 1st.

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Also, consider joining me at the second National Fair Trade Campaigns Conference Oct 26-28! Fair Trade enthusiasts from all over the country will come together to share experiences and resources, sharpen leadership skills, and build momentum for Fair Trade. Register for the event.

Looking forward to working with you to Fair Trade your Halloween!

Together our delicious s’mores will help raise awareness and hold Hershey accountable for failing to eliminate child and forced labor from its supply chain and encourage the company to achieve Fair Trade certification.

As part of this unique nationwide action, we’ve decided our goal is to register 1,000+ Fair Trade s’mores this summer. You can help, see below for details.

Fair Trade S’mores at SF Mime Troupe

Last week on the 4^th of July Global Exchange held a s’mores event at the opening show of the famous San Francisco Mime Troupe, a theatre of political satire which performs free shows in parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The Mime Troupe estimates 3000-4000 people attended the 4^th of July show this year.

Over at the Global Exchange table, staff and volunteers were visited by about 50 adults and kids who stopped by to roast vegan marshmallows and make s’mores using Equal Exchange Fair Trade chocolate and organic graham crackers, and have their photos taken with signs urging Hershey to go Fair Trade and end forced child labor.

Global Exchange staff and interns working the SF Mime Troupe table

Definitely a tasty tactic to bring this very important message to Hershey’s headquarters! The pictures say it all; check them out on our Facebook page.

“Mime Troupe audiences are a great group to inform about Hershey’s use of child labor,” said Jenny White, Global Exchange volunteer. “We couldn’t handle people fast enough in the hour and a half before the show started.  A number of people signed our petition too.”

Jenny White, Global Exchange volunteer, at the SF Mime Troupe 4th of July S’mores Action

Those are the best s’mores I ever ate,” said 7 year Guillermo Krebs-Alonzo of San Francisco. “That’s because the chocolate wasn’t made by children who should be in school, not working,” added his grandmother, Gloria Alonzo.

The best part, aside from enjoying tasty Fair Trade s’mores is that photos from the action will be posted on Hershey’s Facebook page, (which is currently promoting s’mores made with Hershey’s chocolate), flooding the fan page with messages demanding that Hershey once and for all go Fair Trade in its cocoa harvesting and production.

Want to make your voice heard and your sweet tooth sing?  You still have time to catch us at 2 more Mime Troupe Performances, this Sunday, July 15th at Cedar Wood Park in Berkeley; and Sunday, August 5th, at Live Oak Park in Berkeley.

GET YOUR S’MORES ON!

You can help share this important Fair Trade message with Hershey and contribute to Global Exchange’s goal of making at least 1,000 Fair Trade S’mores between the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend.

How to participate:

1. Include Fair Trade s’mores in your barbeques and campfires this summer. Or plan a We Want More from Our S’mores picnic in the park (or in the kitchen) or other event with friends, family, coworkers, or the neighborhood.
2. Let the s’mores be counted! Count the s’mores you eat and register them online.
3. Collect petition signatures asking Hershey to step up and become Fair Trade Certified during your s’mores gatherings.
4. Share a photo on Hershey’s Facebook page. Whether you take and upload your own or share one of Global Exchange’s photos, don’t forget to share it, along with your message, on Hershey’s Facebook page. A picture is worth a thousand words.

It’s summertime – time for some Fair Trade s’mores!

Join activists nationwide in calling on Hershey and the rest of the cocoa industry to END grinding poverty and abusive child labor in the cocoa fields…by making a statement with our s’mores!

Your delicious s’mores will help raise awareness and hold Hershey accountable for failing to eliminate child and forced labor from its supply chain and encourage the company to achieve Fair Trade certification.

Please help the Fair Trade cocoa campaign reach the goal of making at least 1,000 Fair Trade S’mores starting this Fourth of July through Labor Day weekend.

How to participate:

1. Include Fair Trade s’mores in your barbeques and campfires this summer. Or plan a We Want More from Our S’mores picnic in the park (or in the kitchen) or other event with friends, family, coworkers, or the neighborhood.  
2. Let the s’mores be counted! Count the s’mores you eat and register them online.
3. Collect petition signatures asking Hershey to step up and become Fair Trade Certified during your s’mores gatherings.
4. Screen The Dark Side of Chocolate. Before or after you make your tasty Fair Trade s’mores, show this film to educate others about child labor in the cocoa fields.

Get more resources, including where to purchase Fair Trade certified chocolate for your s’mores, a Fair Trade campfire song, suggestions for summer camp counselors and youth group leaders to integrate We Want More from Our S’mores and other Fair Trade activities into summer programming.

Don’t have a camera? Are on a diet?
No worries – just download a photo of one of our Fair Trade s’mores eaters and share it along, with your message, to Hershey’s Facebook page wall.

Stayed tuned to our Fair Trade blog as we report on our S’mores action throughout the summer. Subscribe via RSS and the fresh content will come to you!

Despite the heat, many people turned up at our booth to demand “We Want More from our S’mores!” Visitors cooked up S’mores and posed with signs such as “Hershey: Children are More Important than Chocolate!”

Global Exchange and our Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign allies have been pressing Hershey to end child labor in its cocoa supply chain and start sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa.

Global Exchangers Kirsten and Jenny taking part in the action

This summer we are once again calling on Hershey and the rest of the cocoa industry to END grinding poverty and abusive child labor in the cocoa fields…by making a statement with our S’mores!

That’s why last weekend we took to the heat and served up Fair Trade S’mores. Lots of people joined in for some delicious fun in the sun.

Check out the S’mores pictures! Photos from the day are on our Facebook page.

TAKE ACTION!

• Send a petition to Hershey CEO John Bilbrey saying…Raise the Bar Hershey! We Will Not Tolerate Child or Forced Labor in Cocoa!

• Plan your own S’mores action: Download this step-by-step checklist available here. 

With only 3 years to go, how are we doing?

According to the ILO 215 million children are still in the labor market with more than half of those employed in the worst forms child labor.

The ‘worst forms of child labor’ include:

• slavery
• debt bondage
• serfdom, trafficked for prostitution or for other illicit activities
• or work which is harmful to health, safety or morals of the child.

Instead of being in school, playing with friends or in the safety of their own homes these children are forfeiting their futures and the futures of their communities for the benefit of a few people in the global economy.

Lets make this year’s World Day Against Child Labor be the year we make it stop.

Global Exchange and its Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign allies (Green America, International Labor Rights Forum, and Oasis, and other organizations) have been pressing Hershey to end child labor in its cocoa supply chain and start sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa.

All over the world children understand the concept of fairness. Children in the US who adore a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup or are rewarded with a Hershey’s kiss are no exception.

So let’s band together and tell Hershey’s to go Fair Trade!

Today in honor of World Day Against Child Labor *five groups called on Hershey’s Chief Executive Officer, John P. Bilbrey, and the Hershey Trust to take action to end a range of appalling practices affecting children and students at both the Hershey School and the Hershey family of companies.

*the five groups are: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Global Exchange, Green America, the International Labor Rights Forum, and the National Guestworker Alliance.

Check out the letter we sent and join the coalition to take a stand for fairness.

TAKE ACTION!

You Can Get Involved: Sign a petition, make a phone call – do a holiday action! Coming soon “We want from Our S’mores” Actions for the summer! We have a whole page of ways you can get involved right now, right here.

Kids everywhere love Divine Chocolate!

At Global Exchange we love to celebrate Fair Trade all the time, but this Easter, things will get even sweeter with free chocolate!

Come by anytime Saturday April 7 through Sunday April 8 and you’ll get a free piece of Fair Trade chocolate with any purchase of $20 or more at our Global Exchange Fair Trade stores. From handmade baskets to colorful spring gifts, Global Exchange is excited to help make your Spring have a positive global impact.

For some, Easter means nibbling cute chocolate bunny rabbits, but for many others, especially in West African cocoa-exporting countries, chocolate is a terrible reminder of the harsh reality of child slave labor.

Global Exchange remains committed to supporting Fair Trade cocoa producers around the globe and generating a better world for all of us, kids and adults alike. You too can show your support this Easter by purchasing chocolate from two amazing Fair Trade chocolate vendors: Divine Chocolate and Equal Exchange.

What makes Divine Chocolate so divine and Equal Exchange equally as inspiring? The cooperatives that produce the cocoa, of course!

How Fair Trade has impacted the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana and CONACADO in the Dominican Republic:

Fatima Ali, proud member of Kuapa Kokoo. Photo courtesy of Kuaka Kokoo.

Just listen to the shouts of “papa paa!” from the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana, a cocoa cooperative started in 1993 which now owns 45% of the Divine Chocolate company itself. “Papa paa” means “best of the best” in the Twi language of Ghana, and is a motto which extends beyond the high quality of the cocoa grown by the farmers and into the cooperative’s commitment to Fair Trade and the betterment of members’ lives.

The social premium that members receive through the cooperative’s  Fair Trade certification translates into real benefits for the community at large, such as clean water wells. Kuapa Kokoo also has a strong focus on gender empowerment, which means that women like Fatima Ali, a local Kuapa Kokoo Society recorder and proud owner of a 5-acre farm, can aspire to leadership positions they previously thought impossible.

CONACADO producer & the bright orange cacao pods that become chocolate bars. Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange.

For over 25 years the worker owned co-op Equal Exchange has been advocating “Small Farmers, Big Change”– and it’s working. In the Dominican Republic, Equal Exchange’s farmer partner cooperative CONACADO has been able to sell over 40% of their cacao on the Fair Trade market.  By participating in Fair Trade, CONACADO has been able to provide school supplies and scholarships for members’ children as well as launch the “Cacao Route,” an eco-tourism project that also generates local income.

One woman who came by the San Francisco store said the other day, “It’s so great that kids these days can eat really good chocolate!” It sure is! And not only that, when you buy Fair Trade chocolate it means that cocoa-producing farmers benefit.

TAKE ACTION!

• Check out this awesome recipe for Chocolate Satsumas, perfect for enjoying the marvelous citrus fruits that are in season at your local farmers’ markets. Or make a delicious Earl Grey Chocolate Tea Cake for your Easter Sunday brunch–(our stores sell Fair Trade tea too!) Have a great Fair Trade chocolate recipe? Share it in the comments!
• Don’t forget to get your free Fair Trade chocolate. Come by the San Francisco, Berkeley,  Arlington, VA or D.C. stores  on Saturday April 7 & Sunday April 8.
  

• Don’t celebrate Easter? Check out our Fair Trade program’s four tips on how to make this Spring a Fair Trade one, including a resource to bring Fair Trade to your Passover Seder.

Students at Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School School, taken just after their visit with Mr. Cavanaugh

Hershey got another Valentine’s Day surprise, this one from the west coast the day before. On February 13th, Fifty-six students at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School School in Los Angeles, accompanied by their Principal and two teachers, delivered Valentine postcards in person to Hershey Corp. board member (and Milton Hershey School trustee) Robert F. Cavanaugh at his office in Long Beach.

Why Hershey? Hershey is not Fair Trade Certified. It’s time for Hershey to be a leader in responsible chocolate and shift toward Fair Trade cocoa!

During the Valentines delivery, students from Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School sensed Mr. Cavanaugh was not pleased to see them, but they persevered, and two students read to him letters they had written regarding Hershey and child labor.  The students gave Mr. Cavanaugh the 56 Valentine “Have a Heart” postcards they had written, and Cavanaugh promised them he would take them to the Hershey corporate offices in Pennsylvania when he went there the following week.

The Principal, Connie McGhee, reports that the students were very fired up by the event and now want to write “someone in Washington” about the issue. Following up on this enthusiasm, Ms. McGhee plans to initiate a fair trade curriculum for the students this spring.

Hopefully they’ll look to our Fair Trade curriculum for their teaching needs!

One of the Valentines delivered to Hershey this year by Fair Trade activists

Northern CA students participated as well. Elementary school students in San Francisco, including John Muir Elementary School, also participated in Hershey campaign Valentine’s activities, including decorating and writing Valentine letters asking Hershey to “Have a Heart.”

All across the country, chocolate lovers are asking Hershey to have a heart when it comes to sourcing cocoa. These Hershey actions are the result of a coordinated effort by members and supporters of Raise the Bar, Hershey!, a coalition of organizations fighting ongoing labor abuses such as child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. The campaign has involved over one hundred thousand consumers thus far.

Jasper Perry-Anderson with her Hershey petition

Get Involved:

• Check out Pictures of Valentines given to Hershey on Facebook
• Fair Trade Curriculum is available for free on our website
• Sign Jasper’s petition, it’s not too late. It’s almost up to 17,000 names and counting!

Elizabeth O'Connell (left), Jasper (right) with fellow youth activist

The following is a guest blog post by Elizabeth O’Connell of the Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition:

“Valentine’s Day in Hershey”

Very early, and not quite yet bright, we jumped in the car and headed north…for Hershey, PA.  At 9:00am we met Jasper Perry-Anderson, a Philadelphia eighth grader who created an online petition encouraging the company to increase its commitment to ethically sourced cocoa to prevent abusive child labor on the cocoa farms from where it sources.

Jasper holding petitions for Hershey

In just two weeks, Jasper’s petition on Change.org gained more than 16,000 signatures from individuals around the world.  In addition to the petitions  we delivered more than 500 Valentines made by kids for the members of the Hershey Trust.  These Valentines were made by students from across the country, though largely from New York State thanks to NYSUT  and the New York Labor Religion Coalition.  The Valentines contained statements like “This Valentine’s Day, I want to give my Valentine chocolate from laborers who have earned fair wages” and “We have feelings and so do Africa’s kids. They suffer.”

Cathy O’Brien accepting petitions and valentines from Jasper on behalf of Hershey Trust

Cathy O’Brien, an employee of the Trust, accepted the petitions and valentines on behalf of the the Trust.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the country, 56 seventh and eighth graders delivered Valentines to the Chairman of the Trust, Robert Cavanaugh, at his real estate office in Los Angeles, CA.  Mr. Cavanaugh accepted the petitions.

For two years we (Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition) have called on The Hershey Company’s executives and board to take meaningful action to prevent child labor throughout their supply chain. With little progress, we have taken it up a notch.  The Hershey Trust is in charge of the Hershey school, controls approximately eighty percent of the voting shares of The Hershey Company, and holds several seats on the company’s board of directors.

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More on this:

In Jasper’s own words: “Mr. Hershey established the Milton Hershey School and School Trust to provide full-time education and care for disadvantaged children. As the majority stockholder of Hershey’s Chocolate Company, the Hershey Trust also needs to do more to take care of the children in West African it’s exploiting for profit.”

The actions today were coordinated by Raise the Bar, Hershey!, a coalition of organizations fighting ongoing labor abuses such as child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. The campaign has involved over one hundred thousand consumers who voiced their concerns to Hershey about the company’s child labor practices.

Raise the Bar, Hershey! is led by the following organizations: Global Exchange, Green America, International Labor Rights Forum and Labor Religion Coalition of New York State.

Take Action!

• Sign the petition: It’s not too late to sign Jasper’s Petition. Have a happy and just Valentines Day!
• Check out the Valentines: Visit our Facebook page to see some of the Valentines that were dropped off to Hershey today, and a few photos as well

Colored-in Valentine for Hershey

Valentine’s Day is a major chocolate buying holiday, but gifts for your sweetheart should not come at the expense of worker rights. Forced labor, child labor and trafficking continue in the cocoa industry in West Africa.

Here’s how YOU can make a difference:

Tell Hershey to Have a Heart

Make Valentines for members of the Hershey trust calling on Hershey to end child labor, forced labor and human trafficking in its cocoa supply.

• Create your own personalized Valentine telling Hershey to use Fair Trade cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss. Address your valentine to Hershey Trust at 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. Please mail your Valentines to Hershey by February 17, 2012.
• You can also download a Valentine to color and send here.
• If you make your own Valentine, please scan it and send the image to the Fair Trade Project at fairtrade@globalexchange.org. We’ll post some of our favorites online.

Why Hershey? Almost all major chocolate companies have begun to commit to using independent, third-party programs to certify that their cocoa suppliers comply with international labor standards, but Hershey continues to lag behind the industry.

Collect signatures on the Raise the Bar Hershey petition calling on Hershey to eliminate the child labor, forced labor and trafficking in their cocoa supply. Download a petition here.

Make your Valentine chocolate Fair Trade!

Fair Trade provides a solution to global economic injustice! Fair Trade principles include a fair price for producers, the prohibition of child labor, community development, environmental sustainability and direct relationships between consumers and producers. See Green America’s chocolate scorecard.

Host a Screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate

You can raise awareness by hosting a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate in your school or community. This important documentary exposes the ongoing use of trafficked child labor in the cocoa industry. Visit our Dark Side of Chocolate page to obtain a copy and toolkit, including discussion guide and background information. Visit Fair Trade Towns USA to download a list of more films about Fair Trade.

Educate students about Fair Trade in the classroom with these Fair Trade curricula resources. These classroom activities are great for audiences of ALL ages.

Give a Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership.

Show your love of social justice by giving those you love a Global Exchange Valentine’s Day gift of membership. (Hurry, these are available only while supplies last, and they’re going quickly!)

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Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us here at Global Exchange!