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Celebrate Fair Trade Month!

Courtney Lang October 7, 2009

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By Jamie Guzzi

31 Days, 31 Ways to Make a Difference

October is Fair Trade Month and what better time to kick off your town’s campaign for Fair Trade. Throughout the month of October, retailers, activists, teachers, churches, cafes, restaurants and folks like you and me will be celebrating Fair Trade by hosting educational events to raise awareness of Fair Trade in their communities.

Whether it’s a Fair Trade coffee cupping at your local café, a film screening and panel discussion at an area school, or a simple church coffee hour, there are countless ways that you can engage your community to get the word out about how Fair Trade is helping farmers and build your local campaign.

This year’s theme, 31 days, 31 ways, is intended to highlight both the great diversity of Fair Trade products now available and the many small ways we can make a difference with our daily choices. Each day, FairTradeMonth.org will feature a new product feature, fun fact and way you can get involved on the website, Facebook and Twitter. Together these small acts can make a big difference for the world’s small farmers.

Join us in celebrating Fair Trade Month by hosting an educational event in your city to promote Fair Trade. You can register your event and order materials at the TransFair USA event page to be included in the Fair Trade Month calendar of events and featured on the Fair Trade Month website and interactive widget.

Help us spread the word about Fair Trade online and reach our goal of 31,000 Facebook fans and 3100 Twitter followers. Invite your friends to be a fan of Fair Trade Certified on Facebook and Twitter, repost and retweet the message of the day and get involved in the conversation by leaving comments on Facebook and posting messages on Twitter using the hashtag #fairtrade.

Whether it’s in person or online, Fair Trade Month offers a great opportunity to build your networks, reach out to new communities and get the word out about your campaign. We hope you will join is in celebrating Fair Trade Month all month long by hosting a Fair Trade event in your town and reaching out to your networks online. Let’s make every day a Fair Trade Day this October!

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Courtney Lang, National Organizer | Fair Trade Campaigns

Courtney Lang brings over 5 years of community organizing to Fair Trade Towns USA, building both the Local Food and Fair Trade networks in Vermont. As Local Food Coordinator with City Market/Onion River Cooperative, Courtney worked with local producers, institutions and consumers to grow the local food system and organize a strategic model for community engagement through farm tours, workshops, and local food challenges. Like many in the Fair Trade industry, Courtney was inspired to take action in Fair Trade when she witnessed child-labor first hand in Costa Rica. As a founding member of Fair Trade Burlington, she has worked with economic development organizations, businesses, and consumers to build awareness of Fair Trade among Vermonters. She also worked with a Fair Trade USA licensee, Vermont Coffee Company, as Friend Ambassador where she united the story of Fair Trade to every purchase of coffee.