Mission Partner Spotlight: Partners for Just Trade

St. Mark has had a long relationship with Partners for Just Trade (PJT). They consistently have a booth at the Jerusalem Festival, Fall Festival, and Christmas Boutique. In addition, we support PJT with financial contributions and participating in mission trips.

Partners for Just Trade is a non-profit, faith-based organization that builds partnerships between producers living in extreme poverty and consumers in North America.

PJT addresses root causes of poverty through Fair Trade sales, education, solidarity, and a commitment to trade justice. PJT began as an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. It began informally when a handful of volunteers from Giddings-Lovejoy congregations visiting Peru through the Hunger Program's Joining Hands Network began bringing handcrafts made by their new colleagues back to the United States for sale in churches and among friends. Very quickly, thanks to the work of committed volunteers, that tiny partnership blossomed into a growing non-profit organization with a national outreach that sells a wide variety of Fair Trade products and creates educational materials about the importance of Fair Trade.

More than 15 artisan groups, with over 200 artisans, work with PJT through our Peruvian Trade Partner Bridge of Hope. We now work with four Trade Partners - Bridge of Hope and Manos Amigas in Peru, Comite Artisanal Haitien in Haiti, and VillageWorks in Cambodia. The fair wages the artisans receive enables them to afford food, shelter and medicine for their families, to educate their children and to reclaim personal dignity so they may assert their economic, political and social rights.

PJT is a recognized player in the national Fair Trade movement, providing Fair Trade products, upholding strong, transparent relationships with its producer partners, and educating consumers about the benefits of Fair Trade. PJT is a screened member of the Fair Trade Federation and the Green America Business Network.

The St. Mark Mission Committee thanks the congregation for your ongoing support. If you are interested in more information, please visit the PJT website: https://www.partnersforjusttrade.org/.

Proverbs 3:27 New International Version (NIV)

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.

New International Version (NIV)

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