Learn about World Fair Trade Day

World Fair Trade Day was May 14th! And although the event has come and gone, now is still a perfect opportunity to spread the word about fair trade. Or, if you're not that familiar with fair trade, this is a good time to learn about it. We've put together a Fair Trade Primer to introduce the concept, and it also contains links to fair trade agencies and partnership organizations if you want to get into more detail.

We support fair trade every year at our Global Holiday Faire. But Fair Trade Day serves as an important reminder for us that we need to keep fair trade in our minds year-round. The theme of this year's World Fair Trade Day was "Fair Trade is Peace." Fair Trade is a worthwhile effort, one which we here at First Christian Church are proud to be a part of.

FCC heard about Heifer on May 15th

We had a special guest on Sunday, May 15th - Suzanne Awalt, who shared with us about Heifer International. Following worship, there was a luncheon at which time she presented a program of photos and stories from her 2003 Heifer study tour to Poland and Slovakia. Although we support Heifer each year at our holiday faire, we don’t often think of Poland as a Heifer recipient country. In fact, since 1992, Poland has been the flagship of Heifer's Central and Eastern European Program that now assists families in 13 countries. The main focus of Heifer's work here is to demonstrate the value of self-directed small farm co-operatives.

Suzanne has been a volunteer in Heifer's Northwest Region for 14 years. She served on the Heifer International Board of Directors from 1998-2004. We're really grateful she came to Vallejo to share her stories with First Christian Church at this special event!

Disciples of Christ Join Call to End Hunger

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Minister and President Chris Hobgood, along with other prominent religious leaders, will participate in the first Interfaith Convocation on Hunger on June 6, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. This event, organized by Bread for the World, will include a call for the country's president and members of Congress to join with Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths in a new national commitment to end hunger. The event will be the culmination of One Table, Many Voices: A Mobilization to End Poverty and Hunger, a conference that will be held June 4-7 at American University in Washington, D.C. The national gathering will include workshops, plenaries and a lobby day on Capitol Hill. For more information on the conference, go to: http://www.onetableconference.org