|
 One
of the most elevating aspects of Fair Trade is the
opportunity it provides for those of us in the US to
develop close personal relationships with our producer
partners and their communities throughout the world’s
coffee lands. From time to time we are called on to take
action and leverage our society’s abundant resources on
behalf of our producer partners who find themselves in
particularly dire circumstances.
Twelve
months ago, Hurricane Stan ravaged southwest Guatemala, including the community of La Asociación Maya
de Pequeños Agricultores in Santa Anita la Unión, a
small coffee producer cooperative and community comprised
of 38 families. Their subsistence-level livelihood depends
primarily on their coffee production. Unfortunately,
Hurricane Stan not only wiped out 25,000 of the 35,000 new
coffee plants planted by the community, it also reduced
the community’s coffee yield by more than 50%, leaving
its members with neither sufficient income to meet their
basic needs nor the resources they need to harvest this
year’s crop.
During
his visit to Americus last week, the community’s
director of commercialization Rigoberto A. Ramirez
explained the nature of the community’s current
financial crisis. He also articulated his community’s
unwavering commitment to the concept of Fair Trade and
determination to overcome their present circumstances no
matter the sacrifice he and his fellow coffee producers
have to make.
It
will be another 18-24 months before the community at Santa
Anita will see its coffee production and income return to
pre-hurricane Stan levels. In order to get there it is
very important that the community move forward with this
year’s harvest not only to put food on their tables but
also because their community’s future depends on it.
Because
of our close relationship with the members of the Santa
Anita community and what we know about their commitment to
Fair Trade and transparency, we’re going straight to our
network of supporters to help us raise the roughly $10,000
that they need to finance this year’s harvest. So,
we’re asking 100 folks to contribute $100 each. We have
set up a Santa Anita Relief Fund and offer a number of ways for supporters to make their contributions.
If you feel like you can and want to join in this "Power of 100" campaign, click here
to make your contribution online or send a check, payable
to Santa Anita Relief Fund, to:
Santa Anita Relief
Fund
c/o Café Campesino
725 Spring Street
Americus, Georgia 31709.
Please note that
contributions to this fund are not tax deductible. Should
we exceed the fundraising target, the surplus will remain
in the Santa Anita Relief Fund for the community to use
for medical emergencies and critical health care for
members of the community.
Santa
Anita’s projected costs for harvesting the current crop
of coffee under cultivation by the community are as
follows:
|
Description
of Expenses
|
Total
Cost in
Guatemalan
Quetzals
|
Total
Cost in
in
US Dollars ($)
|
| Payment
to the community's farmers for their 2006 harvest
of coffee. This equals approximately $115 per
family to live on over the next four months. |
Q30,000.00
|
$4,016.06
|
| Transport
of the community's coffee from Santa Anita to
Guatemala City. |
Q2,000.00
|
$267.74
|
| Payment
to processing facility; converting from pergamino
to oro. |
Q12,000.00
|
$1,606.43
|
| Payment
to processing facility for preparation and
packaging for exportation. |
Q14,857.00
|
$1,988.89
|
| Electricity
- October through January. |
Q1,400.00
|
$187.42
|
| Fuel
- October through January. |
Q3,348.00
|
$448.19
|
| Burlap
bags. |
Q861.00
|
$115.26
|
| Baskets
for gathering coffee. |
Q1,280.00
|
$171.35
|
| General
administrative costs, October through January. |
Q2,880.00
|
$385.54
|
|
Total:
|
Q68,626.00
|
$9,186.88
|
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