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Who Is My Neighbor? Inc.

19 S. 2nd Ave
Highland Park, NJ 08904
732.247.3700
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Fair Trade

Who Is My Neighbor? Inc. helps consumers participate in fair trade. This allows local people to help their global neighbors.

What Is Fair Trade?

Fair trade is the opposite of sweat shop labor that still exists today. Fairly traded goods are made by people who work together in cooperatives that govern themselves democratically and assure that strict guidelines are met:

  • Work conditions are safe.
  • Child labor is prevented.
  • Good environmental practices are used.
  • Men and women receive equal treatment.

Members of a cooperative equally share the work, the decision-making, and the profits. Entire villages can be brought out of poverty when fairly traded goods provide a stable source of income and social services to farmers and handcrafters.

Initiatives

2003 - WIMNI offered hand-sewn goods from St. Julie’s Workshop near Lima, Peru, and sold enough to sustain several families through a difficult rainy season.

2004 - WIMNI opened a volunteer-run demonstration store which carried fairly traded handmade goods from 38 developing countries.

2006 - WIMNI held the Global Heart concert series that provided occasions for a fair trade bazaar in the social hall of the Reformed Church of Highland Park.

2007 - WIMNI engaged the nonprofit fair trade retailer, Ten Thousand Villages, to open a store in Highland Park.

2008 - WIMNI assisted local school bands, choirs, and orchestras to raise money through fair trade fundraisers.

2009 - WIMNI co-founded the Highland Park Fair Trade Coalition, along with Main Street Highland Park (through MSHP's director, James McCrone) and Borough Council (through Councilman Jon Erickson). WIMNI sponsored Highland Park's application to TransFair USA to be designated as a Fair Trade Town, documenting that the town meets all requirements. In September, TransFair USA awarded Highland Park, NJ the title of Fair Trade Town. HP is the 13th town in the USA to earn this status.

2009 - WIMNI opened A Better World Cafe in partnership with Elijah's Promise culinary school. Along with it's locally grown, multi-cultural, healthy fare, the cafe serves organic coffee that is always fair trade.

WIMNI continues to educate consumers about the power of fair trade to improve the lives of struggling people in distant countries. Current initiatives are listed in the News section.

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