Brewed Fresh Daily

Catholic Relief Services and Equal Exchange invite you to visit a new website, www.crsfairtrade.org, where you will find information about the CRS Coffee Project, a parish-based initiative that offers people in the United States a way to live their faith in solidarity with farming communities around the world, simply by buying and drinking fair trade coffee, tea and cocoa. The Catholic community has always been vital to Equal Exchange's success in building fair trade for small-scale farmers and their families. Numerous religious orders are lenders and investors with the company and over 300 Catholic parishes, schools and organizations have ordered coffee, tea, and cocoa through Equal Exchange. Catholic Relief Services looks forward to expanding that number and joining with the more than 7,000 places of worship across the United States who are connecting faith and fair trade through Equal Exchange's Interfaith Program and partnerships with faith-based relief and development organizations such as Lutheran World Relief and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Through the CRS Coffee Project, Catholics and others of good will in the United States can express their faith and values by making conscious consumer choices, ones that place people and the environment ahead of profits, and by amplifying the voices of coffee farmers around the world. Get Involved a. SERVE fair trade coffee, tea and cocoa after mass and at special parish events. b. SELL the products to parishioners, for use at home, or as fundraising projects for the parish. c. EDUCATE about fair trade and other economic justice issues in Sunday school, small faith communities, at parish council meetings, youth gatherings and other events. d. ADVOCATE for just trade policies and practices, e. SPEAK to local businesses about offering fairly traded coffee, tea and cocoa from Equal Exchange. Together CRS and Equal Exchange are committed to increasing the demand for fair trade coffee in the United States, supporting the development of small-scale farmers in coffee growing regions, and connecting communities in the United States with communities around the world. The CRS Coffee Project provides an excellent way to make this commitment tangible, one cup at a time.