Fair Trade Clothing Project

There are many reasons that I am proud of Mark, but this week in particular I am really proud of him. When we first joined Willow Creek staff and moved to the Dominican Republic, he was challenged by our boss to consider ways to help create jobs in a little rural town in the mountains called Peralta. The town has over 75% unemployment and the health care is a sad situation, but Mark has been working with the partner church pastor and a team of dedicated volunteers to try to make change in the situation.

The short version of the story is that the town now has a Fair Trade clothing line called Peralta, and the first sale is this weekend at Willow Creek's World Market. Local tailors stitched thousands of polo shirts, t-shirts and bags -- and thanks to Mark's sister, Amy, everything has the Peralta logo either stitched onto the sleeve or on the size tag. It's cool, isn't it?
The church and the project are going to be highlighted on the main stage at Willow Creek this weekend, a video that I have been working on will be shown and the items will be available for sale in the church lobby. We are so excited. Every item will have a tag attached that reads the following:

Tucked away in the mountains of the Dominican Republic, the community of Peralta has been making clothing for decades. However, in recent years many of Peralta’s tailors have lost jobs to the competition of sweat shop labor in our globalized economy. As unemployment in the community has surged to over 75%, so have poverty-related diseases like Tuberculosis and AIDS. Unwilling to lose hope, Pastor Francisco Rosso is leading his community of Peralta to develop sustainable solutions. Peralta Fair Trade Clothing is an important part of these plans. Not only is Peralta creating jobs – but company profits are invested back into helping revive the church-led public healthcare system.

Anyway, I wanted to share the exciting news of what God is doing in and through the people involved in this project. Please pray that this weekend we sell out of items (!) and there is demand for more, as all proceeds go back into either the health care system or the continuation of the sewing project.

We're hoping that this sale is only the beginning and that other churches, businesses and organizations will choose Peralta to sew their polo shirts and t-shirts. Thanks for being excited with us -- and here are some of the items that haven't even been revealed yet. :)

Mark (the model) in his "Hungry for Change" Peralta men's Tshirt in blue

Our friend Betty in the "Hungry for Change" women's t-shirt in rust

Pastor (and good friend!) Robert Mateo in the men's polo shirt in white

Mark in men's polo shirt in black

Close up the logo on the sleeve

Blue jean bag with original artwork by our friend, Lidiset Reyes