Lazy days of summer are almost over
On my morning commute today, I experienced some rare moments of silence. There were no traffic jams for me to jay-walk through and few subway riders to jostle me. Not a single horn honked this morning! The lazy days of summer are really here in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, with many folks on vacation and Congress contemplating its August recess.
But fall is just around the corner, and for CRS Fair Traders that means Work of Human Hands sales aplenty. All over the country diocesan leaders, parish volunteers, and youth groups plan and organize craft sales which directly benefit artisans and farmers in 35 different countries. At CRS Fair Trade we are pleased that the number of sales has increased steadily in recent years. We know that millions of disadvantaged people overseas benefit from Fair Trade (just to be clear…I’m counting coffee farmers here!) We also believe strongly that U.S. Catholics welcome opportunities like Work of Human Hands to put their faith in action.
This year the Work of Human Hands program will be modified a bit to improve efficiency and effectiveness. I’ve been pouring over the drafts of new “how to” guides, and I think our partners at A Greater Gift have really created some helpful tools to help you plan your sale. These will be posted on our website in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Now is the time to pick a date for your sale and recruit volunteers. Find a location, start dreaming of how you’ll get the word out, but please hold off a bit on the actual ordering until you get the forms with the new lists of available products (info packets will be sent in August). If you REALLY must order now, please call 800.685.7572 and a friendly customer service representative will answer your questions.
I would NEVER suggest that you take a vacation from Fair Trade, but I do hope you enjoy the remaining lazy days of summer. I look forward to working with you and our regional staff to bring Fair Trade into your communities come September. Right now, by the way, I’m headed to Ghana with participants in the Raise Money Right contests. Hopefully we’ll be blogging with you soon!
