Weekly BCFT Update, Seventh Edition! Pandemic Hobbies.

"Hi everyone!

You know it’s been a good week in the store when we’re so busy we don’t have time to send our Monday email! Our online sale with Fuquay Varina United Methodist Church was a huge success, bringing in 30 orders and our Mother’s Day gift collections have also been a big hit. I don’t have an accurate sales update for you b/c I haven’t had time to enter all the sales! A good problem to have for sure. 

I’m about to pack up my car and deliver these orders to Fuquay (just to one house, then our FVUMC friends will take care of the rest). I’ll have a sales update for you next week & more time to check in. Until then, Happy Mother's Day to all our BCFT mamas & I hope everyone is still doing well & hanging in there. 

Katie :)

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Hi all,

In honor of World Fair Trade Day on Saturday, this week I wanted to share some artisan updates from two of the largest vendors we work with, who are also founding organizations of the fair trade movement.

Ten Thousand Villages was founded in 1946 by Edna Ruth Byler. After traveling to Puerto Rico and meeting talented but struggling artisans there, she worked to create a marketplace for their handicrafts by bringing back pieces of embroidery to sell so the women who made them could earn income. Supported by the Mennonite Central Committee, the project Edna started became known as SELFHELP Crafts of the World, changing its name to Ten Thousand Villages in 1996. Ten Thousand Villages works with 20,000 artisans in 30 countries. One of their artisan partners is Craft Resource Center in Kolkata, India.

Here is an update from Indro Dasgupta, the director of the Center: “Artisan groups are being provided cash support (by CRC) for basic necessities on an ad hoc basis. Groups which are in relatively weak economic situations are being paid first.” After receiving payment from Ten Thousand Villages on April 15: "A HUGE THANK YOU! This is amazing. We now have some more artisan group payments and most of our salaries covered for April." Indro says of life in Kolkata, “It is all completely shut down. The busy roads are empty, and all shops closed. Only a few vegetable vendors are open. We have never seen anything like this.”

SERRV was founded in 1949 to help European refugees from WWII earn income from their handcrafts. SERRV stands for Security, Education, Responsibility, Rights, and Value. Now this organization works in 25 countries with over 8,000 artisans each year. They recently shared an email update from their artisan partners in just a few of these places, to which we are connected. Through SERRV, we buy ceramics from the West Bank, food items (like sauces, jams, and chutneys) from eSwatini, and nativities from Lima.

- From West Bank, Palestine: "Tourism is paralyzed and family workshops now have no way of having income at all. Our team is contributing from their own pockets to support the neediest who call upon us to help them. Our prayers go out to all of you and all our partners in the world."

- From eSwatini (formerly Swaziland): "We know tough times are ahead, but eventually we will find ourselves on the other side: changed, stronger, better. What we ask you today is to keep on supporting the small businesses and organizations that are trying to leave the world better than they found it."

- From Lima, Peru: "Despite everything, our artisans are moving forward. When we call them, there are always words of thanks. We want to convey our gratitude in these difficult times. You are all in our prayers, and we do hope that everything will end soon."

Thanks as always for reading, and for your support of fair trade. And a happy Mother's Day in advance to all the moms, grandmas, and even great-grandmas among us!

Talk soon,

Amy

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Hi Lovely Humans,

Thank you to everyone who continues to reach out to us and share your daily lives and news! You’ll see in the attached PDF- I was pleasantly surprised to hear how many of you are picking up gardening while staying at home! Maybe we’re all trying to stretch our groceries out a little more? 

If gardening isn’t your jam, maybe you’d rather color a collection of Durham scenes. Our friends over at Papermill Creative (you may recognize their home-y watercolor art from 2019’s Shop Durham card) have released free printable Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill coloring pages! Honestly, I had fun just downloading them on my computer and trying to identify all the landmarks from the Triangle. 

Back to gardening, I’m sad to report the quick and sudden demise of my romaine plants. But hey, maybe it can be an exercise in counting small successes, and maybe that’s something we could all exercise. Given that the only tools I employed were a 2 minute video, some dirt, and an LED lamp, and that I harvested some leaves before my romaine died...I could’ve done worse. And I’ll try it again and get better, hopefully.

What are your small successes? Share your pictures and stories about anything you’d like to celebrate by replying to this email or contacting me. 

Till Next time,

Cara"