Tag: Bishop’s Blend

Love your neighbor, love the earth, while sipping your Pumpkin Spice Coffee

With Cherry Remboldt, our deacon, Sherry (our co-facilitator) has approached the Outreach Commission of the Vestry about serving Fair Trade Coffee at St. Margaret’s. The Commission is studying the logistics of the proposal. Stay tuned. Meanwhile …

… Sherry reports that Fresh & Easy is offering fairly traded Pumpkin Spice Coffee for the fall. In her note to me she continues, “The reason I mention this is because, for one, it’s really good, and for two, I’ve never seen a fairly traded flavored coffee before … woo hoo! on behalf of coffee farmers and Fresh & Easy!”

Let us encourage each other (and our friends and neighbors) to purchase Fair Trade Coffee (and other items) to support farmers and other workers and to (better) care for the environment. This is something our bishops have gone on record to support with Bishop’s Blend Coffee and their Pastoral Teaching about stewardship of creation. Let us be “doers of the word.”

The Abundant Life in a cup of coffee

Sherry has been doing important research for our group. I am proud to share the results of her research and invite you to consider how we might make a difference “for good” in our little Sunday Morning Forum. –Dan

COFFEE WITH A CONSCIENCE

You may be surprised to discover that you can savor a great cup of coffee while supporting a great cause.  Coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity.  By buying Fair Trade coffee, every cup of coffee you consume makes a positive difference in the lives of poor coffee farmers around the world.

WHAT IS FAIR TRADE?

Fair Trade certification guarantees that farmers who grow and process the beans receive a fair price, which keeps small farmers in business. 

Fair trade standards encourage sustainable agriculture practices for disposing of hazardous wastes, minimizing water use, avoiding erosion, and conserving the soil.  Fair Trade farms must also meet labor standards such as paying a minimum wage to workers.

WHY ARE WE, AS EPISCOPALIANS, INTERESTED IN FAIR TRADE?

Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) partners with Pura Vida Coffee, a Seattle-based company, in committing to using their resources to do as much for coffee farmers and their families as possible.  Together, they give back to the coffee-growing communities in the form of health, education, and infrastructure projects.  ERD and Pura Vida are helping to create strong and sustainable communities.

More about the partnership between Pura Vida and ERD: Bishops Blend
A short video about Pura Vida and its vision

WHERE CAN I BUY FAIR TRADE COFFEE?

Finding Fair Trade coffee is as easy as looking on your grocer’s shelves for containers with the Fair Trade Certification logo, a click away for online shopping at Pura Vida: Create Good, or by phone at 877.469.1431.  ERD and Pura Vida have partnered to produce a delicious organic, shade-grown coffee called Bishops Blend, the purchase of which not only guarantees fair wages to coffee producers, but 15% of the purchase price of each bag  goes to support ERD’s mission of responding to poverty, hunger, and disease around the world.

Sherry Wollenberg is Co-facilitator of the Sunday Morning Forum at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, CA.

A question for youKnowing more about Fair Trade coffee, about Pura Vida and about its partnership with ERD, what are some things we (individually and/or collectively) can do as we strive to promote “justice and peace among all people,”  as we “respect the dignity of every human being”? (from our Baptismal Covenant) Leave a comment or share your comment in the Forum on Sunday. –Dan

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