Students push for Fair Trade products in Portsmouth

from the Portsmouth Herald News

By Susan Nolan
snolan@seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH — Two young "manufacturer's reps" will be canvassing the city over the next few weeks, seeking local businesses willing to stock Fair Trade Certified products.

Fair Trade products are those grown or created in third-world countries, for which the workers are paid a fair and living wage. Fair Trade products cut out the middleman and pays farmers and farm workers directly.

Alec Lager and his buddy Sam Bennett, of Eliot, Maine, both college juniors, said they hope to raise Portsmouth's awareness and to create a market for third-world farmers and artisans in the city.

The 2005 Marshwood High School graduates and lifelong friends began in May their mission to create a grassroots organization known as Fair Trade Portsmouth. They began by contacting Fair Trade Certified wholesalers, then put together a line of products — from Guatemalan coffee to Mayan textiles — that could be sold in local stores.

"It's the best kind of (manufacturer's) representative that you can be," said Bennett.

"The umbrella concept behind this is trade, not aid," said Lager.

Bennett agreed. "It's not giving aid. It's allowing them to get a foothold in the world market they would not otherwise have access to."

Both young men believe that Portsmouth is a city that will support the idea.

"There are high ethical standards here, and we feel that the social atmosphere in Portsmouth is really ripe for the introduction of Fair Trade products," said Lager.

Neither college student is making a cent from their mission. Instead, they are hoping to make a difference in the world. While their parents would have preferred them to have summer jobs like other college kids, both Bennett and Lager said their families have nonetheless been supportive.

"I am really thankful," said Bennett.

Their decision to bring Fair Trade products to the area came after each went off to college and realized they had been living in an idealistic "bubble" in the Portsmouth area. They each saw poverty for the first time, they said. For Lager, a Connecticut College student, it was during a biking trip through Thailand that made him realize how good he had it in the Portsmouth area.

For Bennett, it has been during his time at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., that has given him a good look at urban poverty, in the city that has poverty-stricken areas, he said.

The two received permission from the city last week to hold a Fair Trade sale and a jazz festival Aug. 18 on the Vaughn Mall, at which they will have $7,000 of consignment goods from third-world artisans and farmers. They will also show a movie on Fair Trade at the South Church on Aug. 10.

Bennett and Lager said they have created a Web site for Fair Trade Portsmouth but they found a pro-bono Web publication service to put it online. The Fair Trade Portsmouth site will name local businesses who are participating.

"We greatly value the progressive efforts that have long distinguished Portsmouth," said Bennett.

At a Glance

Fair Trade Portsmouth

Address: 270 Rollingwood Road, Eliot, Maine

Phone: 498-7392

e-mail: info@fairtradeportsmouth.org

WEB: www.transfairusa.org or

www.fairtradecertified.org

EVENTS:

• Aug. 10 — "Black Gold" movie screening, South Church, 7:30 p.m.;

• Aug. 18 — Fair Trade World Craft Festival, Vaughn Mall, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Spread the word about ethical consumerism.

• Ask for Fair Trade items where you shop.

• Donate: Help with events, rentals, advertising and fees.