Waynesburg University will partner with Ten Thousand Villages to offer a unique shopping experience to the community during the holiday season. The store will be open Wednesday, Nov. 11 through Monday, Dec. 21 at 66 West High Street in Waynesburg. Store hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thomas Ribar, Waynesburg University chaplain, said the Ten Thousand Villages sale benefits the artisans by providing a fair trade profit for their products. In addition, the sale benefits the Waynesburg University Mission Trip Scholarship Fund as Ten Thousand Villages donates the overhead costs for the sale to the university. Ten Thousand Villages has generated close to $4,000 over the past four years for the university's Mission Trip Fund. The fund provides assistance to students who travel domestically or internationally to serve others.
"We are delighted to bring the Ten Thousand Villages store to the Waynesburg community for the 2009 holiday shopping season," Ribar said. "By returning to a High Street location this year, as well as expanding the dates for the sale, we aim to provide greater opportunity for residents of Waynesburg to get into the store.
Ribar said many residents and individuals working around the Borough discovered Ten Thousand Villages for the first time last holiday season.
"We look forward to welcoming those folks back to the store this year, along with new customers," he said. "We are excited to contribute to the vibrancy of the downtown business district with Ten Thousand Villages' unique, handcrafted merchandise from around the world."
The store will encompass 100 artisan groups representing more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A variety of products such as jewelry, pottery, stationery, toys, wall art, candles and picture frames are available for purchase.
Ten Thousand Villages is part of a worldwide movement determined to practice fair trade. The organization works with artisans in developing countries to provide a market for artisan products, which are sold at a fair trade value. The nonprofit organization is one of over 300 International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) members in 70 countries.
IFAT members agree that fair trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade.
Its mission is to improve the livelihood of disadvantaged people in developing countries and to change unfair structures of international trade.
November 06, 2009