Calvin News

“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.

Global Infusions, a local purveyor of handicrafts and teas will be on hand as will Global Gifts, a supplier of handmade home design, tableware, jewelry and holiday fair trade items from around the world.

Zeeland-based Better Way Imports will sell their signature Freeset bags at the event. “They’re made of jute by women in India in a cooperative setting,” said Jonason. “These are women who are at risk. They either used to be part of the sex trade or they’re at risk for entering the sex trade because they’re from a different caste. So this cooperative is an alternative enterprise—giving them a respectable job.”

Bean by Bean, a fair trade coffee store owned by 2001 Calvin alumnus Darrell Jackson, will sell its various roasts, and Venture Imports will sell artworks from Africa and other nations.

Calvin will be well-represented at the fair through the auspices of the campus store, which will offer a sampler of basketry, jewelry and household goods from its regular stock of fair trade goods. The SJC will also command a table to sell “Do Justice” t-shirts; proceeds from those sales will benefit the Association for a More Just Society, co-founded by Calvin sociology professor Kurt Ver Beek.

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. “We came up with the idea that we needed some fair trade stuff around here for the holidays, and we called her. She was able to come on quite short notice, and Global Infusions was also there the first year.”

The SJC added more vendors to the event in the successive years: “We like to give them an opportunity to reach a market they usually don’t,” Jonason said. “That’s why we don’t charge a booth fee or anything. It’s just an opportunity for those businesses to get their name out there.”

Jonason enjoys the bustle of the sale, though it typically falls during the bustle of semester’s end: “It’s always during one of the busiest week of the school year, because it’s right before finals, and it kind of brings the Christmas spirit onto campus. The spirit of Christmas is about acknowledging what Jesus was born to do. Part of that is to bring hope into places where there’s poverty and oppression, and fair trade is one way to provide better economic opportunity. It’s not religious, but as religious people, I think we can recognize that it’s really in line with Christ’s mission.”