Through the UUSC Coffee Project, a collaboration between UUSC and Equal Exchange, your congregation supports small-scale farmers through buying Equal Exchange's 100% fairly traded coffee, tea, chocolate, and other tasty treats in bulk for your congregation, school, and community!
Equal Exchange, worker-owned co-operative, sources these goods from small farmer co-operatives. Farmers earn a fair price, benefit from the co-operatives' community infrastructure like schools and healthcare, and have a trading partner they can trust with Equal Exchange during critical times.
In 2010 alone, UUs purchased 39 tons of small-farmer products through the UUSC Coffee Project. For every pound of Equal Exchange products you purchase through the UUSC Coffee Project, Equal Exchange donates 20 cents to the UUSC Small Farmer Fund, totaling around $17,000 a year. UUs have the highest participation rate of any denomination in Equal Exchange's Interfaith Program - over 650 UU congregations participate!
One of the things for which I am grateful is Equal Exchange, and your Coffee Project which enables us to put our UU principles of justice and fairness to work in a concrete way."
- Sara Anderson, UUSC Liaison, UU Church of Arlington, in Arlington, VA
To contact Equal Exchange with any questions or feedback, e-mail communityorders@equalexchange.coop, call 774-776-7366, or write to us at Equal Exchange; 50 United Drive; West Bridgewater, MA 02379.
UUSC is able to confront injustice worldwide thanks to the dedicated support of its members and supporters. For more information about this and other programs, contact UUSC at 689 Massachusetts Ave.; Cambridge, MA 02139-3302; Tel. 617-868-6600/1-800-766-5236, e-mail coffeeproject@uusc.org, or visit http://www.uusc.org/coffeeproject.
How to Order
To order products and materials like posters and brochures, download an order form for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Coffee Project (in pdf format), or visit the Equal Exchange Web Store!
What You Can Do
- NEW: UUSC Coffee Project coffee pot labels! Ask for them with your next order.
- Serve fairly traded coffee, tea and cocoa at church events and during fellowship hour, and make it available to members for home use.
- Create fundraising projects in your church offering fairly-traded coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate bars.
- Educate about and promote Fair Trade and co-operatives.