Ten Thousand Villages

Ten

 Thousand

 Villages

 Cincinnati

1

  Ten

 Thousand

 Villages

 Cincinnati

  A

 critical

 look

 at

 fair

 trade,

 “cultural

 creatives”

 and

 year

 two.

Brett

 A.

 Bridges

  Goshen

 College

ABSTRACT

After

 12

 years

 of

 successful

 seasonal

 sales

 events,

 the

 Cincinnati

 Mennonite

 Fellowship

 church

  establish

 a

 permenant

 Ten

 Thousand

 Villages

 store

 in

 their

 area.

 After

 raising

 $52,000

 to

 open

  the

 store,

 finding

 a

 location,

 hiring

 a

 manager,

 and

 finding

 an

 effective

 marketing

 strategy,

 the

  chairperson

 of

 the

 board

 of

 directors

 sees

 a

 lot

 of

 possible

 success

 for

 year

 two

 of

 operations.

Ten

 Thousand

 Villages

 Cincinnati

  In

 1946,

 Joe

 Byler,

 a

 volunter

 with

 the

 Mennonite

 church,

 visited

 a

2

community

 that

 they

 were

 sponsoring

 in

 Puerto

 Rico.

 His

 wife,

 Edna

 Ruth,

 who

 was

  also

 on

 the

 trip,

 noticed

 the

 beautiful

 embrodary

 work

 of

 the

 Puerto

 Rican

 woment.

  Seeing

 a

 need

 for

 places

 to

 sell

 the

 women’s

 works,

 Ruth

 Edna

 brought

 back

 several

  of

 the

 embroideries

 back

 to

 the

 United

 States

 to

 sell

 them.

 She

 sold

 those

 items

 and

  then

 boutght

 more,

 this

 time

 with

 different

 items.

 Soon,

 this

 initiative

 included

 more

 ...