Holy Names Academy in Seattle, WA is doing their chocolate fundraiser a little different this year. The school has done such a great job incorporating social justice into student life that this year the students demanded a Fair Trade chocolate fundraiser. Holy Names is just wrapping up a 10-day Divine chocolate fundraiser with a goal to sell over 38,000 bars of Fair Trade chocolate!! Julia O’Connor, a junior at Holy Names, sent in a few postings for our blog with an update on how their fundraiser is going. Thanks to Julia for writing in and good luck to Holy Names Academy!

Holy Names Academy, Fair Trade Chocolate Fundraiser

Julia O’Connor

February 3, 2009 – Day 5

Our candy sale officially commenced last Friday, so the ladies of HNA spent the past weekend selling their fair trade chocolate to any and all! In the past, the delicious bars have been available for students (and faculty!) to purchase during Global Solidarity Week and other special occasions, but this year serves as our first year selling the FT treats for our formal candy sale. The building is abuzz with energy, likely a result to the mass quantities we’ve all consumed thus far; when speaking to one classmate, she told me that she’d already spent $16 on chocolate (for the record, that’s eight bars!) and had already eaten most of it! The hallways are decorated with posters promoting the FT bars and providing students with information about fair trade, encouraging the girls to not only sell their chocolate but also educated their buyers on the benefits to purchasing fair trade products. As the bars are sold, we hope the candy sale will promote not just chocolate indulgence but a greater knowledge of fair trade as well!

February 5, 2009 – Day 7

At this point in our sale, most girls have sold all of their chocolate and are even taking on more boxes in an attempt to reach the super-quota level! I decided this was a good time to poke around and ask for some reactions to the chocolate and fair trade promotion. Many girls responded with enthusiasm, saying that the chocolate tasted much better than previous years, making it worth the increase in price (last year’s chocolate retailed for $1 per bar, while the FT goodies are $2 per bar); others said they really enjoyed getting to spread the knowledge of fair trade with their consumers; even more replied that they hoped the school sold FT next year. Buyers have been very satisfied as well, repeating the student’s comments and encouraging the school to continue the practice of FT promotion and teaching. We’ve even sold enough chocolate to earn ourselves a half-day off of school! With the sale just over halfway completed, there is still even more chocolate to sell, and with that, more opportunities to teach our families, friends, even hungry strangers all about fair trade!

We’ll keep you posted as we receive more information from Julia on how the fundraiser ended. Please keep the ladies of Holy Names in your thoughts and prayers!

Cecilia Appianim of Kuapa Kokoo, the cocoa cooperative in Ghana that provides the cocoa for Divine Chocolate. Photo credit: Sophi Tranchell

If your community or school is looking for an ethical “and tasty” way to raise money, CRS’ Raise Money Right is for you. A chocolate fundraiser that began in 2005 with Divine chocolate has now grown to include fair trade chocolate from Equal Exchange, our fair trade partner in Massachusetts. A fair trade chocolate fundraiser is an easy way to support projects that improve your community or school while helping cocoa farmers around the world.