Good morning everyone!
I hope you are well.
Yesterday afternoon I was in London's Ten Thousand Villages store, had a great
conversation with Tania, the manager.
Ten Thousand Villages stores
are a Fair Trade organization, selling hand-crafted items and food items made
'round the world. TTV is a non-profit, fund-raising arm of the Mennonite Central Committee,
a reputable, long-standing international assistance organization. Revenues from
the TTV stores are ploughed right back into programs ... and since some are agricultural programs,
plough is pun intended :-)
All year 'round, one can
donate to MCC projects - give gifts of hope, peace, and food
sovereignty. At this time of year, special Living Gifts come right into the Ten Thousand Villages stores. You get a card describing the gift and
project being supported. TTV can even arrange to send it on to someone for you. "Gifting"
made simple and kind.
The selection of Living Gifts is described fully at:
Highlights of the Living
Gifts:
A Training program - Creativity and
technical skills unleashed! This $35.00 gift
sends one woman in Mymensingh, Bangladesh to a course where she learns about textiles'
qualities and how to design fabrics. Part
of what happens in this town is that the materials
for the textiles are grown right nearby, so supporting design training
reinforced the agriculture!
In Haiti, a reforestation project is planting fruit trees in its tree mix, acknowledging the importance
of healthy, local food alongside the land regeneration importance of trees. Only $20.00 to purchase a tree.
In Ethiopia, sheep are
a natural part of agriculture and local industry... sheep for fleece, fiber and
clothing ... and of course their manure is part of soil health. Give a sheep for $57.00 and help maintain the
cycle of agriculture and production.
You can even "Fill a Farmyard" for $300.00. This provides healthy stock for breeding more
and for all the products: meat, milk, eggs, leathers, textiles.
There are two education gifts, which support 50
community-based education programs.
$24 school supplies - Provide
school uniforms and supplies to a child, giving them access to education.
$300 give education - Sponsor
a Global Family program for one full year.
Education and training of one
family member, or any one small enterprise run by a family, has its effects on
the neighbourhood, and into the wider community.
Just like your own creativity
and care help in your community, you can help in another's community.
If you are wondering why I'm
writing this post, it's because of my most worn cookbook - The More With Less
Cookbook by the late Doris Janzen Longacre - which was the first cookbook published by the Mennonite Central
Committee
If you were cooking in the
late 1970s and early 1980s you probably have a copy. It's been updated and had anniversary
editions, and the The Mennonite Central Committee has published other great
cookbooks over the years. They all
emphasize good food, health, care and social justice through frugal recipes and
common sense.
More With Less was my
kindergarten. You know, as in "all
I ever needed to know about ... I learned in kindergarten". From The More With Less Cookbook I learned
that recipes have stories and people alongside them, that sharing makes you
feel good, that you don't have to have a lot of money to be generous, and that simple,
healthy food nourishes your body and heals your mind and soul.
And here comes the pitch:
check out your local Ten Thousand Villages store, or the website, or the
projects of the Mennonite Central Committee.
The links are just below. And as
your budget allows, please consider a gift to match the interests of a friend
or family member.
Best regards, as always!
Why's Woman
Ten Thousand Villages -
Living Gifts -
http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/events-and-festivals/living_gifts
Ten Thousand Villages -630 Richmond Street, London, Ontario - ph. 519-433-0977
** they have
beautiful, hand-crafted crêches!! **
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