May 10, 2003
I wanted to report on the activities of various MITF members on May 17 World Fair Trade Day. Leafletting went on at Starbucks in El Cerrito Plaza, Solano Ave. in Albany, 4th Street in San Rafael and Mill Valley. There is very little Fair Trade available. The El Cerrito (new store) told us they were brewing it that day and that all stores were doing same. When Diana Bohn and I went to Albany, the Solano store didn't know what we were talking about. Most patrons were willing to take flyers, some with interest and one guy said he'd write a letter. Some Folgers leafletting was done at Safeway in San Rafael and Mill Valley. Folgers stickers were placed on cans in at least one Albertson and one Safeway store. I think we could do more stickering. I plan to check on whether the new El Cerrito Plaza store is brewing Fair Trade on the days they say they will. The manager told us she is supposed to do it on two specific days but didn't have the June schedule yet.
June 15, 2002
Marin Interfaith Task Force on Central America Launches Coffee Campaign By Dale Sorensen, Director
Increasing the demand for Fair Trade coffee in Marin County has became one of MITF's goals in 2002. Already, as this newsletter goes to press we have word of our first success. The manager of Whole Foods in San Rafael, after being bombarded with postcards agreed to offer four fair trade coffee selections in their coffee bins. Prior to this agreement Whole Foods sold only two brands of bagged coffee that offered a couple of choices with a fair trade certified label. Our objective is to urge Whole Foods stores to make their house brand, "Alegro" at least 10 percent fair trade. A fair trade market share of 10,20, and even 30 percent is common in many western European countries.
The MITF Campaign is fourfold: 1. We buy fair trade coffee and serve it at all of our events and meetings. It is most - often excellent gourmet coffee, organic and shade grown, and each pound we sell provides us with a couple of dollars to support our campaign. Most board members have committed themselves to buying only Fair Trade Certified coffee for their personal use.
2. We encourage other community organizations, churches, schools and offices to do the same. MITF can make presentations on why and how to purchase fair trade gourmet coffee at reasonable prices.
3. While we are focusing on Whole Foods now, we will be asking other stores and markets to sell and promote fair trade coffee.
4. We plan to have our members and others interested in the campaign to ask their local cafés and restaurants to serve fair trade coffee to their customers.
Remember this is one real simple way to begin the process of helping to alleviate poverty in these troubling times, particularly now when there is a worldwide coffee crisis. Paying a farmer $1.26 a pound (with no increase to the consumer) is two to three times as much as the market price. It means farmers can put food on the table and send their children to school. If you would like to help or get involved, contact MITF, 415/924-3227 or mitf@igc.org
May 2, 2002
We're looking for social justice groups that have a Whole Foods Store in their town and might want to launch a postcard campaign. Maria knows someone in Kansas City who wants our postcard to copy. Since the Marin San Rafael is now stocking more Fair Trade coffee we will target the Mill Valley store and we now plan to start sending cards to the President of WF. So if you know of any progressive group who might want to join us now is the time! Maria had a long conversation with Bill Rudolph the buyer. We really haven't begun to work with the Marin churches so there is lots more to do! Just not enough time to do it!
January, 2002
We've decided to start a campaign to get Whole Foods to carry more Fair Trade and get its Allegro line Fair Trade Certified. Here is our sample letter. Please adapt it and send it to the manager of your local Whold Foods store.
Store Manager Whole Foods San Rafael
Dear Manager,
As loyal customers of Whole Foods and Board members of Marin Interfaith Task Force (MITF) we want to express our concern about your lack of commitment to Fair Trade Certified coffee. We encourage you to carry more variety and to publicly promote Fair Trade coffee. There is only a limited selection of such coffee available in you store. The bulk of the coffee that you carry is not certified.
We request that you include a Fair Trade Certified coffee in your house brand that is sold in the bins. The need for Fair Trade is more urgent today than ever, as current world coffee prices have reached their lowest point in history, in real terms. Fair Trade works to correct these imbalances through direct trade and by guaranteeing a minimum price ($1.26 per pound) for the small coffee farmers' harvest.
We are MITF have made Fair Trade coffee one of our primary campaigns for the year 2002. For this reason, we hope to meet with you to discuss the benefits of promoting such coffee notf only for poor farmers but for consumers and Whole Foods as well.
We and many other like-minded consumers are now choosing Fair Trade Certified coffee over other gourmet brands. The Fair Trade label guarantees that farmers got a fair price for the beans. Unless your beans have this label, we cannot be sure that farmers actually got a fair price.
We are sending a copy of this letter to your corporate headquarters so that they will be aware of the deepening coffee crisis and consumers' concerns.
We will contact your office soon to determine a time that it would be convenient for you to meet with us. We look forward to talking with you.
Sincerely,
Dale Sorensen, Director Maria Robinson, Fair Trade Committee
December 2001
Four or five folks did participate in the Fair Trade coffee day last Sat. We spent time at Tully's in Corte Madera & Woodland Market in Kentfield. We also checked out and talked to the manager at Peet's in Greenbrae who assured us that the store and staff were support the day with coffee, knowledge, etc. Lots of flyers were handed out at Tully's but the store manager was not there as promised and didn't feature the coffee as promised. At Woodland market the mamager was very cooperative but Taylor Maid didn't stock the shelves so we soon sold out of the coffee which they had marked down 25%. They have a new bin coffee which is Orchard (from the So. Bay). The owner was there stocking it and siad that he would be interested in a FairTrade coffee for his lineup. Woodland said they would be happy to have us there again and it would make sense if Orchard comes thru. We've been in contact with Trans Fair and Maria and may try and meet with her to see if we can strategize about getting more coffee in Marin, including some decaf.
August 2, 2001
Just to let you know we're still on board. We talked to Lynn Woolsey's aide yesterday and she was very enthusiastic about the letter regarding the Fair Trade coffee in congress, it's such a great idea, hope we succeed. Sorry I can't do more on the issue but I am selling Cafe Campesino at MITF events.
March 27, 2001 I am always pushing Fair Trade Coffee. In fact I just purchased some from Cafe Campesino to sell at our events.
April 13, 2000 Organized Starbucks informational leaflet
