Students were treating themselves to a Spa Night on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 in the Mabel Brown Room at a Fair Trade-sponsored event.
The relatively new club, which was organized in 2010 at Keene State College, hosted the Spa Night to raise awareness of the club’s presence on campus.
“Our goal is to become recognized as a Fair Trade campus,” Jessica French, a KSC senior, said.
French has been a member of the Fair Trade club for two and a half years and now serves as the club’s Event Coordinator on the E-Board.
“All we need is a signature from Anne Huot, saying yes we are a Fair Trade campus,” French continued.
Hannah Rettig / Equinox Staff
French noted that KSC already follows most guidelines for being a Fair Trade campus, such as holding Fair Trade events and using Fair Trade products on campus. French added that most of the chocolate, sugar, coffee and tea offered in Lloyd’s and the DC are Fair Trade products.
“The club is really great,” Hope Moran, the club’s membership chair, noted, “We’re very close to becoming a Fair Trade university.”
This is Hope Moran’s second year as a member of the Fair Trade club on campus.
Moran stated that Fair Trade is all about giving “power to the farmers.”
Moran continued, “Fair Trade is all about supporting local farmers and having no middle man – having the money go right to the farmers who actually make the product.”
The Fair Trade Spa Night, which was hosted in the Mabel Brown Room, offered a plethora of Fair Trade products, ranging from chocolate fondue and bananas, to face scrub, to nail polish.
Kelly O’Donoghue, a KSC sophomore, attended the Fair Trade Spa Night to support her sorority sisters who are members of the club.
At one table at the Spa Night, O’Donoghue was able to make her own hand scrub using organic Fair Trade products such as sugar, honey and coconut oil.
“Making the hand scrub was really cool,” O’Donoghue noted, “Usually that stuff’s really expensive, and I just got the opportunity to make my own and take it home with me.”
O’Donoghue had arrived at the Spa Night event, not sure what Fair Trade meant or how it fit in at KSC. However, by the end of the night, she had a pretty good idea of the club’s importance on campus.
“The event is being held to promote Fair Trade products, and to let everyone know that there is an alternative,” Moran said, “Instead of buying a lotion that is mass-produced in China, you can get a lotion that’s made in Vermont, through Fair Trade, where all the products come from local farmers.”
“Events like the Spa Night are good,” French said, “It gets the word out.”
French added, “We just want to promote the different companies that are Fair Trade so that when students go to the store, they’re able to recognize it.”
Moran added that there are Fair Trade stores easily accessible to KSC students. “There’s lots of places nearby, like Brattleboro and Burlington, Vermont, and even downtown. There are a lot of local shops,” Moran stated.
French stated that the Fair Trade club is working hard toward their goal of turning KSC into a Fair Trade campus.
“We want to grow. We want people to know what the Fair Trade club is,” French said, “We just want to educate as many people as we can.”
Jill Giambruno can be contacted at jgiambruno@keene-equinox.com.