Chocolate Tasting & Screening of "The Dark Side of Chocolate" in Palo Alto - Tue 12/7

If you're in the bay area this Tues evening 12/7, come to the screening of "The Dark Side of Chocolate" in Palo Alto. Coco-Zen will have truffles for tasting! Plus we'll have some of our holiday chocolates for sale as well.

See the invite from Global Exchange below.

Here's the trailer to the movie...

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Don’t miss the event of the season! Please RSVP by Sunday, December 5

The Fair Trade Chocolate Tastings

Coco-Zen: Enjoy samples from the South Bay’s own local Fair Trade truffle-maker, with a wide selection of delicious milk and dark Fair Trade truffle flavors from Dark Chocolate to Orange Blossom (the Global Exchange Fair Trade Campaign’s favorite is Chai Spice!) http://www.coco-zen.com

Alter Eco: Savor chocolates from one of the most innovative, highest quality Fair Trade chocolate bar manufacturers, featuring flavors from Chocolate Velvet to the exotic Fair Trade Quinoa, http://www.altereco-usa.com

The Speakers

Adrienne Fitch-Frankel, Fair Trade Campaign Director, Global Exchange: Adrienne Fitch-Frankel will fill in details about forced and child labor in the cocoa industry and how Fair Trade addresses these issues.

Edouard Rollet, Co-Founder/Chief Operations Officer, Alter Eco: Visionary social entrepreneurship leader Edouard Rollet will describe his visits to Fair Trade cocoa cooperatives around the world and discuss the transformative impact on social justice, poverty, and the environment his company and others are making.

The Film: The Dark Side of Chocolate

The 2010 Documentary, The Dark Side of Chocolate reveals shocking evidence that child and forced labor continue in the cocoa fields for millions of children, nearly a decade after the major players in the cocoa industry promised to resolve the problem.

The Hosts

Chocolate Dividends: (http://www.chocolatedividends.org/), supporters of cocoa farmers

World Centric: (http://www.worldcentric.org/), biocompostable serving items

The Details

Date: Tuesday, December 7

Time: 7:00 pm doors open/chocolate tasting; 7:30 pm program begins

Location: World Centric

Address: 2121 Staunton Court; Palo Alto, CA 94306

Tickets (sold at door): $15

RSVP by: December 5

RSVP contact info: Dana Cabico - fairtrade@globalexchange.org/415-575-5557

Nationwide screenings are empowering thousands of people to come together to send one clear message to the chocolate industry: “We will not tolerate abusive child labor and trafficking in the cocoa fields.”

The screenings are organized by Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Campaign and other organizational members of the Raise the Bar Campaign, which is pressing chocolate manufacturers to end exploitative child and forced labor in the cocoa fields. To learn more about Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Campaign and the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign, please visit www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.

Sincere thanks to Palo Alto screening sponsors Chocolate Dividends, World Centric, Alter Eco, Coco-Zen, and the makes of The Dark Side of Chocolate, Miki Mistrati and Roberto Romano!

Last Chance for Reverse Trick-or-Treat and FREE Chocolates!

Coco-Zen is proud to once again donate chocolates to this year's Reverse Trick-Or-Treating campaign. This annual event is headed by Global Exhange, a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.

See the announcement below, and find out how you and your kids can participate this year...and get your FREE Halloween chocolates!

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October 8
Deadline for individuals and groups to request Reverse Trick-or-Treat kits!

ORGANIZATIONS (congregations, schools, youth groups, etc):

• Kits for organizations are $24 per box of 150 minis and cards (maximum 2 boxes per organization).
• When placing your order you must use the coupon code COCOZEN for the discounted wholesale price.
• Last day for organizations to sign up for Reverse Trick-or-Treating is also October 8th.

INDIVIDUALS (families, students, etc):

• Kits for individuals are FREE and include 15-20 Fair Trade chocolate minis and informational cards.
• Last day to order kits is October 8th.

Order your kits TODAY at www.reversetrickortreating.org. We usually run out long before the deadline!

What is Reverse Trick-or-Treating?
Children (+ high school/college students/adults) on their regular trick-or-treating rounds through their neighborhoods, or at an equivalent community event, give chocolate back to adults at each house they visit on Halloween...Fair Trade chocolate attached to an informational card about the problems in the cocoa industry, (such as child slavery, environmental degradation, and poverty) and how Fair Trade provides a solution.

With your help, we will reach nearly a quarter million households in the US and Canada with this important informational message!



To order trick-or-treating chocolate to distribute from your doorstep, including Global Exchange's fabulous Halloween Fair Trade Action Kit, visit:

• https://www.globalexchangestore.org/SearchResults.asp?Cat=263
• http://www.equalexchange.coop
• http://www.sweetearthchocolates.com
• http://www.coco-zen.com

Whether or not you order a Reverse Trick-or-Treating kit, please join the Raise the Bar Campaign and circulate flyers on Halloween calling on Hershey's to stop using cocoa grown with child or forced labor and start using Fair Trade certified cocoa. Flyers available at: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/RTTpublicparticipate.html


October is Fair Trade month!
Learn how you can participate at http://www.fairtrademonth.org/

*Thanks to Reverse Trick-or-Treating 2010 Fair Trade chocolate company donors Equal Exchange, Sweet Earth, and Coco-Zen.

2010 Reverse Trick-or-Treat Kits Now Available

Update from Global Exchange:

Halloween 2010: Participate in the Fourth Annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating!

Reverse Trick-or-Treating gives thousands of schoolchildren (& high school/college students, and adults) the opportunity to treat neighbors with Fair Trade chocolate while educating their communities about how they can help end poverty and the human rights, child labor, and environmental abuse that is pervasive in the cocoa industry.

The Fair Trade chocolate is attached to a card with information unmasking social and environmental problems in the cocoa industry, and how buying Fair Trade certified chocolate provides a solution.

See how much fun you'll have by watching the Reverse Trick-or-Treating video or reading our 2009 media.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits are distributed FREE to individuals and at a DISCOUNTED WHOLESALE PRICE to organizations, thanks to the generous donations of Fair Trade chocolate companies Equal Exchange, Sweet Earth, and Coco-Zen. (Participants pay the cost of postage.)

Place your request today…we always run out long before the deadline!

DATES TO REQUEST KITS:

Individuals (one group of Trick-or-Treaters):
Dates to request kits: September 1 - October 8 (unless supplies run out sooner)
Price: FREE + shipping costs (kit includes 15 cards/chocolates)

Organizations (schools, congregations, youth groups, etc organizing multiple groups of Trick-or-Treaters)
Dates to request kits: October 1 -October 8 (unless supplies run out sooner)
Price: $24 per box of 150 cards/chocolates (maximum 2 boxes per organization) + shipping costs.

Organizations: Please note that when you place your order you must use the coupon code 'GLOBALEXCHANGE' for the discounted wholesale price.


Request a kit/more information available at: www.reversetrickortreating.org


This year, make an even bigger difference for cocoa growing communities. Child and forced labor, poverty, and environmental degradation in the cocoa industry will not end unless EACH ONE OF US takes action!

1. Distribute Reverse Trick-or-Treating flyers on Halloween, whether or not you request a kit. Pdf available at www.reversetrickortreating.org.


2. Help challenge Hershey to Raise the Bar! Distribute flyers/petitions as part of the campaign asking Hershey to go Fair Trade and end child and forced labor in the cocoa industry. Pdf available at www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.

3. We are calling on every household to distribute Fair Trade certified chocolate minis to trick-or-treaters who visit your household. To purchase, please visit www.globalexchangestore.org

4. Organize a showing of The Dark Side of Chocolate at your home, school, congregation, etc during Halloween week. This important new documentary reveals that the nightmare of child labor, trafficking, and slavery is continuing in the cocoa fields. Screening toolkit includes petition for viewers to sign asking Hershey to end child labor/slavery and go Fair Trade. More information available at www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating is an initiative launched by the human rights organization Global Exchange in cooperation with Fair Trade company Equal Exchange and is a collaborative effort of countless children, youth, and adults supported by institutions including nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, Fair Trade companies, and schools.

Global Exchange in Berkeley Now Carries Coco-Zen

The Global Exchange Store is the retail venue for Global Exhange, an amazing organization that for almost two decades was been promoting a global economy based not just on profit, but on people, community and planet (read more about Global Exhange). Their physical and online stores carry only Fair Trade items from around the world.

We were so excited when this giant of the Fair Trade movement contacted us and told us that they wanted to carry our Truffles-To-Go. We're honored to be represented in their Berkeley, CA location.

Global Exchange Fair Trade Store - Berkeley, CA

2840 College Avenue (at Russell)

Berkeley, CA 94705

(510) 548-0370
storemaster@globalexchange.org

http://store.gxonlinestore.org/contactus.html