Here’s a view of the group spreading out through the Southeast and Southwest:

Anniversaries are a good time to look back, and the recent training has inspired me to reflect a bit on why Ambassadors are so important to our solidarity efforts. First off, what is this “word of mouth marketing” (WOMM) hype anyway? I think CRS Southwest Regional Director Daniel Lizarraga sums it up best by saying WOMM is “good gossip.” It is having that itch to tell your friends, loved ones, and even perfect strangers a bit of news. The news our Ambassadors share is that Fair Trade promotes economic justice in simple but powerful ways. They tell the stories of the farmer co-owners of Divine chocolate and fully committed coffee companies. They share environmentally friendly bookmarks and other hand-crafted goodies to spread the “buzz” about the beauty and power of Fair Trade. They encourage other socially responsible consumers to sign up for our Fair Trader e-newsletter and they post their profiles on Facebook.

Ambassadors don’t do this just because they like the cool and tasty “stuff” of Fair Trade. They are using the economic power of daily consumption to promote right relationships with producers and artisans. At this most recent training we heard from Earth Friendly Coffee , Equal Exchange, and Pura Vida about how their companies put farming communities at the center of their concern. All three companies care about making a profit but they want to do it in a way that helps their farmer-partners educate their kids, dig clean water wells, and promote democracy. We heard testimonies of women’s empowerment through the work of Fair Trade pioneer A Greater Gift, and we learned how one woman, Professor Sue Jackels, is using her professional expertise to serve farmers through a partnership with CRS in Nicaragua.

During the final moments of the Ambassador experience, our recruits–who have been identified as leaders in communities as far away as North Pole, Alaska–join together in prayer to accept a call to be Ambassadors. This means they’ll spread good gossip, tell Fair Trade stories, and stay connected with their new community. But most importantly it means they’ll include economic justice as part of their spiritual journeys. Here’s a photo of CRS Fair Trade staff commissioning Patrice Schwermer of Virginia (I’m the one in the Oke banana shirt and Mary Peirce is to the left, Brian Backe to the right.)

Besides commissioning dozens of individuals and trying to nurture their journeys, CRS Fair Trade continues to experiment with how we can help the thousands of Fair Traders out there (maybe you?) who we never meet but who we know can be your own kind of Ambassador. If you have ideas for the support or information we can provide, please post a comment to our blog. And don’t forget to look out for the Ambassador in your region…you can’t miss them: they are wearing sweat-shop free clothing and talking up Fair Trade!

Of course, when it comes to building long term partnerships and equitable trade relationships, it is not all tongue-in-cheek humor. Recently banana farmers in Ecuador endured devastating floods and now need support in buying equipment to drain the flooded farms and do preventative maintenance to mitigate the impact of future floods. Check the info out to help the recovering farm communities be more than just okay.