VISUALS/AUDIO: Groups of children, youth, and adults caroling for Fair Trade door to door

HI-RES RIGHTS FREE PHOTOS AVAILABLE

This holiday season your annual carolers may catch you by surprise. The words of Jingle Bells may have the same ring, but the words will be packed with a different message. Through songs like "My Favorite Fair-traded Things," carolers throughout the U.S. will be calling on their neighbors to make "Peace on Earth!" and "Joy to the World!" a reality by taking the Fair Trade pledge.

In this season of giving, the Fair Trade Campaign of international human rights group Global Exchange and non-profits across the country, in partnership with schools, youth groups, congregations, and community organizations, are calling on consumers to transform the life of farming and artisan families around the world by taking a Fair Trade pledge, such as buying all Fair Trade gifts this season or making a New Years Resolution to buy a cup of Fair Trade coffee every month. "Fair Trade Certified" gifts and commodities ensure that farmers and artisan cooperatives are paid prices adequate to live in dignity, access health care and education, and work toward escaping poverty. Participants nationwide have submitted Fair Trade holiday carols, including secular carols, for this fun action that will spread the message to their neighborhoods, multiplying the difference they will make in bringing cheer this holiday season.

"Which is a better way to give gifts that spread holiday cheer? A gift that will bring lasting pleasure to the recipient and also transform the life of the person who made it, helping them escape from poverty? Or a gift made in a factory or grown on a plantation where workers are paid dismal wages, work long hours and suffer indignities like being denied bathroom breaks?" says Global Exchange Fair Trade Campaign Director Adrienne Fitch-Frankel. "Giving and receiving Fair Trade gifts is a completely joyful way to celebrate the holiday season."

Fair Trade, denoted by the "Fair Trade Certified" label, is a monitoring and certification process that guarantees a minimum price for commodities such as coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fair Trade craft and clothing traders are members of the Fair Trade Federation, which screens companies. Both systems empower producers to escape poverty, while providing international labor protection to workers, and ensuring environmentally sustainable production practices.

For more information visit: http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa

To trail a group of carolers or for interviews, contact Angela Walker, Global Exchange Communications Coordinator, at 650-766-2748.

###