We think your mom will really appreciate a gift that does good.
Bouquet Tassel Napkins from Ten Thousand Villages
Ten Thousand Villages works with artisans in 30 developing countries helping them reimagine their traditional crafts for a global market. In the process they develop long-standing relationships like the one they have with St. Mary's Mahila Shikshan Kendra, a women's handicraft organization run by the Dominican Sisters in Gomtipur, Ahmedabad, India. St. Mary’s has been providing job opportunities for local women for over 40 years and Ten Thousand Villages has been working with them since 1987. The women use their embroidery skills to embellish many things including evening bags, wall hangings, and table linens. We were particularly taken with these hand-embroidered linen napkins which can be hand washed in cold water. The income the women earn has helped to educate a generation of children, many of whom have become the first in their families to attend college.
$8.99 per napkin. Available online at tenthousandvillages.com/.
Coffee from Ejo Heza Cooperative in Rwanda from Cloudland Coffee Company
We love meeting all the people who are so carefully roasting coffee these days. One of those folks is Kristina Madh of Johns Creek. What started as a kitchen project, roasting coffee for home use, blossomed into Cloudland Coffee, named after northwest Georgia’s Cloudland Canyon. Madh sources her coffee beans carefully. “Major components of my supply chain from the farmer to the importer to the roaster to several wholesale clients are women-owned business,” she reports. She’s particularly proud of the coffee she sources from Ejo Heza, a cooperative of over 300 women farmers in Rwanda. She entered it in last year’s Golden Bean Coffee Roaster competition and won a bronze medal in the Pour Over Filter coffee category. We were impressed with this Rwanda coffee. Rich, but not overwhelmingly so, with a lovely aroma and well-balanced acidity.
$13.95 per 12-ounce bag. Available at Circle A Farms, Garnish & Gather, 2B Whole Bakery in Alpharetta, Crave Pie in Duluth and the Vickery Village and Alpharetta farmers markets as well as online at cloudlandcoffee.com/.
Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle from Divine Chocolate
The cocoa for Divine Chocolate bars comes from Ghana, grown by the farmer members of Kuapa Kokoo, an 85,000-farmer-member cooperative. Cocoa farming is largely done by men, but over a third of the cooperative’s members are women. Divine supports Kuapa’s efforts to provide education and training for these women farmers and an image on the label on Divine’s Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle bar celebrates the cooperative’s, and the company’s, efforts to empower women. Educating these women improves their farming skills, provides opportunities for them to earn additional income and influences their children to remain in school longer. Unwrap a bar of Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle and enjoy a delicious bar of dark chocolate and hazelnut truffle made by the only fair trade chocolate company co-owned by cocoa farmers.
$3.29 to $3.99 per 3.5-ounce bar. Available at The Fresh Market, Whole Foods Market, Michaels, Cost Plus World Market, Total Wine & More, Books-A-Million and RaceTrac. divinechocolate.com/us/
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