The 2004-05 Lutheran World Relief (LWR) Handcraft Project catalog — featuring more than 600 handmade items from artisans around the world — is now available.
Included in the catalog are food and home-decor items, baskets, jewelry, nativity se
ts, kitchenware, games and toys, wind chimes and musical instruments from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
“These gifts, purchased through the LWR Handcraft Project, mean vital income to artisans, allowing them to feed their families, educate their children, and improve their communities as a whole,” says LWR President Kathryn Wolford on the catalog’s opening page.
All artisans featured in the catalog are paid a fair price for their work, rather than being underpaid by exploitative corporations, according to Wolford and LWR partner SERRV International. SERRV is a nonprofit trade and development organization whose mission is “promoting the social and economic progress of people in developing countries.”
SERRV coordinates the catalog and sales of its contents, and contributes 10 percent of each purchase to LWR. That money is used to “further our life-changing work in communities around the world,” according to Wolford.
Items purchased are “only part of what you get,” says Wolford. “While you gain a beautiful, handcrafted gift, artisans around the world gain dignity and build livelihoods thanks to your support of their work.”
To order a free LWR Handcraft Project catalog, call (888) 294-9660 or visit the Web site www.lwr.org/handcraft .
Posted Nov. 1, 2004
