Contact: Stephanie Green sfg3@georgetown.edu

March 15, 2003

Georgetown's national day of action was fine- we just had several fair trade coffees for people to taste...it was raining and we were outside so it wasn't our most successful event. I'm not sure how many people drank the coffee since i didn't personally table. And it was during midterms, the day before spring break started. but we were out there and participated... that's all, thanks, s (Stephanie Green)

Friday, January 17, 2003 Fair Trade Chocolate Selling Fundraiser to Benefit Farmers By Thomas Wigg Hoya Staff Writer

January 20 through Feb. 20 will mark the "Divine Sweethearts" Fair Trade Chocolate Fundraiser sponsored by Georgetown Students for Fair Trade, working with the United Students for Fair Trade. Students from a wide range of universities across the nation have purchased thousands of cases of Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation Vocation's Divine Chocolate Fair Trade chocolate bars and will be in competition to outsell each other.

The fundraiser commences Jan. 20 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., since some of the proceeds will benefit cocoa farmers in Ghana., according to USFT founder and President, Stephanie Faith Green (SFS '05). The fundraiser is also an attempt to promote awareness about Fair Trade chocolate because of recent reports that as many as 284,000 children may be employed as slave labor in the cocoa industry in parts of Western Africa, according to a Jan. 16 press release put out by Georgetown University Students for Fair Trade.

GUSFT explained that Fair Trade chocolate guarantees a fair wage to farmers. The organization hopes to promote awareness of this product through samples to customers and by selling it at the Leavey Center on Friday evenings from Jan. 20 through Feb. 20.

This marks the first event of USFT, as it was only recently founded. "This event will be an exciting opportunity for Fair Trade activists across the US to begin interacting," Green , said. "The fundraiser will become an annual event, strengthening the bonds between activists working nationwide to build a fair alternative to current trade models, and between the student activists and fair trade organizations such as SERRV International."

February 11, 2003

Tonight Georgetown University's student government unanimously passed a Fair Trade resolution to make our campus 100% Fair Trade certified. At the assembly meeting we had a professor, students, a Jesuit, and a rep from TransFair speak in order to show the broad support of our campaign. The process of laying out an enforcement plan will begin within the next week.

Thanks to George Washinton University who brought their Fair Trade club to sit in the meeting to show their solidarity!!!

Here's a press release on purchasing restrictions! For Immediate Release 12 February 2003

GU Student Association APPROVES Preferred Coffee Supplier Resolution

In their meeting Tuesday evening, Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), the student government of the University, unanimously approved a measure sponsored by campus group Georgetown Students for Fair Trade (GSFT), which would call for a gradual transition of all on-campus vending outlets towards serving exclusively Fair Trade Certified coffee.

Similar to measures passed at UCLA, UC Davis, and other universities nationwide. The resolution, called a "preferred purchaser" restriction, will now be submitted to University administration for final approval. "We feel that it is important for Georgetown, as a Jesuit institution and a globally active campus, to make a unilateral statement on this issue," said Jessica Lee, a representative of GSFT, explaining why the group sought change from the administrative level. "GUSA approval marks the existence of key student support which is the ultimate foundation of our campaign and mission."

Currently, many coffee farmers receive as little as 20 cents per pound of coffee, well below their cost of production. The substantial difference between 20 cents and the Fair Trade price of $1.26 per pound often represents the road out of desperate poverty. It enables farmers to keep children in school, feed their families, improve healthcare and housing and invest in improving the quality of their coffee. Environmentally, an estimated 85% of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the US is also Certified Organic and most is grown under the canopy of bird-friendly shade trees, protecting wildlife habitats and the soil.

Fair Trade Certified Coffee, currently sourced from 23 different countries, means quality--for coffee drinkers, farmers and the environment.

For Information, Contact: Georgetown Students for Fair Trade Jessica Lee Tel: 202 784 7488 jll9@georgetown.edu OR Stephanie Faith Green Tel: 202 784 7781 sfg3@georgetown.edu

January 14, 2003

http://www.thehoya.com/news/011403/news5.cfm Georgetwn Student Takes Fair Trade Coffee National By Thomas Wigg Hoya Staff Writer

Rather than simply protesting injustices, Stephanie Green (SFS '05) and George Washington University sophomore Lina Musayev co-founded United Students for Fair Trade over the summer to promote the demand for Fair Trade certified coffee and other products

The Fair Trade movement aims to improve the lives of the over 25 million impoverished coffee farmers who have seen the price paid to them drop by 70 percent over the past five years. Fair Trade certification ensures that these farmers are paid a "living wage" that can support their family.

Both students were involved locally on their respective campuses in Fair Trade organizations, but realized that there was no national coalition group bringing all fair trade groups together. Consequently, they co-founded USFT, "an international umbrella organization working to promote awareness and increase consumer demand for products produced globally with fair labor practices," according to the group's constitution.

In addition to coffee, USFT also promotes the demand for Fair Trade tea and chocolate. Transfair USA, the only non-profit company certifying Fair Trade products in the United States, explains the plight of tea industry workers as being paid unfairly and being exposed to dangerous pesticides. Global Exchange, a non-profit research organization, says the chocolate industry is forcing children as young as nine-years-old into slave labor.

"The current student anti-globalization movement is just protesting and anger," Green said. "USFT brings a positive face to the movement giving a way to enact change where Americans as consumers can change the life of so many people globally."

Over the summer, Green and Musayev attended Oxfam America's Change Initiative, a program in which 100 college students met in Boston to learn what Oxfam calls "the root causes of poverty and the power we all possess to overcome them."

"Oxfam Change Initiative training has brought up the Fair Trade alternative to the coffee crisis," Musayev said. "I had not heard about the problem before and had decided that since we are the generation of leaders, as students we can connect across the nation and form an organization such as USFT."

USFT also wants to promote more organizations on campuses nationwide. Its Web site, www.usft.org, contains a campaign guideline that leads students through the process of creating a local group. The site also contains a list of student representatives nationwide and ally organizations with similar goals such as Oxfam America, Global Exchange, Youth Venture and Transfair.

USFT will host a kickoff event in Seattle, Wash. on Feb. 28. "Seattle is a bed of coffee culture with the origination of Starbucks and Seattle's Best, as well as its great network of activists set around the movement," Green said.

The event will be held at the University of Washington, where they will have speakers including a coffee farmer, the CEO of Transfair USA, the CEO of Seattle's Best and possibly celebrities such as Martin Sheen and Shakira.

Green explained that there are currently more than 150 student leaders on their mailing list representing at least 60 schools around the country including Harvard, Princeton and Stanford. The number of universities involved is rapidly growing, she said.

"USFT can help make fair trade happen in the United States. And given our country's role as a huge engine of consumption in this global economy, we will be helping the Earth develop sustainable methods of doing business," Musayev said. "College students have a powerful voice and I believe we can make a difference."

From STARC: Georgetown Student Association Moves Ahead With Fair Trade

In their meeting earlier this week, the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), the student government of the University, unanimously approved a measure sponsored by campus group Georgetown Students for Fair Trade (GSFT), which would call for a gradual transition of all on-campus vending outlets towards serving exclusively Fair Trade Certified coffee. Similar to measures passed at UCLA, UC Davis, and other universities nationwide. The resolution, called a "preferred purchaser" restriction, will now be submitted to University administration for final approval. "We feel that it is important for Georgetown, as a Jesuit institution and a globally active campus, to make a unilateral statement on this issue," said Jessica Lee, a representative of GSFT, explaining why the group sought change from the administrative level. "GUSA approval marks the existence of key student support which is the ultimate foundation of our campaign and mission."

Currently, many coffee farmers receive as little as 20 cents per pound of coffee, well below their cost of production. The substantial difference between 20 cents and the Fair Trade price of $1.26 per pound often represents the road out of desperate poverty. It enables farmers to keep children in school, feed their families, improve healthcare and housing and invest in improving the quality of their coffee. Environmentally, an estimated 85% of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the US is also Certified Organic and most is grown under the canopy of bird-friendly shade trees, protecting wildlife habitats and the soil.

Fair Trade Certified Coffee, currently sourced from 23 different countries, means quality--for coffee drinkers, farmers and the environment.

For more information: Contact Jessica Lee at GSFT at 202-784-7488 or mailto:jll9@georgetown.edu or Stephanie Faith Green at 202-784-7781.

Novemeber 12, 2002

Along with some suudents from American University, we co-founded United Students for Fair Trade). We have a web site and listserv. STARC and USFT merged our listserves into one- as of now it has over 100 members. We also started creating the USFT website.

To sign up for the listserv, send a blank e-mail to USFT-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

We are coordinating with other Fair Trade groups such as Oxfam, TransFair USA, and Global Exchange, asd well as other student groups that work on these issues.

USFT's first major coordination event will be to help organize a fair trade chocolate fundraiser to see which college campus can sell the most bars. We're working with Serrv International to supply the chocolate bars.

Friday, September 20, 2002

http://www.thehoya.com/news/092002/news2.cfm UG to Use Fair Trade Coffee By Tom Wigg

On Wednesday, Uncommon Grounds announced their decision to carry Fair Trade coffee in addition to their regular brands. To support the decision, Georgetown Students for Fair Trade Coffee organized several advocates of Fair Trade to speak to students in Sellinger Lounge. The event was held in conjunction with the launch of a global campaign promoting the awareness and consumption of Fair Trade coffee in over 70 countries.

Fair Trade is a certification process that ensures fair payment for coffee growers in Third World countries, over 25 million of whom are currently living in poverty.

Georgetown Students for Fair Trade President Stephanie Green (SFS '05) stressed the fact that the price of coffee has dropped 70 percent over the past five years, while markup at a cafe is 1,400 percent. She hopes to educate students about how they can help farming families by simply buying a different type of coffee. "It is a matter of life and death," Green said.

Fair Trade has long been a controversial issue. Green said discussions between GSFT and Uncommon Grounds have been pursued for about a year. Director of Uncommon Grounds Jonathan McLeod (COL '03) said that initially, the Corp did not see a large need to carry Fair Trade products because they could not verify that their vendor, Clear Mountain, had an ethical relationship with its source in Brazil. McLeod said Clear Mountain was employing the principles of Fair Trade, just without official certification. Uncommon Grounds, however, has recently decided to start carrying Colombian Fair Trade coffee after discussions with Fair Trade representatives. "Fair Trade is a stellar and growing cause and needs support from operations like ourselves," McLeod said.

McLeod also said they will not discontinue sales of their current brand of coffee. "Since we are confident our regular coffee is procured through ethical means, we will continue to offer it along side the Fair Trade coffee. Whether we will shift our volume over completely to Fair Trade coffee or not will depend on consumer response," McLeod said.

McLeod said that regardless of customer demand, Uncommon Grounds will continue to carry Fair Trade coffee and tea no matter what sales figures they encounter. "For now, the demand is adequate from a financial standpoint, and I think there is good reason to believe that demand will grow, especially if groups on campus stay active and vocal," McLeod said.

Uncommon Grounds employees Joe McCoy (COL '04), Sho Morimoto (SFS '04) and Christopher Deal (COL '04) said there had been not been many inquiries about Fair Trade coffee in the days before it was adopted, but that a few people had requested it.

The Colombian Fair Trade coffee offered at Uncommon Grounds is approximately 15 percent more expensive for the Corp to purchase than their equivalent Brazilian coffee. McLeod attributed this difference to the fees associated with certifying Fair Trade products. "We have decided to increase the price 10 cents a cup, which essentially means Uncommon Grounds and our customers are sharing the increase in cost. If students feel strongly about the Fair Trade cause, I don't see 10 cents being too much of a deterrent," McLeod said.

"I'm not more or less likely to come here because of Fair Trade coffee," Molly Martyn (COL '04) said. "But I'm happier that they're doing this."

"I definitely think it's a good thing," Sean Hawks (COL '03) said. "As I understand it, it helps take out the middleman and give fairer wages to Latin American workers, while not necessarily being more expensive for Uncommon Grounds."

Fair Trade coffee is also available in the New South cafeteria and will soon be available at Vital Vittles.

John Jacoby of Oxfam America, a human rights organization, discussed how over 50 developing countries and their citizens depend on coffee exports to pay for health care, education and debt relief. He said four major corporations in the coffee industry — Proctor & Gamble, Kraft, Sara Lee and Nestle — are exploiting the coffee growers for their own benefit. "These companies are getting double digit profits while farmers and their families starve," Jacoby said.

Guatemalan farmer Benjamin Cholotio elaborated on the plight of the small coffee grower. He described how families in his country are hungry and do not earn enough money to survive. Children are forced to leave school because their parents can no longer pay for their studies. He noted that there are no funds for medicine or health care, and men are forced to leave their homes for temporary work in order to feed their families. "This has led to the disintegration of the Guatemalan family," Cholotio said.

Cholotio said many Guatemalans turn to the drug trade to make enough money to survive. He said he was concerned with the lack of financial assistance farmers received from banks, making it difficult for the farmers to obtain loans. He said he was frustrated that coffee houses, corporations and supermarkets are making large sums while the coffee growers "don't see a penny."

Scott Codey of Transfair USA, a group that certifies and monitors the Fair Trade supply chain, explained how farmers have a lack of assets and cannot secure a normal loan from a bank. "[Farmers] are at the mercy of middlemen who charge up to 30 percent interest per month, making it impossible for them to get out of debt," Codey said.

Codey said that in order to be considered Fair Trade coffee, farmers must be offered a fair price, or "living wage," traditionally $1.26 per pound of coffee. He said this is the minimum price that will enable farmers to feed their families.

Green said that Fair Trade coffee is more environmentally friendly because it is "shade-grown," meaning it is planted under trees and produces a higher quality organic coffee as opposed to corporations that cut down large tracks of land in order to plant. Green said the benefits of shade-grown coffee include soil replenishment and the lack of wildlife disturbance that results when growing coffee without clearing forest.

GSFT plans to continue its efforts to make the product available on campus. "Right now, it's not offered at all in Darnall cafeteria or at Center Grill," Green said. "Everywhere it is offered, we want to make it 100 percent known — that's why we're kicking off an educational campaign." Green said the organization will pass out leaflets and organize events to publicize Fair Trade coffee.

December 2001 (Seth Petchers)

Regarding the Folgers Day of Action, unfortunately, the 15th is a bad time for our Georgetown middle of finals (in fact, there are some on that day), and some of us will have already left the DC area. While we're 100% supportive, there's no one in the group who will be able to participate on the 15th.

Meanwhile, our campus campaign is moving forward. We've gotten an open minded response from Marriott in our first conversation, and we are stepping up education efforts. Tomorrow we're up our first "free coffee" table in a heavily-trafficked area (appropriately known as "Red Square"). We hope to plant some seeds in people's minds so we can hit the ground running when classe