On Saturday May 10th Lawrencians joined with communities across the nation for the first ever joint coffee break. Each year people across the world mark the second Sunday in May as World Fair Trade Day and take a moment to celebrate and educate about the wonderful benefits of Fair Trade. This year the Fair Trade Resource Network and the Fair Trade Towns Initiative joined with many sponsors and community groups to set the world record for the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break. This act of solidarity across the country provided an opportunity to share ideas and thoughts about Fair Trade over a steaming cup of joe.

Two Hands Worldshop joined with fellow Lawrencian’s at the Watson Park gazebo to sip on some delicious New Mission coffee (thanks to Tom Wheat!). We held a raffle and gave away various prizes such as coffee and mugs to share with loved ones back home, all in our handy dandy Two Hands reusable shopping bag. The event drew approximately 40 people to do their part to set this world record! The Lawrence Journal World stopped by and ran a story about the gathering of Fair Traders. A huge thanks to everyone that came out!!

To continue with the celebration of Fair Trade and spreading the word, Two Hands Worldshop will be joining with Films for Action to screen Black Gold at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. We will begin at 7 pm and the cost for the movie is $3 which helps fund Films for Action. We will also have free coffee from the Oromia co-op featured in the film (there will also be some decaf available). Lawrence.com did a great interview with Brady about the film. If you are around be sure to come check it out and tell your friends! The movie is well done and very moving.

Two Hands will also be at the upcoming Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival June 5-8th sharing Fair Trade with music lovers. If you’re catching the show be sure to stop by the booth and say hi!

We had a fun and productive few days in Washington. We met up and reminisced with many friends from Peace Corps Guyana. Although we hadn’t seen many of them in close to two years the connections are still burning bright, the tried and true sign of good friendships. We stayed with my uncle, Scott Swenson, who is coming ever closer to publishing a book he has been writing for a while now. He also does great work managing, editing and writing for the reproductive health news and commentary site, rhrealitycheck.org.

Alicia and I met with Kristen from the Crafts Center at CHF International (unfortunately Jennifer was ill). We enjoyed trading stories over sushi near their headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Two Hands will certainly benefit from its membership with the Crafts Center. Their network of members, including producers, retailers and wholesalers, spans 100 countries on five continents. We will benefit immediately from the Crafts Center’s annual trends report that takes a rigorous look at fashion trends to better equip artisans for developing products that can be successful in the US market.

We also were able to meet with Carmen Iezzi, the director of the Fair Trade Federation, for coffee the morning we left. Carmen is a dynamic and motivated woman who alone, along with her “incredibly fantastic” intern, runs the 252 member organization of fair trade businesses in North America. We talked about Two Hands and about the future of fair trade. The Fair Trade Federation has much on its plate including an upcoming annual conference June 1st and 2nd and a redesigned website expected to launch sometime this year.

We’ll be back to our blogging selves tomorrow and don’t forget that we plan to cover the Chicago Green Festival coming up April 21st and 22nd. If you’ll be at the Green Festival and would like to meet up for a chat feel free to shoot us an email and we’ll make arrangements!

Alicia and I will be departing tomorrow on our first of two short trips this month. We’re flying to our nation’s capital to spend a few days with several of our very best friends from our days in Guyana. We will be crashing with my uncle and my little brother is already up there hanging out with him and a few of his friends. It’s also Alicia’s 28th b-day on Sunday so we’ll be celebrating with, among other festivities, a stroll amidst the cherry blossoms (if the frost doesn’t bite them too hard).

We’re very excited but we are also making a bit of time for work. We will be having lunch with Jennifer Marcy. She heads up a great organization called the Crafts Center which is a project of CHF International. From Crafts Center’s website:

The Crafts Center at CHF International contributes to economic development through field programs and coordination of an international network dedicated to supporting low-income artisans. Through targeted training and business development services, the provision of market linkages, and the development of business associations, our programs empower entrepreneurs to compete in the global marketplace and improve the quality of their own lives.

Two Hands Worldshop will be applying to be a member of the Crafts Center in the very near future (read: as soon as the taxes are done) and we’re looking very much forward to meeting Jennifer and establishing a long and mutually beneficial friendship with her and the Crafts Center.

On the other April jaunt Alicia and I will be attending the Green Festival in Chicago April 21st and 22nd. While we will likely not post while in DC we will be blogging fools when we’re in Chicago. We plan to cover as much as possible every day of the festival with particular attention to the fair trade fare.

Signing off for a few days… hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.