One World Shop

To educate and engage our community on Fair Trade and related global social justice issues by providing a variety of educational outreach programs and a vibrant marketplace for artisan handmade goods. In 1973 a group at Lakewood Presbyterian Church was motivated after reading the publication, The Alternative Christmas Catalog, which was the effort... of one Methodist layman sharing his frustration with what had happened in our culture to the celebration of Christmas. As an alternative, he proposed using the criteria, of person-affirming, life supporting in our decisions about how to celebrate Christmas. One way of doing this would be to affirm and support persons living currently in poverty who have no market for what they produce. By purchasing gifts from such alternative trade sources and offering a fair price, one empowers these people to support their families, have a sense of self-dignity and not have to depend on hand-outs. For five years the Lakewood group held alternative Christmas fairs across Cuyahoga County until in 1979, when the opportunity to move permanently into a storefront arose and so One World Shop was established.Read More