Grace United Methodist Church
Friday, March 29, 2024

> Alternative Holiday Gift Fair 2022

ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY GIFT FAIR and BAKE SALE

An opportunity “to give gifts that give hope.”
 
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022 from 10 AM – 2 PM
 
Bake Sale to benefit South Lansing Ministry Food Pantry
Fair Trade and other items from Michigan and throughout the world
include jewelry, scarves, pottery, maple syrup, linens, woolens,
wooden and other crafts made by survivors of trafficking and abuse,
and other artisans struggling to support their families.
 
Amani Africa – Amani is Swahili for “peace from above” – based in Tennessee, AmaniAfrica is a Christian based organization empowers refugee women from war torn countries by teaching them to make jewelry and other fair-trade items made in Kenya, Liberia and Uganda
 
Csas Community is a Detroit-based agency dedicated to providing food,
housing, health services, and job programs to the homeless of Detroit.  Jobs are provided to the homeless making sandals and doormats from recycled, illegally dumped rubber tires reclaimed from vacant lots in Detroit. Cass Community is a pioneer in developing “tiny houses” for previously homeless people with the goal of eventual home ownership.
 
CWS (Church World Service) - works in partnership with communities and
local organizations to tackle poverty and injustice by providing just and
sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, disaster and displacement.
 
Co-op of Mayan Women of Guatemala – was started by women who decades
ago hosted seriously ill children brought to the United States for medical care not available in their country. One of these children now brings items made by artisans in Guatemala to sell here to raise money for more children back in Guatemala
 
Global Gifts Fair Trade Store, since 1986, has been the only non-profit fair
trade store in Grand Rapids, organized and staffed by dedicated volunteers. It is dedicated to supporting a just and sustainable economic system through the sale of Fair-Trade products, which ensures fair wages for artisan products and crafts.
Carrying a variety of nativities, baskets, jewelry, home decor, children's toys and more from over 40 countries, Global Gifts, through your purchases, is able to ensure a living wage to artisans in developing countries, providing access to education and healthcare in addition to basic living needs.
  
HAPI – Haitian Artisans for Peace International, aims to transform Haiti
through the empowerment and advocacy of women by breaking the cycle of
poverty, maternal and infant mortality and broken family systems. Cards and
other crafts made in the mountainous village of Mizak are then sold to help
secure health, education, dignity and hope in what is often harsh and demanding primitive living. Focusing on community health, holistic education and economic empowerment, HAPI embodies the love and mission of Jesus Christ.
 
The Michigan Abolitionist Project (MAP) includes everyday people who are making a difference in communities across Michigan by using their gifts and talents to address the root causes of slavery, to protect our communities by working to prevent human trafficking and to transform the culture that causes slavery to exist and thrive.
Since 2012 MAP has been proactive in education and prevention efforts in
addressing human trafficking in Michigan.
 
Sak Saum - works to skill train and create jobs for vulnerable and exploited men and women in the district of Saang, Cambodia which then allows individuals and families access to affordable medical care, basic needs of housing, food and children’s education, and fights human trafficking, slavery and other injustices.
 
Samaritas - is a refugee foster care program operating in Lansing. This program serves young children who cross the border to reunite with relatives and family in the United States. These young children from in shelters and detention centers, are provided temporary foster homes as an alternative to detention centers and given the dedicated care that they need to get them quickly and efficiently home to their families here in the United States.

Small Households Needs Bank - headquartered at Mt. Hope UMC, works in conjunction with Lansing Christian Services to help families in need by providing basic housekeeping items of bed linens and kitchen supplies for women who’ve fled domestic abuse, families who’ve suffered fires, and immigrant families newly arrived to the Greater Lansing area.
 
SLM (South Lansing Ministries) – is dedicated to feeding the hungry, creating opportunity, and building community by empowering people and ending poverty.
 
Small Households Needs Bank - headquartered at Mt. Hope UMC, works in conjunction with Lansing Christian Services to help families in need by providing basic housekeeping items of bed linens and kitchen supplies for women who’ve fled domestic abuse, families who’ve suffered fires, and immigrant families newly arrived to the Greater Lansing area.
 
Soaring Unlimited – was started in 1992 by people from mid-Michigan to the people of Haiti. It has established medical clinics in the remote mountainous regions, supports orphans going to school and are currently helping to build an orphanage.

Solar Circle - is a non-profit organization that promotes access to solar power in rural Tanzania, East Africa by distributing thousands of solar cookers and lights. Tanzania ranks among the twenty poorest nations in the world, with many having an annual income of less than $500. As a result, the people have little disposable income, limiting access to electricity. Only about 15% of the population in Tanzania has access to electricity. Solar cookers and lights address the need for an energy source, and thereby cut the high rates of deforestation (and serious respiratory disease) caused by daily use of wood and kerosene as fuel. 
 
Trades of Hope - Mission – to empower women to be the heroes of their own stories by offering women around the world a way to provide for their families in a sustainable way.
 
WAR (Women at Risk) International uses a multi-faceted approach to give
voice to the silenced cries of women worldwide. WAR Int’l seeks “ to empower wounded women, children and their villages by creating circles of protection. Our ultimate goal is to help them find true rescue and freedom in Christ. War’s programs are preventive, protecting especially vulnerable women; curative, helping to restore and empower rescued women; and supportive. WAR, Int’l serves in over 18 countries and partners with safe houses, women’s training centers, orphanages, hospitals, shelters, schools and micro-businesses.” Every $250 worth of merchandise sold can provide a woman with a job for one month.
WAR, International sells jewelry and other items made by women and children rescued from human trafficking. 800,000 people a year are trafficked against their will, 50% being children. “The new slavery…human trafficking, is the fastest growing segment of organized crime. 100,000 are trafficked inside America.” FBI
 
Viva Fair Trade is a fair-trade business that puts the support of artisans in the developing world front and center. They sell handmade goods such as jewelry, baskets, home décor and more made by artisans who are compensated fairly. Products come from all over the world, but with a particular focus on items from Mexico and Central America.
 
Weavers of Dreams Living Word Methodist Church Costa Rica - Taught by a master weaver from Lowell First UMC in Michigan, this is a group of women who weave rugs from recycled materials to provide an income for their families.
 
Bring family, friends, co-workers and neighbors!