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Steady employment rather than sporadic assistance is a key aim of Ten Thousand Villages, started by the Mennonite Central Committee. By operating 70 stores nationwide, the company can make consistent purchases from artisans. Bright Hope, while operating only one retail store, is making a similar effort through online sales. Both companies sell products wholesale to their own stores as well as other fair-trade stores.

Though it is still a small industry, fair-trade stores have been growing steadily. In the tough retail sector, and during a recession, fair trade grew 37 percent in 2002, according to the Fair Trade Federation. Ten Thousand Villages has grown by more than 10 percent during each of the last four years.

"I see it growing among Christian young people," Elworth says, but most Christians are not aware of it, she says. Still, she adds, when they realize that purchasing fairly traded products will help poor workers, missionaries, and mission agencies, they are eager to help.

"Fair trade costs more," she said. "I could go out there and get the same item for a third less, but now that I understand what happens to the people who produce those, that they're basically hand-to-mouth if they're lucky, I say, 'If I could help people by doing it this way, why wouldn't I?'"

Still, says Ten Thousand Villages executive director Paul Myers, fair trade should not be an end in itself. "Rather it's something each of us practices every day," he says. "In other language, it is about 'loving my neighbor as much as myself.'"

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also posted today is a CT Classic on Pura Vida.

Bright Hope International's web site offers more information on their work with the world's poor, as well as an online store.

World Relief has more information about their Mission Blend coffee.

Pura Vida's web site has information about its coffee and charity work.

Ten Thousand Villages has store locations and information.

Lutheran World Relief has more information about its work with World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, and USAID.

The Fair Trade Federation offers more information on fair trade.

Equal Exchange has an interfaith coffee program.

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November (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47