2/19/2008 Meeting

Tonight we discussed next steps for our campus and Adopt-A-Supermarket campaigns. Once the remaining campus coffee shops are in, we're going to distribute promotional materials to the ones that carry Fair Trade options. This way at least we all know where we can go in the meantime. With the others that aren't currently proud FT card-carrying members, we'll find out who their buyer and vendor is, then begin talking to them about integrating one (at first) FT option.

If you haven't taken care of your campus coffee shop yet, please do! The faster those are done, the faster we can move the project along.


There was a lead as well on the campus dining halls banana situation. Apparently they might be looking for a new vendor, so we're trying to squeeze in and get their attention. Maybe we can start buying FT bananas at school.

As far as the AAS campaign goes, we did a supermarket report card for HEB. They didn't fail, but they earned a C (and should have studied harder). So we've been sort of working up the ladder and got the contact information for the person/peoples in charge of promotional work at least. We're waiting to hear back from them about an appointment so we can get the ball rolling. We also used the report to set some clear cut goals (which we discussed briefly before). Our preliminary aims are to have better placement and promotion on existing products and to begin integrating FT chocolate, bananas, flowers and perhaps soap as well. They're long-term goals, but that's how things get done.

2/12/2008 Meeting

Tonight was a brief meeting because everyone was recruited to make posters after the general meeting. Also a few people were unable to make it tonight (so if you couldn't come, don't worry, you weren't alone and we didn't meet but for a moment). So, updates....

Most everyone has finished distributing their Austin coffee shop promotional materials. If you haven't yet, just get it done as soon as possible now. As far as the campus survey goes, here's the word on some:
O's - FT organic option out every day, vendor is Austin Java
RLM coffee shop - french roast is FT organic, vendor is Seattle's Best
Prufrock's - about 1-3 FT coffees/day

DHFS (Cypress Bend, JCL, &c.) will be getting back soon with a list of coffees, and the rest are either inconclusive or haven't been reported yet. We'll discuss next steps at our regular meeting time next week.

The HEB Supermarket Report Card got about the same grade as it did last year at the same time: about 3 items available in Fair Trade (coffee, tea, sugar), no promotion, and the manager needs to be contacted. We'll move forward with this information and talk about next steps next week as well.

A neat little note to end on - and something a few people heard me (Tricia) mention earlier - is that Scotland, in all it's humanitarian glory (I like to think) is campaigning to become a Fair Trade nation. I just looked at this booklet they put together and the Prime Minister has this little spiel about how great Fair Trade is on the front. Hm. Go them.

2/5/2008 Meeting

Tonight we checked on everyone's progress with passing out the promotional materials. Anyone who hasn't finished should just try to be done by next week's meeting so we can be finished with that front. If anyone forgot which coffee shops they were responsible for, see last weeks post.

Next, we discussed the campus FT push. We made a list of on-campus (and very close to campus) coffee joints and divied them up to survey a)what their FT options were and, b)who their vendor is. Here's the list:
Gabriella: Starbucks (Jester and Union)
Laura: O's and the RLM coffee shop
Greta: Prufrock's
Mia and Merrit: the Dobie area (coffee shops and theater)
Rolando: Einstein's
Tricia: ambiguous coffee kiosk at 24th and Speedway
Nick: DHFS areas (JCL, Cypress, &c.)

If you need or want an assignment, let Nick or Tricia know.

This cartoon is just a cute props to sustainable textiles I found.

Finally, we talked about our Adopt-A-Supermarket campaign. We'll be filling out a new report card this week for the Red River HEB, and we solidified the goals we want to achieve. Next week we'll be discussing the report card and mapping out a timeline. The team decided to concentrate on:
1. a better variety of FT products (bananas, flowers, sugar - as opposed to concentrating on more variety within a certain product)
2. better placement, promotion, and education for existing FT options

Tonight's general meeting was a great one, too. See everyone next week - cheers!

1/29/2008 Meeting

And we're off!! We had our second team meeting (but more of a first offical one), and we discussed our upcoming, exciting semester.

The two main campaigns we'll be focusing on are strengthening the presence of Fair Trade around the liberal arts area of campus and the Adopt-A-Supermarket campaign, where we'll work cooperatively with a nearby grocery store to give FT products they have better placement and work more FT products into their inventory. We'll begin to construct action plans for these next week, on Tuesday after the general meeting, however....

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, we decided to make a small push for Fair Trade flowers. At our table, we'll have cards (which Merrit is designing) that passers-by can sign to say they support FT Flowers. We will deliver the batch of them to ALFF'S flowers on 6th and Congress.

Also, to disperse the rest of the promotional posters and register cards from last semester, we're having a litter Cafe Crawl, and everyone signed up for coffee shops to take the materials to. Here's the list:

Rolando: Austin Java, Bouldin Creek, Flipnotics Coffeespace
Mia and Merrit: Cafe Matisse, Spiderhouse
Miguel: Flightpath, Metro
Gabriella: Halcyon, Java Jive, Little City
Madhur: JP's Java, Mozart's
Laura: Swerve Coffee Lounge, La Tazza Fresca, Texpresso

See everyone next week!!

11/15/2007 Meeting

The Fair Trade posters and cash register cards are in, so we were able to hand out promitional materials to some of the coffee shop representatives last week.

Since not all the research teams were present, we moved the presentations until next meeting - which will not be this Thursday, but next because....

This Thursday is Thanksgiving!! So celebrate the mass domination of Native Americans by eating slaughtered turkies and be thankful. No really - everyone have a great time, hopefully with family and friends : )

11/08/07 Meeting

We've just ordered the promotional materials to hand out to coffee shops, and they will be in by next week for everyone to hand out to their individually assigned businesses.

Tonight we discussed three of the campaigns we'd like to explore next semester: Oke Bananas, Adpot-a-Supermarket, and Fair Trade flowers. The three were divded amongst groups who will be researching and then giving short presentations on them next meeting. If you're interested in helping with any of the research, let Nick or Tricia know.

So next meeting we will be handing out the promotional materials and learning some more about those campaigns.

On a bright note, an employee from La Tazza Fresca, a coffee shop on Guadalupe that does not currently serve Fair Trade coffee, contacted our team to let us know he'd be interested in talking to the owner about carrying Fair Trade products. We will start working with them, probably at the beginning of January. So perhaps La Tazza Fresca will be a Fair Trade sanctuary in the near future.

Next Meeting

The event finally happened - Tuesday, October 30th at 8 PM. Thanks to Wheatsville Coop and Texas Coffee Traders and all the wonderful chefs on our team, we had tons of yummy food. And, after a delay concerning a missing cord, everyone enjoyed watching "Black Gold".


To give everyone a break and a little post-event present, this past Thursday's agenda has been moved to next Thursday - 11/8/07. Everyone will show up with their business promotion sheets filled out. Then we'll talk about getting the promotional materials into the coffee shops, and finally we'll discuss next semester's goals. We've only got a month left before the end of this semester - boy, it's gone by quickly.