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SERRV Stories
Do you have a story to share?
Email us at marketing@serrv.org!
Spring/Summer Catalog 2009 Stories
Click on the photos to see the full pdfs.
Alicia Ciatto
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Anyogpoka
Apana
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Samia Naamna
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Cathy Doyle
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Rev. Neville
Johnson
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Reynaldo
Cifuentes
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More SERRV Stories
Julia Largent, Indiana
Ann Engelman, Wisconsin
Margaret Seagraves, VirginiaLois and Paul Culler, Maine
Donna Lehigh, Maryland
Cecelia Ritchie, MarylandMarilyn Maze, MarylandSusan Morrison, New JerseyKaren Ungemach, PennsylvaniaVicky and Al Kopacka, New Jersey
Manchester, Indiana Growing up, I was aware of SERRV. My grandmother would have me look at the catalog and tell her if there was anything I would like to have from it. I always thought the products were so beautiful, even though I didn’t know the full story behind where the products were made. It wasn’t until later that I realized that SERRV was religiously founded and I fully understood the concept of fair trade. There’s just something so rewarding when buying a fair trade product; each piece of jewelry, every basket, all musical instruments are different. They are like snowflakes, none are identical and that’s something you won’t find that in the mass produced crafts. Not only are the products beautiful and unique, it also helps people that you have never met. Part of the enjoyment that I find in buying SERRV products is the knowledge that I am helping someone with my need for a new wallet or craving for some chocolate. The service aspect of fair trade is important to me. I grew up in the Church of the Brethren, which founded SERRV in 1949. I was always taught to consider others around you, including folks you didn’t know. I think that ideal has an important play in why members of the denomination decided to start the International Gift Shop back in 1949. Service has always played a part in various projects supported by members of the Church of the Brethren. Dan West founded Heifer International to help feed the poor, volunteers spend their time cleaning up and building homes through Brethren Disaster Ministries, and many service projects throughout WWII and through today’s youth and young adults at conferences. After interning at SERRV for a summer, I find myself immensely proud in the work these people do, and am a proud member of the denomination that founded SERRV. I enjoy the line “show Christ’s love through your actions,” and that is what these people are doing and what a consumer does when they purchase a fair trade product. So the next time you buy a Divine chocolate bar, even when you don’t really need one, smile and take pride in the fact that you just helped someone attend school, buy clothes or simply, live.
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin I am continually inspired by the long term commitment SERRV has to the goal of equality in our world and the integrity SERRV brings to the task. In our household, when the new SERRV catalogue arrives, everything stops in order to see what's new with our artisans and farmers. I enjoy learning about the people stories behind the products. It is always on our coffee table to be shared with our guests. I most enjoy purchasing gifts for friends but also wear my commitment to SERRV around my shoulders and on my wrist. I get many compliments! SERRV jewelry and scarves help me tell SERRV's story. My SERRV handbag has SERRV chocolate in it!
We have just started a consignment sale at the Catholic church in our small town so others are learning about SERRV too.Many thanks for SERRV's good work and commitment to steadfastly improving our world.
Margaret Seagraves
Portsmouth, Virginia
 SERRV has enriched my life by offering me an opportunity to purchase quality gifts for Christmas and birthdays, while also providing a way for someone to sustain a livelihood. For several Christmases now, I have tried to only buy gifts for family and friends that help someone or something to survive... Giving gifts like that make gift-giving even more satisfying because you're not only giving someone you love a very unique, extraordinary gift, but you are also helping someone to make a living, feed his family, and send his children to school, or even saving some beautiful animal species from extinction. I work with children at a preschool, and I have made it my mission to help instill these beliefs of supporting others through fair trade and mission work. I raised my own three children with that strong sense of "giving back" and sharing what they have, and all three of them now work in areas of service to others. I'm very proud of them and what they have been able to accomplish!
Lois and Paul Culler
Bar Harbor, Maine
 We first learned about SERRV through an organization called Alternatives for Simple Living (simpleliving.org) and through our membership in a Lutheran church (due to SERRV’s partnership with Lutheran World Relief). Over time, we became more and more interested in alternative giving and this sparked our interest in SERRV.
We began our link to SERRV by purchasing products for our own personal use from the catalog and from alternative gift fairs. This link developed further as we practiced conscious consumerism extending to gift giving for loved ones, bringing them into the chain. The links built up again as we began to coordinate alternative gifts fairs at our church which grew over several years. This was our way of extending the links to those in our church family.
When we still felt the need to continue the links even further, we took the plunge and started a fair trade business in May 2007. We currently have a fair trade store in Bar Harbor, Maine; an online webstore (www.fairtradewinds.net); and recently opened a kiosk at Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia. Although our business is not officially non-profit, we have invested personal funds in our business and volunteer our time to this endeavor. We see the partnership with SERRV and other fair trade organizations as a way to give back in return for our material blessings and as a way to model good global citizenship to our three young adult children. At this point in our lives, we felt that it was time to do something more directly to support others that we saw to be in need and also as a way to live out our faith.
SERRV has enriched our lives by deepening our connection to producers and artisans in our own country and around the world; has raised our awareness of the origins of products, the materials used, and those who make them, and has encouraged us to learn more about environmental sustainability.
Donna Lehigh
Union Bridge, Maryland
 I grew up in a multi ethnic culture in Baltimore City which certainly broadened my appreciation for diversity. I've been involved with non-profit organizations since 1980 and have served on five short-term mission trips including the Philippines, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Mexico. I am currently involved with the local prison ministry, Christian Farmers Outreach and the Katrina Disaster Relief.
As a former resident of New Windsor, Maryland I would frequently visit the SERRV gift shop. I have always admired the unique hand crafted products of highly skilled/creative artisans. Through SERRV I learned I could purchase beautifully hand crafted items and touch many lives by helping people who struggle economically. Shopping doesn't get any better than that! I became a volunteer of SERRV through the invitation of my friend Catherine Crawford.
Developing friendships with the SERRV staff has been a gratifying and fulfilling experience as a volunteer because I feel like I am a part of their team. The artistic items in our home bring beauty and joy to my life. Volunteering in the gift shop allows me to express my artistic side as well as provide a useful service to the global community.
Cecelia Ritchie
Bowie, Maryland
I learned about SERRV by visiting the shop in New Windsor, MD. I fell in love! I didn't know much about fair trade before then, but I started to learn!
This year we built a "craft room" in our home, and I was able to stock it with many, many baskets and items from SERRV. I love knowing that women from around the world crafted the beautiful (and functional) pieces in my craft room. They continue to inspire me.
Marilyn Maze
Baldwin, Maryland
 I traveled extensively years ago, but the things I brought back are old now.
I was in the Philippines, on Mindanao, a large southern island. I met the T'boli "lost tribe" before the rest of the world (but they weren't really lost). There are a lot of people like me who appreciate handcrafted products from other countries and have watched similar products being crafted…Your values and work are important to me.
Susan Morrison
South Plainfield, New Jersey
A few years back, I was researching fair trade sources for gift-giving. I was already buying from the MarketPlace catalog and was thrilled when I got my your catalog!
My family had little in the way of material wealth when I was growing up. My happiest memories are of handcrafting holiday ornaments, taffy, candies, and breads, to give to our loved ones and friends. My least happy memories are of cold and hunger, and it means a great deal to me to be able to help others step out of that level of hardship.
SERRV enriched has my life by being able to help artisans creating quality products, by buying them at fair prices and then giving them as gifts (I include summaries about the artists and collectives with each gift). This gives me the feeling of being part of a larger, more enriching community.
Karen Ungemach
Palmyra, Pennsylvania
One of the things I enjoy the most about the SERRV catalog and newsletters is the pictures of the artisans. Learning more about the artisans has personalized it for me. I so admired the women of Mali in West Africa providing a community for each other as they were coping with the condition of obstetric fistula. I felt proud that SERRV was developing a relationship with them to enable them to market the beads they crafted that would help pay the medical bills to enable the women to lead better lives and get back to their families. I am so blessed to have a job that enables me to buy their products and donate to SERRV so they can expand their programs. I had no choice on where I was born. I am so fortunate that I was born in the United States to the parents I have. I believe that God has called me to share my good fortune.
In our consumer society, I am going to buy something anyway, so why not help someone else while I am doing it! It is hard to change your mindset about buying at a store, but I have pretty much trained my brain to think SERRV first. I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t do it. The gifts are beautiful, the prices are comparable to any other quality store and it comes straight to my house. It is so easy!
I work in two different elementary schools as a reading specialist and instructional support teacher. My husband is a dairy farmer and works hard on the farm. He values hard work and an independent spirit. I have always loved arts and crafts and making things with my hands, so I have learned to sew, knit and any number of other crafts...For a few years, I was at home with my children and sold carvings to help earn some income for my family. So that was when I really began to help market some of SERRV’s items by hosting sales in my church. I felt an affinity with these other very creative artisans, even though I never met them. I am continually amazed that even though they are limited with materials, they come up with ideas and techniques that are so beautiful! So for me, SERRV is a personal passion and has been for all of my adult life.
Vicky and Al Kopacka
Hackettstown, New Jersey
 We learned about SERRV through Ten Thousand Villages and visited your facility in New Windsor. We were treated wonderfully, like old family members really, rather than just business associates. It has been that way with all the vendors we work with - trusting, helpful, insightful, like-minded in our deeply held belief that commerce should help everyone!
SERRV's products are "useful and decorative" a wonderful phrase about life that I learned from my Mom. Evey time I look at a SERRV product I think about a person - not a factory - who sat or stood and worked by hand to produce a beautiful, practical piece of art. And, I think about that person's future dreams for their children and their community, and it gives me energy to continue what is a financially difficult process towards solvency. We all can, with God's and each other's help, be useful in our world, and Al and I believe that we all should strive to leave our surroundings in better shape for our children.
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| "Thanks to the purchases from SERRV, the families of the artisans can better their life conditions." - Rev. Diego Chicoj Ramos - Ruth & Nohemi, Guatemala |
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