Fair Trade Shopping

Fair Trade Shopping is a wonderful way to give a gift that keeps on giving. Now, that gift-giving season is in full swing, I’d like to give you a sneak peak at Fair Trade USA’s ultimate holiday gift guide. See the full guide here.  In a prior post I wrote on October 29th, called Help Support Fair Trade , you will learn about Fair Trade, and how it helps lift many people out of poverty.

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Fair Trade Shopping- share the idea

Fair Trade Shopping, is a wonderful caring and sharing gift giving opportunity. The hope is that you share with your friends, the fair trade shopping idea and content provided in the holiday gift guide. Fair Trade Shopping will help you share and spend your holiday dollars wisely, while making a huge difference in the lives of others.  The Fair Trade Shopping gift guide offers suggestions for fun, high-quality, (and often delicious) gifts that truly make a difference in the lives of farmers and workers around the world.  Don’t for get the fairtradefinder app here.  It will help you find Fair Trade Shopping merchants in your area.

I’m sure you’ll agree, that when a chocolate bar helps send a Ghanaian child to school, or a bar of soap brings clean water to a village for the first time, the word “giving” takes on a whole new meaning. Please help spread the word about Fair Trade Shopping and the Fair Trade USA holiday gift guide, this holiday season. Just a small purchase can do a whole lot of GOOD!

Fair Trade Shopping stretches your buying power

Thank you so much for all of your support of Fair Trade Shopping and the Fair Trade USA holiday gift guide.  This is how YOU can truly make a difference this holiday season. YOU, can play such an important role in showing your friends and mindful consumers around the globe, how they can make each and every purchase matter, for themselves and for others. By Fair Trade Shopping, you are stretching your buying power, and really impacting someones life, somewhere else in the world.  What a great feeling, to know you are giving gifts that keep on giving, year round by Fair Trade Shopping.

Soap Hope is working to end poverty

Soap Hope is a company with a purpose.  That purpose is ending global poverty. As a leading online retailer of premium, all-natural body care products, Soap Hope, invests 100 percent of its profits each year into anti-poverty organizations.  They enable women to start and grow their own businesses through micro lending.

Soap Hope offers healthful products online.  They deliver them in an eco-friendly “Ugly Box,” that they make themselves, to cut down on cost and waste.  Then, they invest every dollar of profit into programs that lift women up from poverty around the world. Not just a portion of proceeds, or a matching product, but, every single dollar of profit that their customers generate goes to lift women from poverty.

Soap Hope, operates a website store where they sell high quality, all-natural soaps,lotions, shampoo and other personal care products.  All Soap Hope products, are 100 percent natural and free of artificial preservatives, fragrances, and colors. There is NO use of paraben- and all products are cruelty-free.  Soap Hope’s operations have been designed to minimize its environmental impact. They even use reclaimed cardboard, to package (the ugly box) and ship customer orders, saving cost to you, and the company.

Soap Hope has integrated responsible business practices into every aspect of its operations. First of all, they offer top quality, name brand and amazing products.  Every product  is 100% natural, healthful, wholesome and top of the class.  They offer brands like, Indigo Wild, Pangea Organics and Zum, all names you will recognize, that offer top quality. Another comfort is, they do all the research for you, so you know you are getting the best products at the lowest prices.  Then, they offer real customer service, because YOU matter.  They also guarantee your satisfaction, with every purchase.

When I received my “ugly box,” I couldn’t believe the wonderful smell, before I even opened it up. It filled the room with wonderful, natural fragrance. The Lavender Mint soap bar, is heavenly.  It’s great knowing that you smell good and look good, while using all natural products. They even have “green” cleaning and laundry products.

Soap Hope has an Amazing Mission

Soap Hope is a for-profit company with a Heart and a Mind, and for this reason they operate with a non-profit mission.  They designed the Good Returns model on purpose, Read the rest of this entry »

Clean the World Foundation Inc., has only been an official organization since February, 2009.  Already, they are well on the path of doing great things!

Their campaign states that, by recycling soap and shampoo from hotels and motels, they are able to make it possible for people in developing countries, to clean themselves.  This not only reduces the risk of disease, for those people, but also reduces waste in landfills.

CTW, states that 9,000 children die everyday, from diarrheal disease, and respiratory disease.  This is often caused by a lack of hygiene, as well as, unsanitary conditions, and often a lack of water.   Studies have shown, that the 9,000 figure can be reduced by as much as 60 percent, just by hand washing alone.

The Clean the World team sanitizes, steams, packages, and sends the soap to homeless shelters, and overseas where thousands of children die from diseases stemming from poor hygiene.

Co-founder Shawn Seipler says, “If we can stop that soap from hitting landfills, recycle it, and get it to the 9,000 children who will die today, because they don’t have soap, and lack of hygiene, then we’re gonna do what Clean the World set out to do.”

Clean the World, picks the barely-used soap bins up from Hotel Biba, and other participating hotel/ motels each week. Then, back at their plant in Orlando, their team sanitizes, steams, packages, and sends the soap to homeless shelters, and overseas where thousands of children die from diseases stemming from poor hygiene.  They have already sent more than 150,000 bars of soap, over by boat, to Haiti.  In case you didn’t know, Haiti, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Hotel Biba General Manager Jennifer Reichert says, “Generally we collect one bar from the shower, and one bar from the sink from each guest per day. It’s a lot of soap.”  Hotel Biba, has 40 guest rooms, and typically up to 160 soap bars are used each day.

The program seems to benefit a lot of folks. The hotel maids who collect the soap, feel like they’re making a difference.  Men from a local shelter  get jobs disinfecting the soap. People in Haiti, and other overseas countries receive the soap, who otherwise,cannot afford it.  They are already helping save many lives, and keeping soap out of landfills.

Members of the non-profit organization hope more hotels request their service, as I’m sure they have, and will continue to do so.  If you travel a lot, check with your hotel/motel to see if they are participating in this program. If they are not, please encourage them to do so.  CTW, is saving lives and definitely working toward a better tomorrow for many people.

See where the cutest ladybugs live!