The Church of the Brethren Coffee Project offers a new link between Brethren congregations and small farmers in the developing world. We can reach out to our neighbors overseas with our economic choices as well as our offerings. Listen to the difference fair trade makes:

In Chiapas, Mexico, indigenous cooperatives help farmers hold on to traditional lands and strengthen their communities in the face of economic globalization. With the support of fair trade, they are improving incomes, providing affordable credit, and training members in organic agriculture.

In Nicaragua, Equal Exchange helped small farmers to organize their own co-op, called PRODECOOP. By participating in the Coffee Project, your congregation can help these communities invest in farm improvements, reduce debt, improve nutrition, and provide leadership training for women. "It is very important for you to know that fair trade leads to better roads, better health and better lives for farmers not just in Nicaragua, but around the world," says Rosario Castellón, former director of PRODECOOP.

"We used to live in houses made of corn husks," says Don Miguel Sifontes, president of a coffee cooperative in El Salvador that sells to Equal Exchange. "Now we have better work, better schools, homes of adobe, and a greater brotherhood of decision-makers."

In addition, for each pound of coffee, tea and chocolate purchased by Brethren congregations through the project, Equal Exchange makes a contribution to Brethren Witness programs which support and strengthen community-based cooperatives in coffee-growing regions.