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Dear Co-op America member, October is Fair Trade month, a great time to take advantage of some of the many opportunities to support Fair Trade. For the second year in a row, Co-op America is partnering with our allies at Global Exchange to make Fair Trade "reverse" trick-or-treat kits available to you for FREE to help you spread the word about Fair Trade in your community. The kits work like this: When your children go trick-or-treating, you give back Fair Trade chocolate to the houses you visit. It's great way to share a friendly Fair Trade message with your neighbors. Last Halloween, my colleague Bernadette here at Co-op America ordered one of the kits to take with her son and daughter when they went "reverse trick-or-treating." She reported back that the households in her northwest Washington, DC neighborhood were very receptive to hearing about Fair Trade – and they loved the Fair Trade chocolates. Get your free kit today (or at least before the October 13 deadline). See below for more resources on planning for a Fair Trade for Halloween, and for planning a Fair Trade party, as well as some special news about a Co-op America partnership that’s advancing Fair Trade online. Here's to our allies supporting a greener economy, Action: Reverse Trick-or-Treating 
Co-op America is once again teaming up with our allies at Global Exchange to support reverse trick-or-treating, the new Halloween tradition of children handing Fair Trade chocolate back to their neighbors. The candy is attached to a card that includes information about social and environmental justice issues in the cocoa industry and how Fair Trade chocolate helps farmers across the world in cocoa growing communities. Last year more than 47,000 households learned about Fair Trade chocolate thanks to Fair Trade trick-or-treaters. With your help we can reach even more people this year. This is a great way to speak with your neighbors about the scary side of the chocolate industry and the promise of Fair Trade! You can order the free Fair Trade chocolate kits from the “reverse trick-or-treating” Web site, and if you choose to participate, please note that you were referred to the program by Co-op America. (The last day to sign up is October 13.) You can learn more about Fair Trade and the problems in the cocoa industry (and download a free copy of our Guide to Fair Trade) by visiting our Web site <link>. Order a free reverse trick-or-treating kit » P.S. When you purchase a Halloween item (mini-bars or foil-wrapped chocolate balls) from our Green Business Network™ member Divine Chocolate, Divine will donate 10 percent of the value of the sale back to Co-op America. You can support Fair Trade and Co-op America at the same time! (Enter the coupon code "COOP" when you place your order.) News: Co-op America Partners with World of Good/eBay 
Many of the members of our Green Business Network™ who are the most committed to Fair Trade and social justice issues have found a new outlet for the products through a new online partnership with eBay. You may have heard about eBay’s new “World of Good” section already, due to extensive media exposure earlier this month, but what you may not know is that no seller on the new “World of Good” site may offer products for sale without having its business practices approved by a third party. That’s where Co-op America comes in. Our unique screening process and seal of approval means that we can vouch for our member businesses who are selling their fairly traded products through eBay. It’s a great way to reach millions of shoppers with the idea that it’s important to know that their purchases help – and don’t harm – workers at the very beginning of (and all across) the supply chain. Resources: How to Host a 
It’s just like a Tupperware party, except it benefits people and the planet. A Fair Trade house party is one exciting way to celebrate Fair Trade month in October, and now is the time to plan ahead. One Co-op America member who held a Fair Trade house party last year told us that she had a blast planning a snack menu that incorporated as many Fair Trade ingredients as possible – coffee, tea, and hot cocoa to drink, plus snackbars made with Fair Trade sugar and chocolate. (Check out our Fair Trade chocolate chunk bar recipe in this online Real Money article.) If you decide to host a party, please let us know how it goes! We might be interested in telling your story in a future issue of our Fair Trade Guide, and if we do, we’ll give you a free gift membership in Co-op America.
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September 25,
2008
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