The UMCOR Coffee Project offers a link between our congregations and small-scale farmers in the developing world. We can reach out to our neighbors overseas with the things we purchase as well as the offerings we give. In addition, for each pound of coffee, tea or cocoa purchased through the project, Equal Exchange makes a contribution to the UMCOR Small Farmer Fund which further supports coffee farmers and their families. Listen to the difference fair trade makes:

“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 Nicaragua, Equal Exchange helped small farmers to organize their own co-op, called PRODECOOP. By participating in the Coffee Project, United Methodists can help the co-op invest in farm improvements, reduce debt, improve nutrition, and provide administrative training for members. “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 Castellon, former director of PRODECOOP.

In Tanzania, Equal Exchange worked with the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) to export their coffee directly to the U.S. for the first time. Gabriel Ulomi of KNCU thanked Methodist churches for getting involved in the project: “When you drink a cup of Equal Exchange coffee, you are supporting one or two or three small scale farmers on the other side of the world so they can have a better life and education for their children.”