Fairtrade promotes a just system which frees producers in poor countries from exploitation, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty. We have joined other like minded churches in becoming a registered "Fairtrade Church".
In receiving our Fairtrade Certificate Poster for Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church from the Fairtrade Foundation, we have agreed to:
In meeting these requirements, all tea and coffee used at our church meetings must be Fairtrade. This is indicated by the FAIRTRADE Mark on the jar or packet. A selection of Fairtrade teas and coffees are readily available from our local supermarkets.
If you are responsible for providing the tea and coffee at any of our meetings, please can you make sure that it is Fairtrade (i.e. carries the FAIRTRADE Mark).
The Co-Op, in the Flagship Centre, offers an excellent range of items, from tea and coffee to bananas and fruit juice. In fact, to be more specific, we discovered that they sell 16 different types of coffee (both filter and instant), 4 types of tea, 2 types of hot chocolate powder, 3 types of fruit juice, and 6 types of chocolate! In addition to these, they also sell muesli, cereal bars, cocoa, sugar, honey, strawberry jam, chocolate chip shortbread, basmati rice and bananas. These items are all fairly traded; which means that the producer/grower receives a fair price for his products, not one that is subject to the fluctuations of the international stock market. This in turn enables him to plan ahead, to invest in his business and to pay for his children's education.
Tesco, at the Bloomfield Shopping Centre, also sells a range of Fairtrade goods. These include 7 types of coffee, 2 types of tea, and 2 types of chocolate, as well as cocoa, drinking chocolate, cereal bars, muesli, sugar, chocolate cookies, tinned pineapple and bananas.
The Asda store has at least five types of coffee, two types of tea, dark chocolate and bananas bearing the FAIRTRADE Mark.
M&S at Bloomfield only use Fairtrade coffee and tea in their cafe and they also do Fairtrade pineapples.
By choosing to buy the Fairtrade variety of a particular item we can help to influence the buying policy of the large supermarkets, and support farmers in the Third World at the same time. Look out for the above varieties and pass the word round if you find any more!
Compare notes on the different coffee options - there is plenty of choice and there should be something there to suit everyones taste.
You can find out more about Fairtrade by going to www.fairtrade.org.uk.