About Global Hands

Pam Ellis, owner of Gobal Hands, first learned about fair trade from Mary Beth Danielson, a journalist at the Racine Times. Pam remembers Danielson speaking at a cluster event, a get-together for ELCA Lutheran women, built around a topic, a speaker, or an event in the spring and fall. Ellis says, "I think she'd made eight trips to Guatemala by then. I became enamored with her. She'd buy things like textiles-- table cloths and runners-- beaded jewelry, worry dolls, and aprons from the people, bring the products to the U.S. and sell them. Then she'd send the money back to the artists and artisans."

Between 2003-2006, Ellis and Glenda Bronakowski did four fair trade expos in Burlington. "Glenda did most of the work. I just helped," Ellis says. "It was the big time: Vendors. Musicians. Missionaries. Peace Corp Workers. Physicians. Nurses. Unicef. One year we had a style show; another year we did an empty bowl project. We collected 300 donated pottery bowls; six restaurants each made five gallons of soup. People paid $10 to pick out a bowl and a soup. They ate the soup, took the bowl home, and set it on a shelf to remind themselves of 'empty' bowls throughout the world."

At the expos, Ellis represented Serrv, A Greater Gift. "They have worked to eradicate poverty through direct connections with low-income artisans and farms for 60 years. They go into a village in a developing country and set up a coop and say, 'We need 600 of these. We'll give you 50% of the cost up front, and the rest when you have finished. They also teach business skills and work with the people to find joint solutions to their challenges. They help them grow and embrace the future." Serrv then publishes a catalog and sells the items that the coop made.

Ellis also met Christopher Keefe of Minga Imports. Keefe lived in Ecuador for ten years, speaks the language fluently, and in 1994 started a fair trade import business.

Ellis noted that about 375 women came to these expos each time. She began to see that fair trade was a global thing. She says, "I started to think, I can do this. I can open a fair trade store."

Ellis says, "So, I did a business plan, and figured out that it was possible. The best place to do it was Lake Geneva which has about 2.2 million visitors annually. Global Hands opened in May of 2007."

Pam says about fair trade, "Such a great concept. It's a no brainer. People do buy gifts, why not fair trade? It's like double gifting. When you think about developing countries and the people . . . They can do what they do best with the materials at hand. They're making crosses in Bethlehem. Carving tauga in Ecuador. Even in the Americas, Denver has The Women's Bean Project which helps women who are marked by social isolation and seldom have the support systems to make life changes. They can enroll in a 2-year program. They make bean soup, package jelly beans, a cornbread mix, and other mixes. They learn accounting, merchandising, sales-they're given a second change. Also, Chicago has Choices, The Enterprising Kitchen. These women make spa products, get their GEDs and counseling. So, why not support this kind of person?"

High rents, winters with fewer customers, and small mark ups-never more 1 ½ times the cost-do pose challenges. But Ellis says, "The rewards are endless."

Ellis has started funding some projects such as The Thusanang Sewing Circle. You can read about it at www.aidtoafricaschildren.org.

Ellis meets individuals helping people in the far corners of the world. She mentions the flight attendant and women from a church who go to Thailand each year and "buy" young-very young-prostitutes. For two weeks, this group of women help the girls learn how to make things. They show them they can earn a living without prostitution, which is legal in Thailand. The girls' families rely on them for money. Ellis says, "I buy everything they make: book markers, albums, paper."

You can read about Judy's visits to Haiti at www.YonnEdelot.org and Darleen Johnson's trips to Kenya at www.soar-kenya.com.

When asked: What would you like to say to the people who produce the products you sell? Ellis doesn't hesitate. "Thank you. It's such an empowering thing for me. I believe in you."

When asked: What would you like to say to your customers? Ellis smiles, "Keep buying. Feel good about what you're doing: supporting fair trade, helping others."