Hope For Women in more Whole Foods Market stores

Recently we became an approved vendor for the Rocky Mountain Region of Whole Foods Market - the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods. This is the fifth region of Whole Foods Market that we are proud to be working with.

Hope For Women greeting cards can now be found in many of the Rocky Mountain region's Whole Foods Market stores in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah, as well as in Whole Food Market stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

We have formed very strong relationships with a diverse group of incredible retailers throughout the country who are supporting Fair Trade products. Hope For Women greeting cards are now available in over 650 stores in 48 states around the United States and Canada. Even in these sluggish times people are choosing to shop with their values - and fair trade products continue to make inroads into many traditional retail centers. Let's hope this trend continues.

The Fair Trade difference

In the last post I told you how we have partnered with a group of women artisans in El Salvador that are producing our new greeting card line, "Portraits of El Salvador".

While our goal is to always get a fantastic new product to our customers, our perpetual purpose is to provide income and economic stability to women artisan groups, which, in turn, helps the groups expand and grow so that there can be more meaningful jobs for a greater number of women.

Elana and Guadalupe - sisters, friends, artisans.

For the women in El Salvador, expanding their artisan group is risky. It takes considerable time and resources to train the women and if they do not have a market for the product their investment can be lost.

To take that strain off our new partners, we have put in place a program to engender mutual trust. To demonstrate our commitment and to provide security to the women we have produced 50,000 packaging units that have been delivered to their region to be filled with their creations. Currently, there are 12 trained artisans, and our packaging represents well over a year's worth of production. Our packaging commitment is the artisan's security that Hope For Women will be a long-term partner. We anticipate that the group will have the confidence to double in size by 2009, creating life-changing work for more women.

I had the privilege of visiting El Salvador, meeting each of the women artisans and spending time with them and their families at their homes. They are an inspiring group - you can learn more about them on our website.

Yanira and Roxhanna

Maria and her daughter Tonyia

New "Portraits of El Salvador" Initiative

Arte Comasagua artisans

We are thrilled to announce that Hope For Women is building upon our success in India by beginning a new partnership with women artisans in El Salvador.

For the past several months we have been building a relationship with Arte Comasagua, an artisan group located in the highland cloud forests of El Salvador.

Our new line "Portraits of El Salvador" - this is "Rosa"

In 2001, massive mud slides and a devastating earthquake left many families in the highlands of El Salvador homeless and jobless. With their fields destroyed, many people began traveling long hours to low-paying jobs in the capital. To better their lives, a group of enterprising women formed Arte Comasagua, an artisans’ organization that handcrafts stylish designs from native flowers and plants. These women now work locally, caring for their families and saving for their future.

Hope For Women is proud to work with this incredible group of women, and we are excited to launch our new line of greeting cards, "Portraits of El Salvador".

"Portraits of El Salvador" greeting cards have arrived, and are available at stores and on our website.

Learn more about this new initiative on our website.

Meet Elana - one of our new artisan partners

Hope For Women on TV

A wonderful news story about Hope For Women aired on TV stations across all 6 New England states recently.

After starting our production with 4 artisan women, Hope For Women is now working with nearly 50 women - creating stability and providing means for a better life.

Your continued enthusiasm and support makes Hope For Women a reality. Thank you!

Click here to view the story