http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2005/12/13/crossroads-maximizes-profit-for-impoverished-artisans Comments for "Crossroads maximizes profit for impoverished artisans" en http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2005/12/13/crossroads-maximizes-profit-for-impoverished-artisans <div class="flexinode-body flexinode-4"><span class="flexinode-timestamp-13"> December 12, 2005 - 11:00, </span> <span class="flexinode-textfield-14"> Pantagraph.com</span> <div class="form-item"> <label>Story Link:</label> <a href="http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/121205/bus_20051212001.shtml">http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/121205/bus_20051212001.shtml</a> </div> <div class="flexinode-textarea-6"> BLOOMINGTON -- From the opulent, over-stuffed Christmas aisles of American big box stores to the tiny Peruvian town of Chucuito high in the frigid Andean mountain plateau is about as far as you can go on this spinning planet.<br /><br />In poverty-stricken Chucuito, families have been knitting since before Incan times. Now, women knit together, watching their children as they work. They produce charming and intricate finger puppets, which they sell to a fair trade group.<br /><br />The money they make allows them to provide up to half of the income for their families. This is one of thousands of fair trade stories that Charline Watts can tell. Fair trade is the reason she and Marilyn Townley founded Crossroads at 428 N. Main St. in 1988.<br /><br />&quot;We're a market for artists in impoverished areas,&quot; Watts says.<br /><br />Fair trade is a different way of doing business, Watts says. Fair trade organizations, such as the 17-year-old Crossroads, seek to benefit the artisans they work with instead of maximizing profits.<br /><br /><br class="clear" /></div> </div> http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2005/12/13/crossroads-maximizes-profit-for-impoverished-artisans#comment Consumer Products Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:39:13 -0500 John Paul 1977 at http://www.nextbillion.net