Are you a Global Exchange supporter? Yes? Well then, you are pretty incredible, it’s true.

Throughout our near-25 years we’ve been proud to share the esteemed company of thousands of passionate, bold, and dedicated people, like you.

Your volunteering, your steady contributions, your protesting (at home and on the streets), your consideration for socially responsible travel, your Fair Trade shopping and your faith in justice – all of these actions mean the difference between dreaming a better world for people and the planet and actually making it happen.

To express our gratitude, some Global Exchange staff members gathered together recently to come up with a way to thank the people who make all of our work possible. 

The result is this short n sweet video filled with messages of thanks that come from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you enjoy it! (Oh, and keep an eye out for Abad’s cameo – Global Exchange’s friendly Labrador – who got caught with his tongue out!)

Does the gratitude train stop here?

Not at all!

This week, we’re also sharing stories of a few (five, to be exact) of the amazing individuals, like you, who make our work possible:

  • Matt Ramsden, member and supporter, who keeps buying prize drawing tickets even though he has not won yet, all to support the work he cares about.
  • Jenny White, superstar volunteer, chocolate lover, and scourge to corporate lobbyists.
  • Jennifer Carino, former employee turned Global Exchange Monthly Supporter.
  • Lea Murray, took a Reality Tour to Venezuela and came home inspired to share what she’d seen.
  • and Lyla Seo, puts her values first when she shops Fair Trade at our San Francisco store.

There you have it, two different mediums, one important message, to say:

Thank you.

P.S. If you want to see all of the thank you pictures from the video (plus a few extras!), you can check them out at your leisure on our Facebook page.

This week we are thanking and recognizing the people who make Global Exchange’s work possible. We’re highlighting a few individuals who represent the thousands who make up the amazing global network of change makers. 

In this post, we thank Lyla Seo for shopping Fair Trade. To read about others we’re thankful for, click here.

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Thank You Lyla Seo, Shopper on a Mission

Lyla Seo is helping to fundamentally realign our global economic order.  She’s funding healthcare, education, and women’s empowerment.  She’s supporting worker’s rights and helping end child slavery.

And she’s doing all this through one simple act; purchasing Fair Trade products.

Lyla shops at our San Francisco Global Exchange Fair Trade store, and we couldn’t be more grateful for folks like her.  For over two decades, Global Exchange has been a leader in the Fair Trade movement.  And over the years, we’ve come to realize a simple truth:

Fair Trade’s success or failure is completely dependent on people like Lyla.

Purchases drive the Fair Trade system, providing the development premiums that make a meaningful difference in the lives of producers the world over.  All of the projects that matter most – building schools and clinics to developing the infrastructure for additional trade – are only possible when the market for Fair Trade thrives.

All trade provides income, but Fair Trade goes beyond the exchange, expanding rights at the workplace and amplifying the voices of farmers and artisans.  And for commodities like cocoa, Fair Trade is a powerful mechanism for ending child slavery.

We weren’t kidding about the whole fundamental realignment thing.

Lyla knows just how much power she really has.  She explains that she shops at the Global Exchange retail store “because it is important to shop Fair Trade,”

We agree.  And we are thankful for all of the people who help Fair Trade grow.

To Lyla and all of the other Fair Trade supporters out there:

Thank you.

 P.S. Have you watched our new Thank You video yet?