Calvin Presents Fair-Trade Fair

November 30, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Vendors of fair-trade goods will sell their wares on the Calvin
College campus December 4-5, including a woman who crochets handbags out of
plastic grocery bags from Meijer.

Full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/fair-trade-fair.htm

For the third consecutive year, the Social Justice Committee at Calvin College
will sponsor its holiday fair of fair-trade handicrafts (and coffee) from
around the world.

“Presents With Presence” will take place from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday
through Wednesday, December 4–5 in the Hekman Library lobby.

“We thought it was a great way to raise awareness about fair trade: what it
is and how important it is,” said SJC co-chair Amy Jonason, an organizer of
the sale. “All of the vendors are great about talking about why they’re in
this business and how it helps the people that they work with.”

The fair will feature a mélange of goods from nine vendors, all priced to
benefit the original makers of the items.

One standout among the vendors will be a woman known as Senor Miguel, the
mother of an alumnus, who crochets handbags out of plastic grocery bags from
Meijer. “Every year, we like to find some people who make handicraft items
out of recycled material, and Senora Miguel is our representative of that
tradition,” said Jonason.

Another standout vendor served as the impetus for the entire Presents With
Presence institution: Saugatuck-based Otavalito, which has been selling
handmade fair-trade scarves, sweaters, hats and gloves from Ecuador at Calvin
for years.

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Received on Fri Nov 30 10:04:36 2007