Non-profit Ten Thousand Villages opens for the holidays
Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit organization, run by volunteers, that buys hand-crafted products from artists called artisans in third world countries and sells them here in North America.
The purpose is to benefit the lives and communities of those who create the products.
Sally Keller, volunteer manager of Ten Thousand Villages in Logan said, the products are bought from many different countries such as including countries in South and Central America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Representatives from Ten Thousand Villages find people in different countries to become artisans and together they work out a price for their art. The product is brought back to North America to be sold for slightly more, Keller said. The extra money made from the product does not go to profit but instead goes to the purchase of more products from the artisans.
According to the organization’s brochure, “Ten Thousand Villages is a program of Mennonite Central Committee, a relief, service and peace agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches.”
Ten Thousand Villages was created during World War II by the Mennonites Central Committee.
Keller said Mennonite missionaries find artisans to work for Ten Thousand villages. The artisans are paid 50 percent of the contract up front and the rest when the contract is fulfilled. Keller said the artisans agree to obey fair trade practices which include child labor laws, fair prices and the proper use of resources.
“When we say money is going to our selling, it means we have more money to go back and buy more goods,” Keller said.
According to the brochure, the mission of Ten Thousand Villages is to, “Provide vital, fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America.”
Keller said the group works with artisans who would otherwise be unemployed. It helps to pay for food, education, housing and health care while helping create self-esteem for the artisans and their families. The artisan groups work together in a cooperative nature as to benefit the community or villages in which they live, Keller said.
Almost 70 percent of the artisans are women, Keller said.
Keller said she works as a volunteer because it is “so much fun. Almost all the products have a story with them and by reading the stories we get a picture of how much people have benefited by having a ready market to craft.”
“[The artisans] work extremely hard to make their products. They put in long hours because of the satisfaction they get to make a product and sell it,” Keller said.
Ten Thousand Villages has more than 100 locations across the United States, Keller said.
The store in Logan opened last November and remained open through December, but this year, because of utilities and rent for the building, they can’t stay open throughout the entire week. The store is currently open Thursday – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The only other store in Utah is located in Sugar House and is open Monday – Saturday.
Paula Davis, volunteer at Ten Thousand Villages said, “It’s one of those things that you try to spend your money where it will do the most good, instead of shopping at Wal-Mart making the owners rich, you are helping to keep families together and are providing food for hungry children.”
The store is located on 100 E. and 146 North in Logan in a house. The store’s products include apparel, jewelry, sculptures, toys for children and instruments.
-kap@cc.usu.edu
These three angles are made of abaca leaves from the Philippines. (Photo by Jennifer Wheatley)