“Probably one of the most profound moments for was in a mud home in Kenya talking with a woman we were buying paper bead bracelets from

for a Fair Trade Friday box. She grabbed my hands and squeezed them tight. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘Tell the women in America that we need them to keep buying what we make. Tell them it is feeding my son and two daughters. Tell them not to forget us.’ I will spend the rest of my life reminding these marginalized women they are not forgotten.”

This quote is from Kristen Welch, founder of Mercy House and writer at We Are That Family. I’m writing to make sure this woman’s voice is heard: buy fair trade so she can feed her children. There are countless more like her.

Fair Trade Friday is a subscription service, providing a box on the first Friday of every month brimming with beautiful fair trade items, sourced from more than 18 different countries. In June I received a sample box in exchange for this blog. I think I got a good bargain because the items are beautiful: a clutch purse from one of their partners in India, JOYN; a jar opener made by a Nepali refugee living in Texas; a paper bead bracelet made by women at the Mercy House in Kenya; and a paper journal made in India through Village Artisan. That’s a lot of product and a lot of hope for only $31.99.

Through our purchases, these women can live, really live, thrive even. Subscribe to the monthly box and discover the amazing products that are changing lives!

I’m passionate about fair trade because it’s a solution to a problem that we all need to stare at more, to see, to let it change us and transform us. The world needs us, as comfortable Americans, and especially Christians, to find innovative solutions to local and global poverty. Fair Trade Friday has relationships with partners who have lasting interaction with vulnerable women around the world. Through these relationships, women have their hope and dignity restored. They provide for their families and make a better life for those around them.

If you can’t subscribe to the monthly box for $31.99, you can also purchase one-time boxes or join the earring of the month club ($12.99/month).

If you try to subscribe to the monthly box, you may run into a waitlist, but don’t delay! Add your name to the others: together we’re saying that vulnerable women matter. We see them: we care. More names on the waitlist will result in more women employed to meet the growing demand.