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	UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST COFFEE PROJECT
	A joint effort of UCC congregations and Equal Exchange supporting the “Small Farmers Fund”
	A note from Warren Turner:

If “Number One Promoter of the United Church of Christ Coffee Project” in our congregation were a competitive position, I still would have won hands down. Everyone may not know of my dedication to The Bean, but almost everybody has seen me with my little white plastic travel mug. So it is that when I began to read about coffee farmers in Central America and the way that Starbucks and the big coffee companies have drastically reduced their already meager income, I wanted more information. Now that I have, I want to share it with as many of you as possible.

It is simple in one way. Globalization—and greed—has left the original coffee farmers with as little 1/3 of one cent for each pound of coffee hauled down by foot from the mountains. In order to address to the extreme inequity and inhumanity of this industry, the UCC Coffee Project works to give farmers a fair price for their products, have access to affordable credit, and gain a long-term trading partner they can trust, a Fair Trade Organization called Equal Exchange. Equal Exchange's mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the contribution of worker cooperatives and Fair Trade, a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

So, the UCC Coffee Project is a new way for the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College to join hands with communities in the developing world. As Christians we can address a consumer dilemma by buying coffee that is fairly traded. Through the project, farmers and their families gain more control over their lives, and earn a fairer share of income, have access to credit and technical support. At the same time, we can begin to learn about the impacts of our consumer habits and how to advocate for more just global economic policies for coffee producers, small farmers, and workers throughout the world.

Over the next several months, I hope to tell you more, but meanwhile, our congregation has already started. The coffee we serve in the Batchelder Lounge after worship is now purchased from the UCC Coffee Project. Since we are drinking fair trade coffee at church maybe you would like to get it for you home kitchen. Kendra Mitchell in the church office and I both have the complete order information and I will be buying a larger order from time to time from which I will make individual pound bags available for purchase.

P.S. In January, I will travel with a joint UCC-Witness for Peace delegation to Chiapas, Mexico just north of the Guatemala border, where we visit farmers and work with them in the muddy hillsides. I will take many pictures and plan to make an after worship presentation when I get back.

To find more about UCC and Equal Exchange look

click on these links

http://www.ccdc-ucc.org/         http://www.equalexchange.com/ucc    

Photos from last year’s delegation sent by Stan Duncan, delegation leader: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=107m1lfe.btn9qgpm&Uy=-j0wkff&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0