• Turning Up the Heat...
• Newsletter Special: Free Shipping
• Celebrating World Fair Trade Day
• Inspiring Partners Update: MTLC
• Community Caravan
• NEW! "Cookin' with Coffee" Recipe Contest
• Quote of the Month
• Past Issues of Fair Grounds

Summer heat is on its way and despite several 90 degree days already, Café Campesino is ramping up for a busy, busy summer 2007! We have a full calendar of activities and events for the next several weeks, including a visit from our friends at Ten Thousand Villages in Atlanta, morning coffee responsibilities at Coffee Fest Atlanta, preparations for BRAG 2007 and its routing through Americus, and Paddle Georgia – all of which you can read all about in our Community Caravan. In this issue of Fair Grounds, we also offer a few ideas on how to celebrate World Fair Trade Day 2007, an update about the great things our friends at Maya Tech Learning Centers are doing in Guatemala, and instructions on how to whip up a batch of homemade Café Campesino coffee ice cream to stay one step ahead of the heat. So find a cool spot, ice down your favorite Café Campesino brew and read on...

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This month, in celebration of summer's arrival, we’re offering free shipping on all orders of $35.00 or more for readers of Fair Grounds. If ordering on line, please enter promotional code fship57 upon checking out or, if ordering by telephone, be sure to mention the promo code to whomever takes your order.

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1. Educate yourself and your community. Read up on Fair Trade at on the Café Campesino website and the website for the Fair Trade Federation. Make your own posters or leaflets and help spread the message!

2. Buy Fair Trade Products. Be informed when buying products. Fair Trade products help disadvantaged artisans and farmers lift themselves out of poverty. Fair Trade only works if empowered consumers buy Fair Trade products!

3. Take Part in World Fair Trade Day Events. The Fair Trade concept/movement will be celebrated worldwide throughout May. Attend an event to learn more about Fair Trade and how you can actively contribute to the Fair Trade movement. There are World Fair Trade events happening throughout the country, or check out Community Caravan for events that Café Campesino is either taking part in or hosting.

4. Hold Your Own Fair Trade Day Event. Sponsor your own event at a local library, conduct a "teach in" at an educational institution or promote Fair Trade at a business event.

5. Make plans to host (at some future date) a Fair Trade Fair featuring fairly traded handcrafts, coffee, tea and chocolate from around the world. Every sale benefits the artisans and farmers who made the items—and your parish and community members get high-quality products.

6. Host a Fair Trade coffee hour/coffee break at your church or office. Brew up a pot of Café Campesino coffee and share information about Fair Trade with your friends and colleagues.

7. Start a Fair Trade Buying Club so members can purchase Fair Trade coffee, tea and cocoa to use in their homes and offices.

8. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper about the benefits of Fair Trade.

9. Organize your campus, community, local schools, and faith-based groups with the Fair Trade Action Pack (PDF) from Global Exchange. Advocate for Fair Trade in campus dining halls, businesses, companies, faith-based groups, workplaces, and more. Ask your local grocery stores and cafés to carry Café Campesino coffee!

10. Stock up on Fair Trade gifts for upcoming special occasions—weddings, confirmations, baptisms, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

For more Fair Trade resources, check out the Fair Trade Resource Network’s website.

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In October of 2005, we introduced you to our friends Karen and Camilo Macario, and their organization Maya Tech Learning Centers, Inc. (MTLC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Bellbrook, Ohio facilitating education and technology to underserved communities in rural Guatemala. Stateside, MTLC promotes cultural awareness through projects and displays of Guatemalan and Mayan culture.

Since opening their first community center in Nahualá, Guatemala in 2004, where Maya Tech offers formal computer courses accredited by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education and provides an internet café and children's library for the community, Maya Tech has been extremely busy. New programming this year matches high school Spanish students with students at the computer center in a cultural exchange through writing called "e-pals."

As we celebrate World Fair Trade Day 2007, we would like to acknowledge our friends at Maya Tech who, rather than trying to replace the culture and heritage of the Mayan communities with new technology, are committed to providing new technology while ensuring that their projects honor the Mayan heritage and build on the sense of community that is so important to all the residents.

For ways to get involved, contact Karen Macario, Maya Tech Learning Centers, Inc., PO Box 139, Bellbrook, OH 45305, call her at 937-654-0669 or email karen.wm@mayatechlc.org.

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Tripp spent May 5th in Atlanta serving great coffee and talking Fair Trade at the Slow Foods “The New Q...... a Twist on Old School Barbeque" event that was designed to spotlight sustainable farms, heritage breed farmers and the chefs who support them. All proceeds were donated to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Today, they have over 80,000 members all over the world!

On Saturday, May 19th, our friends from Ten Thousand Villages in Atlanta will be visiting us at the roastery to see how we roast our coffee and talk about Fair Trade.

From June 1st to the 3rd, the Café Campesino crew will be at this year’s Coffee Fest in Atlanta, not only as exhibitors but also as the event’s Morning Coffee sponsor. Anyone who is in the area, please stop in and visit us – we’re in booth 307! For more information, visit www.coffeefest.com.

June 9th through June 16th: It’s time for Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) again and Café Campesino will be serving coffee and snacks as usual. Riders will begin in Columbus and end in Savannah, but not before spending the night in Americus on June 10th. We’re thrilled to have the good folks of BRAG biking through our town this year and are finalizing our plans to show 'em hospitality, Café Campesino-style. Check out our bulletin board on our home page or the BRAG website for the latest information about activities for the BRAG crew during their trip through Americus.

What do Café Campesino, Fair Trade and Georgia's rivers have in common? Paddle Georgia! From June 23rd through the 29th, Paddle Georgia offers paddling enthusiasts a unique opportunity to gather for daily trips averaging 17 miles, nightly camping with meals, games, entertainment and educational programs, scientific research including chemical and biological water monitoring, tours of industrial facilities and historic sites, and scientific research including chemical and biological water monitoring. Café Campesino will be serving coffee to participants in this year’s week-long trip, a 115-mile canoe or kayak adventure on the Ocmulgee River from Monticello to Hawkinsville. Paddle Georgia also serves as a fundraiser for Georgia River Network and the Central Georgia Rivers Partnership. For more information, visit the Paddle Georgia website.

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"Happiness consists in activity. It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool."

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

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