Berkeley City Council to Hear Fair Trade City Resolution

Dear Fair Trade Friends,

We have exciting news! We just received word that the Berkeley City Council will be hearing our resolution to declare Berkeley a Fair Trade City tomorrow night, Tuesday, April 27th at 8pm.

The resolution is included as a part of the “Actions Calendar” for tomorrow’s city council meeting, which means that representatives of the Fair Trade Berkeley campaign will be given up to two minutes each to present arguments in favor of the resolution and provide material to address any questions asked by the council.

If successful, the item under consideration could result in a vote in support of the resolution, but we will need your help to demonstrate the broad community support for the Fair Trade in Berkeley to ensure that the City Council gets the message.

This is a crucial point in the Berkeley campaign as we move one step closer to declaring Berkeley a Fair Trade Town! Join us in showing your support for Fair Trade by attending the meeting in full Fair Trade attire – wear t-shirts with a Fair Trade message on them and bring colorful banners and signs. Then help us turn out the vote by inviting your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.

In light of this exciting development, TransFair USA will be opening its community café to the general public between 5-7 pm café for a ‘prep’ rally filled with pizza and sign painting before we head down to the council meeting together. The TransFair USA offices are located at 1500 Broadway @ 15th St. in downtown Oakland. If you can join the ranks – great! But if not, then we hope to see you at City Hall.

Fair Trade Berkeley needs your voice, your signs, and your presence! Come one, come all!

What: Berkeley City Council Meeting
When: Tuesday, April 27 at 6:30pm, with Action Calendar discussion to begin around 8pm
Where: 2134 MLK Jr. Way, second floor, downtown Berkeley
Accessible by Downtown Berkeley BART Station

Event RSVP via Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=108858662488736&ref=mf

If you or another member of your organization are interested or available to speak on behalf of the resolution, please contact Jamie Guzzi, Grassroots Outreach Coordinator, TransFair USA, 510-663-5260 x. 309, jguzzi@transfaiusa.org.

For more information about the campaign to declare Berkeley a Fair Trade City please visit:
http://fairtradeberkeley.blogspot.com

Best,
Lauren, Dagny, Katrina, Katie, David, Billy, Jamie, Alicia
and the rest of the Fair Trade Berkeley Team.

Global Exchange Fair Trade Chocolate Tasting and Talk

Divine Chocolate Tasting Global Exchange Fair Trade Store DATE: Tuesday, May 4th TIME: 5:30pm Chocolate Tasting, 6pm Speaker LOCATION: 4018 24th Street @ Noe Street

Meet a Fair Trade Chocolate Farmer! Mr. Aduhene-Tano Kojo is the Recorder and Area president of the Fenaso-Domeabra Kuapa Kokoo Co-op in the Bekwai Area of Ghana. Mr. Kojo has been a member of Kuapa Kokoo since 1996 where he harvests about 10 bags of cocoa per year. Learn how Fair Trade has helped him to send his children to school and has benefited his whole community. Taste Divine Chocolate! At the heart of Divine's heavenly tasting chocolate there is a unique story. Not only do the Kuapa Kokoo farmers' receive a Fairtrade price for their cocoa, but they also own 45% of the company, therefore they have a direct influence over how the company is run and share in the profits from the chocolate.

Come hear about the direct benefits of Fair Trade!

Lift Your Glass to Fair Trade Wine

Come out and support our first ever Fair Trade Wine Night, Thursday, May 6th at 7pm.

Choose from one of four bars:

• The Wine Bar on Polk
• The Hidden Vine
• Rouge et Blanc
• Local Restaurant and Wine Merchant

and raise your glass to Fair Trade wine!

Fair Trade Certified products assure you that the people who produce the things you consume get the same rights we take for granted: a fair wage, safe working conditions, education for their kids, and access to health care.

We're recruiting bars around San Francisco to serve Fair Trade wine, which means you get to drink wine that Tastes Good and Does Good.

Even better, a dollar from every glass will be donated to support TransFair USA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Oakland. Funds from the event will contribute to supporting Fair Trade farmers producing these sustainable wines in Argentina, Chile, and South Africa.

Please RSVP on Facebook and don't forget to invite your friends too!

Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition Springtime Coordination Meeting

Dear Friends,

Hooray for springtime – the season of awakenings and new beginnings! In the spirit of rejuvenation, it’s time again for us to reunite the Bay Area team as we kick our San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley campaigns into high gear. Join us for the next Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition meeting, Wednesday, April 21st as we roll out some fresh, new ideas for growing awareness of Fair Trade in the Bay Area.

World Fair Trade Day is fast approaching and we have a wide variety of events in the works including a Fair Trade Wine Night at San Francisco bars, a partnership with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to convert all of the coffee for Bike to Work Day to Fair Trade Certified and producer tours from Latin America and Ghana. We’ve also got some exciting new developments to report in the city’s efforts to implement Fair Trade and organic procurement.

Elsewhere in the Bay, the Fair Trade Berkeley campaign is making great strides in its efforts to declare Berkeley a Fair Trade Town and will be appearing before the Berkeley City Council, Tuesday, April 27th. Come find out more about how you can get involved in the city wide actions we’ve got planned for San Francisco and discuss ways our group can celebrate and support this crucial turning point in the campaign to declare Berkeley a Fair Trade Town.

Please come and offer your creativity and support!

Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition
Springtime Coordination Meeting
Wednesday April 21st, 6:30-8pm
Global Exchange, 2017 Mission St. Suite 200
San Francisco, CA
Across from the 16th Street BART



Visit the World Fair Trade Day 2010 website:
http://www.fairtraderesource.org/wftd-10/wftd-toolkit/about-wftd-2010/

Learn more about the San Francisco Bike Coalition and Bike to Work Day 2010:
http://www.sfbike.org/?btwd

Check out the list of participating bars in the upcoming Fair Trade Wine Night on May 6th here:
http://www.fairtradewinenight.com/

and on the Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=102599169775704

Read about the Fair Trade Berkeley campaign on its blog:
http://fairtradeberkeley.blogspot.com/

While you’re at it, check out what's happening in Oakland:
http://fairtradeoakland.blogspot.com/

Find out how you can participate in the live webcast and Q&A session at TransFair USA featuring five coffee farmers from Africa and South America by visiting here:
http://transfairusa.org/blog/?p=2645;

and here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=108641469175830