Hartford, CT (1888PressRelease)
March 28, 2008 - Orlando Baker, owner of Gifts4grants.com, may not have large amounts of money to give away, like Oprah, but his heart is just as big. Gifts4grants.com , is an on-line boutique that sells fair trade items from all over the world. Fair trade items are purchased from craft artisans and growers, many of whom have formed co-ops, with the purchaser’s intent of paying a fair price for the item, thereby improving the quality of life of the artisan.
Orlando donates 10% of his profits to fund educational programs around the world. Recently, Orlando presented a check in the amount of $480 to Ruth DeGolia of Mercado Global to fund six scholarships for elementary children in Guatemala. Both Orlando and his wife are graduates of Trinity College and hold teaching degrees.
Many of the craft cooperatives shown on the web site were formed after local people suffered devastating losses due to war, famine, or natural disasters. They pooled their talents, efforts, and skills and with some help, were able to bring their products to market.
At Gifts4grants.com, you can order jewelry made by mothers of the Pana Jewelry Cooperative in Panajacehel, Guatemala, or perhaps it’s the beaded boxes that catch your eye made by the Samburu people in Kenya or Nepalese paper made by women of the Kathmandu Valley. The website also has information about several cooperatives, artisans, stories about craft production, and how profits are being used.
Made-to-order gift baskets containing featured craft items can be purchased directly from the web site as well as gift certificates.
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