East Weymouth Congregational Church Offers A Cup of Economic Justice

It's not unusual that the East Weymouth Congregational Church would take an opportunity to offer a justice-oriented approach to their Sunday morning coffee hour. Indeed, since its inception in May 2004, over 500 UCC congregations have participated in the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries Coffee Project with Equal Exchange, a nonprofit marketer of fair-trade coffee. But what is unusual is that the members of the church are taking the coffee and the cause to the street and selling it by the bag.

Fair-trade coffee, tea and cocoa that East Weymouth Congregational members and other participating churches enjoy at coffee hour are purchased from organizations that operate with concern for the world's poor.

The church buys the coffee wholesale from an Equal Exchange Warehouse in West Bridgewater, a location that serves multiple churches. Not only does Equal Exchange follow fair trade standards, but it also makes a contribution to support the UCC Small Farmer Fund, which supports agricultural communities through relief and development. Judith Wright, Mission Chair for East Weymouth Congregational, is in charge of purchasing bags of coffee, tea and her personal favorite, the organic hot cocoa, to be sold at cost plus a small fee added for pickup expenses. "The cocoa is popular in the winter," she said. "And around the holidays we sell chocolate bars. Chocolate has many of the same issues as coffee with respect to the economics. All of these projects include a concern for environmental issues and support sustainable agriculture."

The East Weymouth church not only serves the fair trade coffee at coffee hour, but also offers bags of the coffee for purchase. The prices range from $6.00 to $6.75 per 12 oz. bag -- prices which are still below grocery retail prices. "The community can purchase fair-trade coffee in some of the local supermarkets, but again there's a retailer markup," says Wright. "We can sell it at a discount because there's no middleman and that gives people an extra incentive to purchase it."

"The real purpose is to make people aware of the issue of economic injustice and hopefully increase the sphere of education," says Wright. "For example, one Sunday this summer two guest churches were invited to our service. Many of the visitors stayed for coffee and two in particular were very interested in the program. One person even inquired about using fair trade coffee as a project for their youth group."

That selling-for-a-good-cause mentality made the mission group re-think their beverage offerings for their annual fair. "We re-positioned the coffee table upfront, near the street, and offered sweets to go with the coffee," commented Shirley Horton, the Stewardship Secretary. The group thought that the strawberry shortcake would attract more people and make the coffee purchase more visible -- bringing the issues of global economic and environmental justice to the attention of passers-by.

East Weymouth Congregational Church doesn't have a drive-thru like many of the local coffee shops, but with each cup of coffee consumed, the members are pouring economic justice.

The UCC national website reports that "throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia, small-operation coffee farmers are often trapped in an economic system that results in the bulk of profits being reaped by coffee traders and purveyors, not the growers. Some 20 million people near the equator depend on coffee for their livelihood, but for many the coffee trade keeps them trapped in poverty." For more information about the UCC Coffee Project, go online to www.ucc.org/justice/coffee.htm

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