Students Help to Raise More Than $3,000 for Fair-Trade Crafters

A recent fundraiser by Pennsylvania College of Technology students generated nearly $3,300 for some of the world's working poor.

The funds were raised by students pursuing bachelor's degrees in applied human services who hosted a sale of fair-trade handmade crafts on campus in November, through an organization called Ten Thousand Villages.



Ten Thousand Villages one of the world's oldest fair-trade organizations works with more than 100 artisan groups in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Fair trade enables the artisans to earn a fair wage and provides the opportunity for a better quality of life.

In addition to organizing a Ten Thousand Villages Festival Sale, the students enrolled in a course called "Community and Organizational Change" traveled to a Ten Thousand Villages facility in Lancaster County, where they spent the day volunteering in a warehouse and visiting one of the organization's stores, both of which are staffed predominantly by volunteers.

The "Community and Organizational Change" course, taught by LaRue R. Reese, assistant professor of human services/sociology, helps students develop the skills to recognize existing and emergent human needs and to plan successful community and organizational responses to those needs. Fifteen students are enrolled in the course.

"The class would like to thank all those who supported the sale," said student Megan E. Yaple, of Williamsport.

For more information about human services majors and other academic programs offered by the School of Integrated Studies at Penn College, visit online or call (570) 327-4521.

For more information about Penn College, visit on the Web , e-mail or call toll-free (800) 367-9222.