To join us at an upcoming community festival or fair trade sale, please see the schedule below.
To volunteer at the IRTF fair trade booth, please contact volunteer@irtfcleveland.org or call us at (216) 961 0003. Thank you!
IRTF BACKGROUND
IRTF was founded after two members of the Cleveland Catholic Mission Team in El Salvador were tragically murdered in 1980. Promoting economic justice through alternative trade like fair trade is an important part of IRTF’s human rights mission: to call together people in NE Ohio to walk in solidarity with oppressed peoples of Central America and Colombia to achieve peace, justice, human rights and systemic transformation through nonviolence.
IRTF SUPPORTS ARTISANS & FARMERS
IRTF sells fair trade items to raise tens of thousands of dollars each year in vital income for artisans and farmers in Latin America. Most of the artisan cooperatives are owned and managed by women, giving themselves the flexibility to set their own hours and working conditions. Because they earn a living wage, their children don’t have to drop out of school to support the family (as is the case for too many families in Latin America).
IRTF fair trade sales include: jewelry, painted wood products, beaded key chains and holiday ornaments, headbands, handbags, wallets, messenger bags, laptop covers. IRTF also sells products from Equal Exchange, the first fair trade coffee company in the US: coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, olive oil.
WHY ALTERNATIVE TRADE
IRTF works towards justice and equity in the distribution, access to, and participation in the production and consumption of the world’s resources for the people of Central America and Colombia. IRTF examines the corporate-dominated globalization of the economy through the lens of people in Central America and Colombia and how their reality is linked to ours in NE Ohio. IRTF challenges the dominant economic model that results in exploitation both at home and abroad. IRTF offers an alternative through fair trade.
WHY FAIR TRADE
Fair trade is a trade model that sets a series of standards to ensure fair wages and human dignity for producers, community investment, environmental sustainability, and more. IRTF promotes Fair Trade as an alternative trade model to the conventional free market system of trade that currently dominates our world and further divides us into “haves” and “have nots.” Learn more about the principles of fair trade at Fair Trade America.
IRTF-EQUAL EXCHANGE PARTNERSHIP
IRTF brought Equal Exchange, the first fair trade coffee company in the US, to Cleveland in the mid-1990s. Many congregations started selling and serving Equal Exchange coffee as an act of justice and solidarity. Heinen’s became the first grocery chain in the US to sell Equal Exchange in all its stores. Today, IRTF, an interfaith social justice organization, continues as a leader in the NE Ohio fair trade movement.
IRTF MISSION AND VISION
On December 2, 1980, two members of the Cleveland Catholic Mission Team in El Salvador were tragically murdered. The martyrs: Jean Donovan, a lay woman from St Luke’s Parish in Lakewood, and Sister Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline sister who had taught at Beaumont School in Cleveland Heights. They were killed alongside Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke.
The InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF) was formed so that we here in northeast Ohio might live out the legacy of their great sacrifice—taking action in solidarity with oppressed peoples as they struggle for peace and justice.
Promoting economic justice through fair trade is an important part of IRTF’s mission: calling together people in NE Ohio to walk in solidarity with oppressed peoples of Central America and Colombia to achieve peace, justice, human rights and systemic transformation through nonviolence.
Working together in our mission leads us closer to our vision. IRTF envisions a world of peace in which all beings live with dignity and in mutual relationships of solidarity.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
IRTF depends on the volunteer help of fair trade enthusiasts to raise vital income for farmers and artisans in the Global South.
If you can help us out for a couple of hours at any of these upcoming fair trade tables, please send a message to volunteer@irtfcleveland.org or call us at (216) 961 0003. Thank you.
IRTF FAIR TRADE SCHEDULE
*Note: The school sales are not open to the general public; they are designed for students, parents, faculty, and staff.
AUG 1-2-3 (THU-FRI-SAT)
5-8pm
Lake Breeze Festival
St Joseph Church
32929 Lake Rd. Avon Lake, OH 44012
https://www.stjosephavonlake.org/festival
AUG 9 (FRI)
IRTF Summer Solidarity Social
6:30-8:30pm
St Paul’s Community Church UCC
4427 Franklin Blvd., Cleveland OH 44113
SEP 14 (SAT)
12-7pm
Waterloo Arts Festival
15605 Waterloo Rd, Cleveland OH 44110
https://www.waterlooartsfest.org/
SEP 21-22 (SAT-SUN)
12-7pm SAT
12-5pm SUN
Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival
Lincoln Park, 1200 Starkweather, Cleveland OH 44113
https://experiencetremont.com/featured-events/tremont-arts-cultural-festival/
OCT 5 (SAT)
9am-2pm
Ohio Fair Trade Expo and Teach-In
John Carroll University
Dolan Science Center, 1 John Carroll Blvd, University Heights OH 44118
2024OhioFairTradeExpo.eventbrite.com
NOV 10 (SUN)
8am-1pm
St Basil, 8700 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville OH 44141
NOV 23-24 (SAT-SUN)
4-7pm Saturday
9am-1pm Sunday
St Noel, 35200 Chardon Rd, Willoughby Hills, OH 44094
*DEC 6 (FRI)
10am-3pm
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School, 13000 Auburn Rd, Chardon Ohio 44024
