Edna Ruth Byler: My Grandma
By Diane Bender
When I was a young girl growing up in Kansas I loved going to Pennsylvania in the summer to visit my grandparents.
Their basement had two sections: one with Grandpa’s tools, which was interesting but untouchable, and one with Grandma’s beautiful handmade items from around the world that begged to be touched.
My sister and I helped pack the boxes that were to be shipped to various places in the United States. My grandma was Edna Ruth Byler, and that s
ection of the basement was the beginnings of what grew to be Ten Thousand Villages.
In 1946, Edna accompanied her husband, Joe, to Puerto Rico. There the Mennonite Central Committee workers showed her the fine needlework the women in Puerto Rico were making and asked her to find a way to market the pieces in the United States. She did.
She carried the embroidered samples in the trunk of her car and traveled to churches showing the handmade items and telling the stories of the artisans. Within a few years, she acquired additional hand-carved woodenware from Haiti and cross-stitch needlework from Palestinian refugees.
She later opened a gift shop in her basement. She loved showing customers the beautiful items and telling the stories of how they were made. For 25 years, Grandma traveled from the south to Canada and from coast to coast to introduce people to these handmade items and telling the stories of the people who made them.
When I lived in Houston, I volunteered at the Ten Thousand Villages in Rice Village, served on the Board of Directors as Secretary, then Vice-President, and finally President. Before considering a move to the Portland area I first checked to make sure there was a store nearby. As I unpack boxes at Ten Thousand Villages in Portland, OR, I am reminded of filling boxes so many years ago in Grandma’s basement in Pennsylvania.
As I help customers find a gift or tell them something about an item that they are appreciating, I feel a connectedness to the many people who work to bring these handmade goods to buyers and a very special connection to my grandma.
Mmmm… How delicious is fair trade?
For just a couple extra dollars than your average American candy bar, you can purchase a delicious, fairly-traded gourmet chocolate bar that not only satisfies your taste buds, but leaves you feeling guilt-free about the labor that went into making the sweet delectable. Equal Exchange, a Co-op that sells various food items from chocolate, tea to nuts and dried fruits has been actively working (and succeeding at that) to create positive change over the last 20 years. The business began with the idea: “what if food could be traded in a way that is honest and fair, a way that empowers both farmers and consumers? What if trade supported family farms that use organic methods, rather than industrialized agribusinesses that rely on harmful chemicals?” Their vision encompassing “fairness to farmers” – a closer connection between people and the farmers we all rely on.
Two decades later, Equal Exchange is manufacturing heavenly sweet treats that benefit not only the consumer, but the producer as well.
Their line of organic chocolate bars uses cocoa from different cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru, fairly traded sugar from Paraguay and Costa Rica, as well as vanilla from Madagascar. All these fairly traded and organic ingredients are then combined using Swiss chocolate making standards to make their ever so popular chocolate!
Their array of flavors include:
Very Dark Chocolate (71% Cacao)
Dark Chocolate with Almonds (55% Cacao)
Milk Chocolate with a Hint of Hazelnut (38% Cacao)
Dark Chocolate with Pure Cocoa Nibs (68% Cacao)
Chocolate Espresso Bean (55% Cacao)
Mint Chocolate with a Delicate Crunch (67% Cacao)
Orange Dark Chocolate (65% Cacao)
Panama Extra Dark Chocolate (80% Cacao)
With a substantial amount different flavor variations, you’re bound to find one you love! (that is assuming you’re a chocolate lover of course)
Once you acquire your chocolate, you may want to follow the “How to Taste Chocolate” to fully take in the texture, aroma and taste of the chocolate.
Would you like some coffee with your dessert?
Read about the Art and Science of Chocolate and Coffee Pairing
Equal Exchange plans to continue their thriving business supporting ethical commerce and economic democracy with their vision for the next 20 years:
“There will be…
A vibrant mutually cooperative community
of two million committed participants
trading fairly one billion dollars a year
in a way that transforms the world.”
You can find Equal Exchange‘s chocolate and other products at different Portland retailers such as Ten Thousand Villages and Global Exchange, as well as online at http://shop.equalexchange.com/
A Story of “Care Trade”
In celebration of World Fair Trade Day, Tim O’Brien, founder and President of Tropical Salvage, a fair trade wood furniture manufacturer, visited one of their retailers, Ten Thousand Villages while also providing great insight into the company’s history. Tropical Salvage’s tagline, “positive change through sensible commerce,” sums it up perfectly. What started out as a remarkable vision was soon realized and has become a successful company embodying social and environmental values.
After working for many years as trader, traveling through Southeast Asia buying textiles, antiques and immersing himself into different cultures, O’Brien became aware of the vast amount of undervalued natural resources. All across Indonesia, wood mosques were being torn down and replaced with concrete structures. The hundreds of years-old wood remains were simply being burned or left in piles to decompose in the earth. It was then that O’Brien not only saw a business opportunity, but also a way to greatly improve the world.
Tropical Salvage, founded in 1998, discovers, reclaims and recycles wood from various tropical hardwoods by using it to build furniture. The furniture is then imported to sell in the United States. While “the first years were lot’s of trial and error, emphasis on the error,” O’Brien admits, Tropical Salvage has established a prosperous business model and employs over 100 people in the United States and overseas. Not only does the company help to prevent further deterioration of Indonesia’s old-growth forests, but Tropical Salvage also provides secure, fair-paying jobs for Indonesian natives. “In a world where ecology connects all of us inextricably, from one end of the earth to the other, it is essential that people try to understand and take responsibility for the repercussions of their consumer choices.” The entrepreneur adds, “I like to think of it more as ‘care trade,’ where it enables [the workers] quality of life.”
Just recently, Tropical Salvage reached out to the Indonesian Government in an effort to preserve their forests and create job/home security. The company is now responsible for managing 560 acres of Indonesian forests for the next 30 years.
For more information about Tropical Salvage and how to purchase fair trade, recycled, wild wood products, please visit their website.