(Alisa White -- The Beacon)
By Luke Riela, Staff Writer -- riela14@up.edu
Last night, the Fair Trade Club gave some additional offerings at Espresso UP. Students could purchase a number of fair trade products from all over the world, as well as art from the UP community.
According to sophomore Shanay Healy, event coordinator for the Fair Trade Club, these products included African shoulder bags, Brazilian coffee, Peruvian woven and braided bracelets, Seattle chocolate and UP art.
A central goal of the Fair Trade Club is to make fair trade products available at UP.
"We want to make fair trade products more accessible for students on campus," junior Daniel Boettcher, a Fair Trade Club event coordinator, said.
Fair Trade Club members were at Espresso UP to offer information and answer questions.
"Our purpose is to make people aware about what fair trade is," Boettcher said.
Students were able to learn about fair trade and to buy the fair trade products.
"I'm really excited that the students are going to be able to present their art and that fair trade supports the community," junior Ruth Passernig, who was at the event, said.
Healy said the sale of these fair trade products, which totaled $304 last night, supports companies and organizations that employ workers under fair labor laws in a sustainable environment.
"We want to support good labor practices and support our own community," Healy said.
According to Healy, the Fair Trade Club supports creations from the UP community in addition to the quality exports.
"We want to give students an opportunity to show what they can create," Healy said.
In addition to educating students about fair trade, the Fair Trade Club wants students to be more aware of the origins of the products they use.
"We want to encourage UP students to question where their products are coming from," Healy said.
According to Boettcher, the Fair Trade Club is interested in making fair trade products more available to students.
"We want to eventually have a fair trade store on campus," Boettcher said, "a cool place with good ethical products we could sell."
Healy mentioned that to guide the club goals, they will have a specialized group doing a variety of tasks from advertising to scheduling events, as well as a good base of members who come to events and support fair trade.
"We have a dozen planners, but there are more members," Healy said. "We have a good balance of people who represent all different groups of students on campus."
To join the Fair Trade Club, students can stop by Kenna 256 at 8:15 p.m. on Mondays for Fair Trade Club meetings. Students can also contact Daniel Boettcher at boettche12@up.edu or Shanay Healy at healy13@up.edu.
"They can send either of us an e-mail and find out how to volunteer," Healy said.
Boettcher pointed out that students can choose how much time to dedicate to the club.
"Students can be as involved as they want to be," he said.
Next Thursday night, Nov. 18, the Fair Trade Club will offer the same variety of products at Café Procrastiné. At each event, the Fair Trade Club strives to get students more in touch with and educated about products around the world.
"We want to bring the world and our campus together," Boettcher said.
(Alisa White -- The Beacon)
(Alisa White -- The Beacon)
(Alisa White -- The Beacon)
(Alisa White -- The Beacon)
