Fair Trade Your Finals!

Parker Townley November 21, 2013

Share Your Plans and get Rewarded

Here’s your chance to get hooked up with some great, free materials for that final Fair Trade Event of the year!

A number of generous donations have allowed us to support campaigns hosting a Fair Trade Study Break. The first 28 campaigns to provide a short explanation of their plans in the comment section below will receive the following event package to help bolster their event:

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  • Fair Trade Coffee from ecoGrounds and…
  • Fair Trade Chocolate from Kopali Organics and…
  • Fair Trade Tea from Runa Tea and…
  • Informational 1-Pagers on Coffee, Tea and Chocolate from Fair Trade Campaigns.

Thank you ecoGrounds, Runa, and Kopali Organics for the Donations!

For a few ideas to help get the ball rolling, read on below:

Idea 1: Encourage others with a tasty and energizing gift

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Provide a boost of energy heading into Finals!

We could all use a bit of support in the lead up to finals, so this year hide Fair Trade Runa Tea in strategic locations around campus and attach notes of encouragement. Make sure to include a short explanation about the importance of Fair Trade (click here for a Fair Trade FAQ). Also consider making each tea packet a raffle ticket for a bigger prize at your Fair Trade Study Break. Think of it as an opportunity to encourage learning, build camaraderie and educate others!

Idea 2: Partner with an existing event  

In the lead up to Finals week numerous groups on campus will be hosting events to prepare students and staff. Gauge the landscape and offer to ‘Fair Trade’ another group’s event! Reach out to clubs, departments and your food service provider to see if you can set up, sample, and introduce Fair Trade concepts to a new audience. Follow-up afterwards and continue building the partnership!

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Teach AND Taste!

Idea 3: Table with Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate

 Give your classmates that extra boost as they head into or out of the library! Set up a table with Fair Trade Coffee (EcoGrounds), Tea (Runa Tea), and chocolate (Kopali), as well as some materials highlighting what you have accomplished this year and are looking to achieve in the next. Use this as an opportunity to get the word out about your campaign!

Worried about an end of year lag in event attendees? If you have questions about drawing in a crowd, contact National Organizer Parker Townley at ptownley@fairtradeusa.org for some ideas!

Remember to post your plans in the comment section below!

22 Comments

  1. Cal Lutheran University is excited to extend our Fair Trade campaign on campus through an Alternative Gifts event before finals. We’ll be hosting venders who sell Fair Trade items so that students can purchase gifts before heading home for the holidays/ break. We’ll also be using the opportunity to continue promoting what Fair Trade means and where it can be found on campus (and in the community). Things are really heating up here!

    Karen Schomaker - 10 years ago
  2. Loras College has had an amazing year continuing our fair trade work. We’ve had some great events like our Go Bananas Triathlon and the Ben & Jerry’s late night snack & history of Peace and Justice at Loras. Soon we will be premiering a documentary that was funded by a FT College & Universities grant that outlines the importance of fair trade, how we become a fair trade campus, and what others can do to promote fair trade. We plan to use this video to spread awareness on campus, especially with our athletes. But it won’t stop there, we hope to enter the video into the Julien Dubuque Film Festival which draws people from all over the country, get it shown at local highschools, and make it widely available in our community. Besides all that, we are holding our annual Fair Trade Sale Dec. 2-5 where we will have hundreds of products from Ten Thousand Villages on sale just in time for the holidays. All the while, we still have Fair Trade Coffee Houses in Campus Ministry on Tuesdays and in our library on Thursdays. We continue to work closely with our Campus Dining & Bookstore to increase our procurement of fair trade products like sugar, cocoa, and clothing. All of this work is wrapped up in our commitment towards peace and justice as a Catholic college that upholds the dignity and worth of every individual. WOO HOO!

    Stacia McDermott - 10 years ago
  3. Students for Fair Trade at Fordham have been planning on setting up a table with our Keurig machine in the vestibule of the library during one of the reading days. We did this same thing last year in the cafeteria and we offered students free fair trade products in order to have them sign up for our weekly emails.

    Michael Billotti - 10 years ago
  4. Our Fair Trade Student Association at Wright State University are planning a December Fair Trade Hot Chocolate day on Campus. We are also meeting with our campus Barnes & Noble Bookstore to get more Fair Trade Items available – We hope for Fair Trade WSU apparel! We are going to show a Fair Trade Movie next Semester and we will have a Fair Trade Book table in the Campus Library!
    Each member of the WSU team are talking to faculty members to gain support and bring awareness of Fair Trade into the classrooms that don’t already have some discussion.

    Charmaine Griffith - 10 years ago
  5. Fair Trade MTSU is a fairly new chapter in the Fair Trade network, so we are getting ready for our first ‘tabling’ event. We’re going to set up tables along the central sidewalk to our school and offer up 50 cent cups of Fair Trade coffee, as well as postcard sized flyers explaining what Fair Trade is, and where Fair Trade products are available locally and on campus. We’re also in the process of setting up a meeting with Aramark dining services to get Fair Trade produce into our dining halls.

    Elizabeth Milford - 10 years ago
  6. Our Social Justice Committee at Assumption College will have a table with fair trade items available on the study day. The study day occurs right before the start of final exams and we will offer a study break with fair trade coffee and information in order to promote our efforts. We plan to have our table right near Dunkin Donuts in order to show alternative options to coffee products.

    Colleen Putzel - 10 years ago
  7. Colby-Sawyer College’s fair trade committee is collaborating with the Residence Assistants to incorporate fair trade products in their end of the semester hall programs. At least one representative from the fair trade committee will be present in the hall programs with a table of fair trade products such as tea, coffee and flyers emphasizing fair trade initiatives going on on-campus. Furthermore, I personally am presenting a PechaKucha presentation regarding fair trade and fair trade initiative at Colby-Sawyer College in one of our required classes.

    colby-sawyer-college - 10 years ago
  8. App State will have a table set up outside of the library to brighten people’s days by offering them a treat to distress them as they head in and out of the library. We might even walk around the library and randomly give out treats. We will explain to them the importance of Fair Trade and what it looks like/means to be a conscious consumer. We will raise awareness about the overall organization and its mission and goals and also about the campaign that we started this semester on campus. We will explain to them what all we did this semester and what we hope to accomplish next semester, offering them a chance to come aboard the team to help out in the spring.

    Caleb Evington - 10 years ago
  9. Here at Tulane we would love to use these materials to partner with an already planned study break that will be happening during the finals study period. One of our members is in charge of planning the study break for the School of Science and Engineering Student Government. We are really excited about this opportunity because this would give us the chance to recruit science-y people to join with us to work towards more Fair Trade at Tulane. Our group and our events tend to attract many humanities students, so this will be a great way to connect with a greater variety of people across campus.

    Global Service League at Tulane - 10 years ago
  10. Siena Students for Fair Trade would like to create more awareness about fair trade on our campus by sponsoring a “study break” service to students in the library during finals week. Finals week at Siena is always very busy, and students greatly appreciate access to coffee right in the library. We have sponsored such a thing in the past, and to use even more fair trade products would be awesome! Not only do we offer the coffee, but we also provide small info sheets on fair trade, and the fair trade movement at Siena College to educate our fellow students. As we enter into the final stretch of the semester, it will be a great way to get the word out about fair trade one last time, and keep our peers charged and ready for exams!! Happy holidays!

    Dustin Stiffler - 10 years ago
  11. Rollins College has had a fantastic start on our first year being declared as a Fair Trade College Campus! To showcase to the students and faculty on campus of our new title we have participated in the Ben & Jerry’s Late Night Snack photo contest, where we gave out free Ben & Jerry’s fair trade ice cream, and also participated in the Bananagram Challenge to try and get Fair Trade bananas served in our dining hall. We want to promote Fair Trade any chance we get! As we did last semester on Reading Day during Finals Week, we are planning to give out Fair Trade chocolate and tea to help students feel less stressed about their finals! We cannot wait to do this again!

    Heather Schleiffer - 10 years ago
  12. Notre Dame De Namur University is on the road of becoming a Fair Trade University. We want to have multiple events with Fair Trade so that our student body is aware of what Fair Trade is. We will be teaming up with our Programming Board to create a “Study Break” during finals week. Programming Board hopes to have a movement type event that allows students to “move and release” the stress from their finals. We want to offer coffee, tea, chocolate, and other snacks the students can come and take while they are moving. We hope this sparks a movement that will help us expand in our future events!!

    Cynthia Delgado - 10 years ago
  13. Media Elementary School in Media, PA is going to have a big Fair Trade presence for the end of the year. Firstly, the school Fair Trade and Sustainability committee is offering for sale Fair Trade chocolates and other items from Equal Exchange to the homeroom parents of every grade so they have the opportunity to offer them at the classroom’s winter parties and for teachers’ gifts. Secondly, we are setting up a small help-yourself kiosk in the school main office with chocolates, tea, coffee, hot cocoa mix, etc. for parents and students to buy Fair Trade gifts for the holidays. We are also setting Fair Trade booths with information, free samples, and items for sale at two events in December (Arts and Crafts Night and Scholastic Book Fair), and finally, we are preparing to have Fair Trade role play presentations to third, fourth and fifth graders during the beginning of 2014! Go Fair Trade!

    Mariana Sears - 10 years ago
  14. Saint Joseph’s University will be hosting a Fair Trade Study Break. The library is hosting a “Paws to Relax” event where they will be bringing therapy dogs into the library to allow students to de-stress. This event is very popular and brings many students into the lobby of the library. We will be putting up a table on the other side of the lobby to give out samples to students who are taking a study break and then heading back to the computers and tables to study. We also hope that since students are seeking a distraction we will have time to discuss fair trade options with them. Also, our campus being so close to becoming certified we hope to build excitement in the student body.

    Adriana Zegarelli - 10 years ago
  15. Villanova’s Fair Trade Group will continue our “Fuel up with Fair Trade” event that we hosted for the first time earlier this semester during midterms week. The midterms event was a huge success and we generated a lot of knowledge and excitement around Fair Trade and our new (as of April) Fair Trade University status! At the Fuel up with Fair Trade Finals event we will host a table in the library during finals week and invite students to have a little taste of fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate as a study break. We will also talk to students and see what they know about Fair trade and tell them what products are offered on campus! We might also come up with a trivia game to win a prize. I really like the idea of notes of encouragement so maybe we could tape the mini chocolate bars to inspiring quotes or affirmations to spread a little holiday cheer and happiness during finals!

    Kaitlin Thompson - 10 years ago
  16. I am happy to see that Media Elementary, St. Joe’s, and Villanova have commented! (all relatively close neighbors to Drexel). If we are awarded the fair trade treats, we will host a Fair Trade Study Break at Drexel University on Monday, December 9th from approximately 11am to 1pm- possibly at the Intercultural Center.

    Victoria Powell - 10 years ago
  17. Cardinal Stritch University’s Student Government will be hosting a Fair Trade STudy BRaek at our campus’ Stress-Free Zone. We will be putting a display for fair trade items there, as well as getting freshly brewed fair trade coffee from our in-house coffee shop, The Bean. This will be on Decmeber 10th from 11am-1pm.

    Stephanie Coker - 10 years ago
  18. Indiana University would be excited to get a free basket of Fair Trade products to pass out at a dorm event while educating students about Fair Trade at the same time. The theme of the event will be based on stress relief from finals! The Banana Suit will most likely be present and we hope to show what kind of Fair Trade products are available on the market.

    Macaira O'Connell - 10 years ago
  19. Fair Trade Augustana would be very excited by the free basket to help pass out to people at our planned event introducing a Mug Wall in the college coffee shop. We helped the Art Dept make handmade clay mugs and paint and fire those mugs, and they will be up as an environmental option to use while sitting at the shop. We will be having bands and a comedian there, and were planning to have Fair Trade tea for those who attend. Our guy in a Banana Suit will be present as well.

    Anissa Pemberton - 10 years ago
  20. The fair trade club at saint Mary’s is focused on bringing chocolate and coffee to all students and faculty during the last two weeks befor Christmas break. These products will be given out every Friday during December, along with our home baked goods that we regularly give out as part of our education campaign. We will also be giving out chocolate samples during our in-class presentations on fair trade. Your basket of chocolate and coffee will go a long way to helping us to build on the success of our banana campaign.
    Thanks, craig

    Craig Sutphin - 10 years ago
  21. The Fair Trade Committee at SUNY Geneseo is a brand new initiative here on campus. We are excited to get things going and bring more fair trade options to our campus outlets. We are teaming up with another club on campus – Think Local Geneseo. Their goals are indeed different from ours but so similar in their intent so we will be working hard together. Our philosophy together: When you can, buy local. And when you can’t, make sure it’s fair trade. We are excited to host a gathering on Fair Tuesday to discuss the importance of fair trade, especially in the chocolate industry. We will also be watching a documentary on the issues of cocoa farming in Africa.

    suny-geneseo - 10 years ago
  22. University of the Pacific’s ASB recently passed legislation formally supporting the fair trade campaign on our campus. We now officially have documented student support! To celebrate the coming holiday season our on-campus convenience store, The Grove (which has over 20 fair trade items for sale), is selling gift baskets with all fair trade goodies for students to take home for gifts (or to enjoy themselves.) We’re looking forward to next semester when we will further our campaign with tastings, tabling, and talks on trade!

    Lucy Kramer - 10 years ago

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Parker Townley, National Organizer | Fair Trade Colleges & Universities

Parker Townley works for Fair Trade Colleges and Universities to help connect students and faculty with the resources they need to effectively campaign for Fair Trade on campus. In his free time Parker explores the Sierra Nevadas with his trusty backpack, roams the Bay Area in search of the perfect cup of coffee, and cultivates a small veggie garden.