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.

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Photo Credit: Equal Exchange

EQUAL EXCHANGE ORGANIC BAKING COCOA ON THE BIGGEST LOSER TV SHOW!

Fair Trade has been making the rounds on TV lately. Last week Ben & Jerry’s brought Fair Trade to late night television. This week, Equal Exchange invaded reality television. The TV show The Biggest Loser slipped Fair Trade into the mix; Equal Exchange’s Organic Baking Cocoa, to be specific. The reality show cast members used the cocoa during one of the episodes to make low calorie treats. You can watch the entire episode for free online here.

Photo Credit: Village Markets of Africa

WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY INCORPORATES FAIR TRADE INTO ITS CURRICULIM
Village Markets of Africa, the Fair Trade mission of the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church, recently partnered with Lutheran affiliate Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH to make its Fair Trade business model a hands-on case study for Wittenberg’s entrepreneurial department curriculum.

This partnership will teach business students the social ethics of Fair Trade and provide them real world work experience so they are prepared to make a positive change when they graduate and enter the workforce. Many universities have gotten involved in the Fair Trade movement, but according to Village Markets of Africa Founder and Managing Director Jacob Schmalzle, Wittenberg University is the first to so dynamically incorporate Fair Trade into its curriculum.

Schmalzle shares this about the news:

This really is an exciting and innovative development in Fair Trade. Students at Wittenberg are visibly excited with these opportunities that combine a reputable business degree with hands-on experience in the social ethics and business of Fair Trade. It makes sense that Fair Trade education needs to take place here in the US if we are to expect our future business leaders to incorporate a Fair Trade approach in their ventures. Who knows where tomorrow’s leaders will take our Fair Trade movement!?!

For more information, visit the Village Markets of Africa website.

INTERESTED IN HOSTING A FAIR TRADE KOSHER CHOCOLATE EVENING?
With Passover and Purim around the corner, Fair Trade Judaica is working with synagogues and other Jewish organizations around the U.S. to host a series of events in early-mid April, linking child labor in the cocoa fields with our Passover theme of liberation, and inspiring people to choose fair trade chocolate as an alternative.

Fair Trade Judaica will provide a DVD of The Dark Side of Chocolate (a documentary about children working in the cocoa fields in West Africa), discussion guides, educational materials and a Haggadah supplement to use at your home or organizational sedar. We are also working on a grant to support Fair Trade Kosher chocolate tastings.

For more information: email ilana@fairtradejudaica.org or call 510.926.2056.

UPCOMING FAIR TRADE CONFERENCE: LAST CHANCE FOR EARLYBIRD REGISTRATION
If you’re planning to register for the 2011 Fair Trade Federation Conference in Milwaukee, WI, you’ll save yourself $100 per person if you sign up by this Friday, March 18.

This conference is all about building up Fair Trade, and it’s happening May 6-8, 2011. The conference will feature practical training on the business of Fair Trade combined with opportunities for networking and community building.

For more information: Visit FTF’s website.

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
Article: West Africa issues global trade deal ultimatum
Article: Ivory Coast crisis: Cocoa embargo hurting small farmers
New blog: Human Trip India, all about Fair Trade travels in India
Book: Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why by Ian Fletcher
Press Release from Fair Trade USA: Mainstream Consumers Drive Fair Trade Certified Sales Up 24 Percent

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Check back here on our Fair Trade blog for more Fair Trade News Round-Ups…your one-stop shop for current Fair Trade news and events. And if you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me!