Hastings College will open a Ten Thousand Villages store Friday, April 4. The store, located in the lobby of Hazelrigg Student Union lobby, will be open every other Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The store will also be open to the public.

Ten Thousand Villages stores sell a variety of reasonably priced Fair Trade products including: baskets, jewelry, star garlands, dishware, soaps, folk art and other quality home décor items.

Junior Meggan Lloyd, Hastings, Neb., is coordinating the store project. “Due to the success of the off-site sale Hastings College had in November, I wanted to provide the opportunity to always have Fair Trade products available,” she said. “Having a store on campus will help educate people about what Fair Trade is, and will give them the opportunity to purchase items right on campus. It also gives the Hastings community another avenue to purchase Fair Trade items.”

Last summer, Lloyd was selected as one of Oxfam America’s 2007-08 CHANGE Leaders, and was trained to coordinate an Oxfam campaign on campus. She selected Fair Trade as her social justice mission. During fall semester, Lloyd worked with the director of Perkins Library to serve only Fair Trade tea and coffee to students studying in the library. Then in November, Lloyd coordinated a two-day craft sale of Ten Thousand Villages items during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. The success of that event led to the establishment of a permanent store.

Ten Thousand Villages stores have been open since 1946, and today supports thousands of artisans in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. More than 160 retail stores in North America offer a variety of unique, high-quality Fair Trade products that help improve the livelihood of disadvantaged people in developing countries around the world. 
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