Trade As One

Hagar‘s work in Cambodia is remarkable. Their commitment to the most vulnerable people in their region includes those facing domestic abuse, rescued from slavery, kids with learning and physical disabilities, and more. We love being a part of their story, and will jump on every opportunity to spread the word about the work they’re doing on the front lines of poverty. As you watch the video below, remember that your purchases of Hagar’s (now StopStart) bags bring light and life to these kids. Have a look and pass it on.

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If you’d like to see all of the products we carry from Hagar, click here.

Valentine’s Day evokes a variety of responses - the cynics among us may see it as a consumeristic ploy and the romantics among us see it as an opportunity to express love (or at least give/get a good gift). Regardless of where you land on the continuum between cynicism and a romanticism, I am sure we would all agree that a couple words come to mind when thinking about Valentine’s day - LOVE and CHOCOLATE.

Our Fair Traders are using Valentine’s Day to educate their friends about the realities of slavery in the cocoa industry and the power we all have to make simple choices that impact others lives simply by changing their spending habits. This is easy to do by hosting a film screening/discussion or by sharing resources on Facebook.
Put YOUR love in action by joining Fair Traders and helping to spread the word about Fair Trade. It is the best next step for any individual who wants to partner with Trade as One and be an ambassador for Fair Trade. The fun part is that you will get ideas for how to educate your friends, special discounting for Fair Traders and special perks for the friends you invite to your events.

Get involved. More information available by clicking here.

They call themselves a “regular” church community group, but we aren’t totally buying it. It isn’t everyday that the phone rings at the warehouse and the woman on the other end of the phone explains that her community group wants to spread the word about Fair Trade to 60 of their neighbors. We were thrilled to brainstorm ways they could do this creatively and on a budget. They ended up with a Fair Trade goodie bag filled with tea, chocolate, and a coupon code for tradeasone.com.

Sharing Fair Trade with their neighbors is just one example of the way this community group is extending themselves outside of their group.  Each month, the group takes a new challenge ranging from developing relationships with those who are homeless in San Jose or San Francisco to a plan they have next month to do household chores for neighbors.

We love seeing how faith communities are articulating the connection between how they use their spending and justice issues around the globe. Seeing them take that a step further to educate their friends and neighbors is even more exciting.

It didn’t surprise us to learn that this group is part of GrX Fremont, as this community has already partnered with Trade as One in many ways. We’re proud to have partners like these. If you’d like to do something similar,email us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or leave your info in the comments.

Our first warehouse sale was so much fun, we decided to do it again. On Tuesday February 9th, we’ll be opening our doors to anyone who wants to make it a Fair Trade Valentine’s Day. In addition to our new Valentine’s Day products (which will also be up on the site soon), we’ll also have a closeout section full of great products at great prices. These events are a great chance to come in with friends and see our HQ, get some great deals, see products that aren’t available on the website, and hang out with the team.

In addition, this could be a great opportunity for some of you to gently (or not so gently) nudge your significant other to schedule some Valentine’s shopping time. It would be easy enough to forward along this post as a not-so-subtle hint.

So here are the specifics:

Date: Tuesday, February 9th
Times: 10am-2pm and 6pm-9pm
Address: 41829 Albrae St. Suite 102, Fremont, CA (Map here)

Hope to see you there!

Now that the warehouse is dry, we’ve actually been getting some work done here at Trade as One. Last week Nathan was interviewed on “Our Global Hope,” an internet talk radio program from TalkZone. It was a long and insightful interview, and they covered a whole range of topics. For anyone interested, it’s a good way to hear a bit of the story of how Trade as One got started, Nathan’s thoughts on the challenges we’ve faced, and the future of Fair Trade. You can listen to the program by clicking here.