Fair trade group names first executive director
Partners for Just Trade seeks better life for Peruvians
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| Carrie Hawthorne, the new executive director of Partners for Just Trade, poses with some of the Peruvian goods her group sells. She is wearing a scarf from Peru. |
Now the organization based in the Shaw neighborhood hopes to help even more Peruvians to a better life by enabling them to receive a much bigger share of the retail price for their wares than they normally would receive.
The group has named its first executive director and plans to expand its markets. Among other things, it plans to soon start a web site where people can buy its wares, ranging from baby blankets to sweaters to hats to gloves to socks.The organization also sells bags, purses, stuffed animals, ceramics, wine bottle holders, Christmas items and other household goods.
In free trade, the average producer receives 1-5 percent of the retail price. But in fair trade, the producer receives 30 to 50 percent.
"We believe that each purchase you make can have a positive impact in the world," said Carrie Hawthorne, 27, the new executive director of Partners for Just Trade.
A 2001 graduate of Ohio State University with a double major in Spanish and International Studies, with a concentration in World Economy and Business, Hawthorne spent three years with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. She helped plan the first national Fair Trade Conference.
Hawthorne's new organization has its office at 2236 Tower Grove Ave., in the headquarters of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. That group oversees 95 churches of the Presbyterian Church-USA in southwest Illinois and most of Eastern Missouri.
Partners for Just Trade grew out of a call about five years ago by the national church for presbyteries to link with fair trade networks in other countries. The Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery was linked with Peru and focused on economic development, environmental concerns and human rights.
Out of that, the presbytery began selling items in churches on a fair trade basis.
It was a humble effort at first, with volunteers selling about $7,000 worth of merchandise in the first year. But it grew to the point that $125,000 worth of material was sold in the past year.
Last year, Partners for Just Trade was officially formed as a non-profit, tax-deductible organization. And Hawthorne was recently hired as the first executive director.
The organization sells primarily through churches, but also at stores. It now helps 14 groups of artisans in Peru, or about 200 workers, and is trying to increase that number. It plans to expand to include fair trade items from other countries marketed by other presbyteries.
Hawthorne's road to being hired by the local organization came after taking a sharp turn in college.
"I really thought that I would work for a multi-national corporation and travel the world," Hawthorne said.
But then in her junior year in college, she traveled to the Dominican Republic, where she studied agricultural economics.
"It really made me question what was important, just the people having so little and willing to give so much," Hawthorne said.
In one case, she met a woman who lived with her husband and their three children in a one-room house.
"I'd known her for two weeks and she invited me to stay in her house as long as I wanted," said Hawthorne, who lives in the Shaw neighborhood. "That experience in the Dominican Republic really opened up my eyes."
Following college, Hawthorne worked for the Peace Corps in Guatemala for three years, where she taught environmental education and started a cooperative business of female weavers.
She has traveled extensively throughout South and Central America.
After traveling, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she did marketing for two non-profit organizations, the Fair Trade Federation and Co-op America. She also helped plan the first national Fair Trade Conference.
With her new organization, Hawthorne has big plans for expanding and helping more artisans in Peru.
"The sky is the limit. Each product that we sell is changing someone's life," Hawthorne said.
More information and a catalog are at www.fairtradeperu.com. People may e-mail Hawthorne at partnersforjusttrade@yahoo.com.
Jim Merkel may be reached at jmerkel@yourjournal.com.
