During the coffee harvest season in Costa Rica, Isabel Gَmez begins each day at 3:00 a.m. She cleans, does the laundry, and prepares breakfast for her family as well as the lunch to be taken up the slopes where the coffee beans are picked. By 5:00 am the family has eaten, and Isabel and her husband, Adolfo, set off for the day’s work. The children have a long walk to school, and when they return in the afternoon they will join their parents for a time, learning the ins and outs of producing coffee, the family’s principal source of income.

Proud of his family, Adolfo is happy that both of his children are well fed and that they receive a good education. Isabel and Adolfo are members of a co-op of growers who are committed to producing organic, shade-grown coffee. Their co-op has also been certified to sell to the Fair Trade market, allowing them to earn much more than they would in the conventional system. Growers who are not a part of the co-op have to sell their beans to brokers, often at a very low price, and they sometimes have to wait months to be paid. Through the co-op Isabel and Adolfo are paid upon delivery of their coffee at a rate that is guaranteed to cover the cost of production, and a growing percentage of their beans is sold at the higher "Fair Trade" price.

According to Oakland-based TransFair USA (www.FairTradeCertified.org), the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, Fair Trade is "an innovative, market-based approach to sustainable development. Fair Trade helps family farmers in developing countries to gain direct access to international markets, as well as to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace."

Fair Trade is a model that works: it helps farmers develop their businesses and care for their land; it strengthens families and communities; and it empowers people to take care of themselves. Fair Trade products come from all over the developing world and include coffee, cocoa, tea, rice, sugar, bananas, pineapples, and mangoes, and TransFair USA makes it easy to know if a product meets the Fair Trade criteria--the Fair Trade Certified label is your guarantee.

TransFair reports that since 1999 sales of Fair Trade certified products in the U.S. generated more than $60 million in supplemental income for farming families in the global South. Currently, more than 35,000 retail outlets carry one or more of these products.

Receiving a fair market price for products is not the only benefit of Fair Trade. Most Fair Trade coffee and cocoa, for instance, are also organic and shade-grown, providing not only better beans but also keeping the forest canopy intact, which maintains habitats for migratory birds and reduces the impact of global warming. As the market grows, producers and governments are recognizing the environmental benefits of the Fair Trade model in conserving forests and soil resources, and in encouraging traditional, artisan-style farming methods to produce a superior product.

In the US, more and more companies are attracted by the benefits of Fair Trade. Some, like Seattle-based Pura Vida Coffee, carry Fair Trade coffees exclusively. Pura Vida takes the benefits of Fair Trade a step further through a special commitment to at-risk youth, investing in social services in the communities and cities of countries they do business with. When you purchase Pura Vida coffee, you not only get a guarantee that the coffee grower gets a fair price and the integrity of the environment is maintained, you also contribute to improving the lives of children and families in the developing world.

Could you possibly do any better with your coffee-purchasing dollar? As a matter of fact, you can! Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), the charitable relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church, has partnered with Pura Vida to create Bishop's Blend, three distinctive coffees that support ERD’s work around the world. ERD provides the Episcopal response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami, and creates opportunities to help people climb out of poverty.

In other words, by purchasing Bishop's Blend coffee you support better working and living conditions for Central American coffee farmers; you promote a healthy rainforest and better environment and help slow global warming; you help provide clean drinking water in poor villages; you support programs for at-risk children and their families; you help provide AIDS drugs to those who cannot afford them; and you help educate mothers in rural villages about malaria prevention. You also support every one of the Millennium Development Goals; and….you get a really delicious cup of coffee.

According to the Rev. David Funkhouser, an Episcopal priest who recently moved from Philadelphia to Oakland to work in the outreach department of TransFair USA, purchasing Bishop's Blend is "a great way for parishes to do the right thing in a very concrete way, to put our faith into action and invest in our basic values of human rights, justice, and responsible stewardship of the earth.”

A growing number of congregations in the Diocese of California have turned to purchasing Bishop's Blend for their coffee needs.  Grace Church, Martinez; St. John's, Ross; Church of the Epiphany, San Carlos; Holy Innocents, San Francisco; St. John's, Clayton; St. Timothy's, Danville; the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley; and St. Dorothy's Rest, Camp Meeker all serve Bishop's Blend. Bishop’s Blend is available to individuals as well as churches and other organizations. (simply call 1-877-469-1431 to order.)

Fair Trade is not a hand-out. The Fair Trade model addresses the root causes of poverty by empowering the most vulnerable—and most necessary—players in the marketplace, enabling them to participate in their own future and the future of the planet.

"The reality of globalization is with us everywhere we turn," says Funkhouser.  "However, the benefits are not filtering down to the poor, and the chasm is growing larger. Fair Trade represents a wonderful alternative model to what is called “free trade,” and Fair Trade gives us a way to be concretely involved in changing the world –- simply through our choices of the coffee and tea we drink in the morning. By choosing Fair Trade we're making the benefits of globalization available to those who need it most.”

We benefit as well. Fair Trade offers us a new way to effect change in the world—a new way to serve Christ in others. We can make a difference in the lives of those who grow our coffee and become partners with them in that enterprise.

"Our story as people of faith and conscience calls us to love our neighbor and to respond to the needs of the world, and we need tools and ways in which we can feel empowered ourselves," says Funkhouser. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and bananas are some of those tools.

What can you do?

• Buy Bishop's Blend for all of your church's hospitality needs. To purchase Bishop's Blend, call Pura Vida Coffee at 877.469.1431, or visit www.puravidacoffee.com.
• Encourage the use of Fair Trade coffee and other products in your workplace.
• Buy Fair Trade when you shop. Visit www.FairTradeCertified.org for TransFair's guide to where you can buy Fair Trade Certified coffee, cocoa, tea, and fruit in your area.
• Visit the Fair Trade Federation for information on Fair Trade crafts.
• Hold a Fair Trade fundraiser.
• Sell Bishop's Blend and other Fair Trade Certified products to raise money for your congregation or ministry.
• Order Divine Chocolate from SERRV International.
• To learn more, visit www.FairTradeCertified.org