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 Pilgrim Association Learns About Fair Trade Coffee
Visit to Equal Exchange Facility Brings them Closer to Global Farmers
by Stan Duncan, chair of the Pilgrim Association Mission and Community Concerns Committee
"Whenever you drink coffee, you are touching the lives and families of small farmers all over the world."
That was the message Cari Senefsky, of Equal Exchange, shared with visitors from Pilgrim Association churches during a coffee "Roaster Tour" this past spring. The tour was organized by the association's Mission and Community Concerns Committee to help church members understand the deeper meaning behind the Fair Trade concept and why the UCC has a partnership with Equal Exchange, the largest and oldest fair trade company in the U.S.
"Fair Trade" means that a producer in the United States works in direct, long-term relationships with cooperatives of small farmers in poor and developing countries, eliminating the middle people and therefore lifting incomes. The producer also gives back a portion of its profits for economic development projects in the local farming communities. Since 2002, the United Church of Christ has had a special relationship with Equal Exchange, called the "UCC Coffee Project," and has promoted the use of Fair Trade coffee (and other products) in its local churches and denominational ministries.
The tour was planned as a way of helping church people move their genuine desire to help small farmers from an intellectual commitment to a feeling of a hands-on, heart-felt partnership. Members can sell coffee every Sunday after church, but when they see the roasting process, taste the coffee, meet the people who work there, and see their passion to help others, it takes on a whole different layer of meaning. This trip attempted to give participants a deeper, more personal understanding of the way coffee gets from the small farmer in a co-op to the gourmet brew in the cup.
Fortunately for churches in Massachusetts, the international headquarters of Equal Exchange are in West Bridgewater, which made it possible for the Mission Committee to arrange a tour of the facility. Senefsky, who led the tour, is the Interfaith Program Representative at Equal Exchange who relates directly with UCC churches throughout the U.S. She opened the visit with a description of the Fair Trade concept and values while sharing coffee, tea, chocolate, and nuts also marketed by Equal Exchange.
The tour included a chocolate and coffee pairing exercise (what chocolates taste better with what coffees?) and a walk through the factory and the roasting process with head roaster Thomas Lussier. It also included an opportunity to visit with Athanasio Massenha of the Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union in Tanzania, who was at the facility studying the tasting process. He made a deep impression on the participants with his passionate and poetic commitment to small farmer cooperatives in his country as a way of lifting people out of poverty.
In addition to hosting visits to the factory, for many years Equal Exchange has led delegations of church people and coffee retailers to some of their farmer cooperatives in Latin America, also as a way of increasing a sense of relationship and connectedness to farmers. For a video of a recent tour to Chiapas, Mexico, which includes an interview with roaster Thomas Lussier, go to www.equalexchange.coop/mexico.
To arrange for a Roaster Tour for your church, contact Stan Duncan at standuncan@post.harvard.edu.
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