Trade As One

The Trade as One team has been blessed with some wonderful moms. We’re going to be profiling (read: embarrassing) them here on the blog this week. Next up is Stu’s mom: Kay Rentz.

I’m convinced that Kay Rentz (better known to her 3 grandsons as “Special”) is one of the most caring mothers walking the face of this Earth.  She is the definition of a Kindergarten teacher – she greets everyone with a hug, she can sympathize with anyone, and she makes you feel like you are the most important one in the room.
In particular, Special Kay has two gifts that not only make her an amazing mom but also make her an amazing ambassador for Fair Trade.  #1 – She simply loves helping people.  #2 – She loves teaching/convincing others to do the same.
Her selflessness is demonstrated daily whether it’s in the way that she currently takes care of her own mother and mother-in-law or in her attentiveness to the needs of neighbors, church members, co-workers, etc.  For example, while my brother and I were in high school my mom volunteered to bake and serve the pre-game meal for the my entire football team and staff. For five straight years, my mom would prepare her famous pizza-spaghetti recipe every Friday afternoon for fifty large, hungry, teenage boys.  Just as I see my mom as representing the classic definition of a kindergarten teacher, I also see her as defining small-town, Southern generosity (Pickens, SC – population of 3,012), where you show kindness to strangers and there’s no favor from a good friend that’s too big.
Her enthusiasm for helping others is infectious and I know it’s part of the reason that I landed at Trade as One.  The great thing about my mom, though, is that when her general enthusiasm isn’t quite enough to convince you to join her efforts, she has no fear of pushing, pulling, or using her motherly instincts to spur other people to action.
In fact, my mom is just the type of Fair Trade ambassador that we had in mind when we created the Just One program – an program that churches, schools, and groups of any size can use to educate their friends on the potential impact of Fair Trade and convince them to just purchase one fair trade product.  When we launched Just One last Fall, my mom went around to each Sunday School classroom in their church and showed them the Just One video on a laptop computer (apparently my dad joined her on this education quest as her “Video Technician” which I think is just my mom’s fancy way of saying that my dad held the laptop and pressed the play button each time).  The response from Pickens Presbyterian Church was amazing and I’m pretty sure that on a per-capita basis Pickens, SC is now one of the leaders in the Fair Trade movement.
I love my mom.  I have so much respect for how she lives her life.  And I am so appreciative for all the ideals that she instilled in me.

-Stu