It was 40 years ago today...actually, 40 years ago this year.
Former Bluffton resident Lois Kreider will reminisce and answer questions about her life as a Bluffton Girl Scout leader and a trailblazing woman entrepreneur, starting the first USA Fair Trade store in Bluffton.
The program is in the third floor of the Bluffton town hall from 3 to 4 p.m., Thursday, April 24. The program is free and open to the public.
In 1974 Kreider opened the first Self Help Crafts store in the United States and called it the Et Cetera Shop. Self Help Crafts eventually became Ten Thousand Villages, a franchise with 300 retail stores, which improves the livelihood of disadvantages artisans in 38 countries.
"Ten Thousand Villages is founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization. Bluffton is now designated as an official Fair Trade Town because of the number of Fair Trade sources that are available here," Wendy Chappell-Dick told The Icon.
Bluffton was the first Fair Trade Town in Ohio and the 11th in the USA. Fair Trade is a system of business where small businesses in the developing world are paid a fair price through a non-profit which insures non-discriminatory, environmental sustainable, fair and safe working conditions. Fair Trade goods are knowns as "gifts that give twice."
