Fair Trade Fundraising

If you're trying to raise some funds and want to do so without supporting sweat shops, here's a resource to check into that I just learned about.

Dear Friends and Family,

We are open for business! Visit us at www.fairtradefundraising.org

As some of you may know, my friend Tara and I have started a business selling handmade banana leaf cards made by a group of women in Rwanda. From Arms to Artisans, Fair Trade Fundraising is primarily a fundraising organization, but we also do retail sales through our website.

When we lived in Rwanda, Peter and I began supporting a group of artisans outside of Kigali by purchasing their beautiful banana leaf cards. These masterpieces are created with only banana leaves that have been dyed and dried to achieve different colors, razor blades, and cassava root glue. It was amazing to see the women intently working to create these works of art with the most basic materials.

After brainstorming with Tara about ways to support and raise awareness of this group of women, we came up with the idea to sell the cards to schools and organizations for them to use as fundraisers. Our slogan is Local Fundraising with Global Benefits.

We believe Fair Trade Fundrasing's benefits are threefold:
Local organizations benefit financially
Participants of the fundraisers broaden their global view
The women in Rwanda benefit by increased sales
We'd appreciate it if you could forward this information to groups who would benefit from our fundraiser or to individuals who would see the value and beauty in these cards. We also appreciate your feedback!

Thank you,
Laurel Greer

Stay tuned for more from me about Mexico, Quetzalcoatl, Ecuador, and the wonderful world of life on the Fort Apache Rez...I hope!