Janet Rhodes Fair Trade

Celebrating a Year of Fair Trade

2010-09-03T12:32:00.001-04:00

Fair Trade Friends,

My, my how time flies! This time last year I was scrubbing floors, sorting through inventory, organizing papers, chatting with vendors and new customers—Oh, wait, that’s what I’m still doing.

We opened our doors one year ago and it has been an amazing year! But what I was doing last year, while it is still the same in many ways, is so very different these days. New customers have become friends. Vendors have become colleagues. Papers have become tools. Scrubbing floors has become prayer.

Another life-lesson I’ve learned from fair trade: Our work may not change, but with fair trade the HOW changes, the WHY changes. People’s work—including my own—is held with care and respect. Work has the purpose of expanding justice while delighting in creations.

And your work? How is it different and in what ways is it the same today as it was this time last year? Has your purpose changed? Perhaps these are useful questions for you as they are for me.

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating this year. For some, it has been a difficult year financially. For some, it has been an exhilarating year with new possibilities. For most, it has been a little bit of both. And so—We celebrate all that life has brought our way this year—including YOU!

We’re having a Two-Day Party at the store:

Sunday & Monday, September 5 & 6

Noon—6pm

Animal balloons, Henna art, Face painting, Yummy fair trade food

AND

You’ll want to Sign on for Peace on the totally cool paper mache globe that the Cultures of the World kids made to enter a chance to win the Haitian metal sculpture, “Living Peace.”

Wherever you are, you can be with us online. Shop and enjoy a 15% Anniversary Discount using code: Peace10 through the month of September.

With much love and grace,

Janet

Independence through Fair Trade

2010-07-03T14:23:00.001-04:00

I remember the first time I “got it.” Watching fireworks, “and the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” It was with awe that I looked at these beautiful displays of magical colors that filled the sky and considered that there were bombs going off around the world; that my country had dropped bombs on others; that my country had been attacked by others; that people had died; that soldiers from my homeland had died fighting for independence and freedom for me.

“The Star Spangled Banner,” by Francis Scott Key, was written during the War of 1812. That war was initiated by the United States in response to trade restrictions from Britain because we were selling goods to France (with whom the British were at war). It is not my intent to debate our involvement in that war or any war. It is simply to recognize that wars have been a part of our heritage and as we honor and give thanks this Independence Day, we remember with gratitude the many who have fought and died for freedom and justice then and now.

As we move into a global economy, many in the United States continue to fight for freedom and justice because of trade restrictions. And thankfully this fight is through fair trade practices:

· Locals Dawn McNerney and Debbie Hamlin are working with nuns in India to help young women who would otherwise have no means for a livelihood by creating scarves from recycled saris.

· Hudsonite Maryann Wohl works with the Haven of Rest homeless shelter in Akron through an employment project for women making fun market bags.

· Californian Nancy Dunitz employees Guatemalan women to bead and weave her beautiful jewelry designs.

· Ohioan Andy Krumholz works with a group in Brazil who crochet soda pop tabs into purses.

· And YOU speak out for freedom and justice through your fair trade purchases! THANK YOU.

Keep up the good work! Stop by the store or go online for some dazzling fair trade finds: www.janetrhodesonline.com and take advantage of a 10% online discount for all your purchases through our Independence through Fair Trade promotion using code: IndFT10.

Be well and safe, joy-filled with Fair Trade this Fourth of July.

May 2, 2010

2010-05-02T14:21:00.001-04:00

I believe the fundamental spiritual issue that fair trade practices offer us is the understanding that we are one. We are one family. My brothers, my sisters, my aunts and uncles, my grandmother and grandfather, my mother and father live in Mombasa, Kenya. They live on the island of Madura, Indonesia. They live in the slums of New Delhi, India. We are one family. When Cathy Hackney from Hudson, Ohio visited a village in Nigeria, she returned telling the story of the many children debilitated by rickets, bones that are too soft to support even their small frames. These are her children, my children, your children. We are one family.

But I also believe that in another sense we are literally one. My spiritual practices tell me that I am one with another. My spirit is uniquely, intimately connected with another. Quantum physics confirms it (but that’s for someone else’s blog). And fair trade practices illustrate how my purchasing decisions impact another. When I purchase products that respect the work of my sister in Totonicapan, Guatemala, my soul is enriched as is hers. Treating another with dignity dignifies our selves. Conversely, abusing another damages our own soul. We are one.

Trading fairly offers all of us the opportunity to treat others as ourselves.

Janet Rhodes Fair Trade

2010-04-26T19:50:00.001-04:00

Janet Rhodes Fair Trade

April 26, 2010

I’ve written the full version of my vision to open a fair trade store in my website www.janetrhodesonline.com (online store launches May 8, World Fair Trade Day). When I had the vision to start this store, there was much about the vision that I didn’t understand. I didn’t know about fair trade – what did it mean that somehow people were going to be inspired to contribute to helping people around the world? I didn’t have any money – how could I possibly put together a store when I was just barely able to pay my own bills? I didn’t know about retail business – those days at Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman were decades ago.

But there was one thing about the vision that I did understand unequivocally. The vision was an invitation to bring the sacred into the marketplace. Again, I didn’t know the “how” of it; but the “what” of it was clear. I was being asked to add my voice – calling for justice, offering spiritual connections – to the conversation of ethical purchasing.

I have come to recognize important spiritual lessons that fair trade practices offers humanity. I am challenged and encouraged daily. I offer some of these thoughts in this blog. I hope you’ll join me in the conversation.