Deerfield church to host Fair Trade Gift Boutique

Shortly after Jan Rodriguez moved to Deerfield in 2010, she joined a church that was beginning to embrace fair trade.

That year, the Service Committee at Christ United Methodist Church in Deerfield decided to offer Equal Exchange fair trade coffee during hospitality. In 2011, they held a fair trade gift boutique for the community.

Eager to support a living wage for fair trade artisans and drawn to the practical beauty of their goods, Rodriguez agreed to help organize the boutique. It was a great success.

Since then, Rodriguez has built many relationships in the Chicago fair trade community, and the event has grown. This year's gift boutique takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, and 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, with 13 Chicago-area fair trade vendors who carry a variety of handcrafted designs, including jewelry, scarves, apparel, home décor, baskets and holiday ornaments.

Christ United Methodist Church is at 600 Deerfield Road, Deerfield.

Rodriguez noted that this year, visitors to the gift boutique will enjoy the unique crafts, and the certified fair trade label will reinforce their decision to buy.

"The vendors respect the unique cultural heritage preserved in fair trade and take pride in each artisan's amazing skills," Rodriguez said. "U.S. fair trade vendors help the artisans tailor their products to suit American tastes."

Chicago is the largest fair trade city in the United States, thanks to the efforts of the Chicago Fair Trade coalition.

Its website, www.chicagofairtrade.org, outlines the goals of fair trade: "More than 1 billion of the world's population survive on less than $1 per day. Fair trade aims to combat this widespread poverty by providing opportunity for economically disadvantaged producers, cultivating transparent trade partnerships, ensuring safe working conditions and the rights of women and children, and focusing on environmental sustainability through all stages of production."

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