Shoppers at Ten Thousand Villages in Winter Park are doing more than purchasing gifts, jewelry, and home décor for their personal use. Customers are, in fact, supplementing the income of crafters in third-world countries around the globe. Ten Thousand Villages is an international nonprofit organization based in Pennsylvania that aims to improve the lives of tens of thousands of disadvantaged and low-income artisans by selling their handmade products worldwide in stores and online.

“We work primarily with developing countries ─ 38 of the poorest countries in the world,” said Jennifer Schroeder, manager of the Winter Park location. “We have a team of buyers who travel around the world and meet directly with the artisans, either independently or with co-operatives.” The organization operates under the Fair Trade movement, which guarantees a fair wage is provided to producers in developing countries. “When we opened, about 80 percent of our customers didn’t know what Fair Trade was,” Schroeder said. “Now, they bring in their friends and tell them about the movement.”

Ten Thousand Villages particularly focuses on reasonable prices that include labor, materials, and a premium to help provide a living wage, Schroeder said. Additionally, the organization pays for items in advance and secures long-term partnerships with artisans. “A lot of the people we work with have a long history of making these items. We want to promote their traditions,” explained Schroeder. The organization works with the crafters on color schemes and designs that are popular in North America so items will sell better, and it also seeks products made from sustainable or recyclable materials. “We really encourage artists to work with these materials as part of fair trade,” Schroeder said. “We have items made from recycled saris and jewelry made from dyed tagua nuts from the Amazon.” Other items include unusual instruments and food goods, such as coffee, tea, and chocolate.

“I’m a really big advocate of buying local, but I also want to know I’m not purchasing something made in a sweatshop or by someone earning just 50 cents an hour,” Schroeder said. “People really appreciate handmade things. Even though it may look like five of the same elephant sculptures, each was made by different people.” Additionally, every item in the store comes with a known backstory, whether scribed on a small card attached to the product or shared by a volunteer sales associate. “It’s another thing that sets us apart…we can tell you about every product in our store,” Schroeder declared. “It makes a difference too, if you’re giving it as a gift because it makes that item extra special!”

Ten Thousand Villages was founded by a Mennonite missionary in 1946, who first sold embroidery work from Puerto Rican women.  Later, the organization separated from the Mennonites but kept its mission, even sending 10 employees each year to meet with their artisans around the world. In February 2011, Schroeder traveled to India and Bangladesh to participate in a Ten Thousand Villages Learning tour. “It was life changing for me to meet artisans who were literally begging on the streets, to and help them to have a home and send their children to school,” she said. “Seventy percent of our artisans are women and this allows us to elevate the role of women in these (low-income) countries.”

The Winter Park store, located on Park Avenue, opened in 2007 thanks to the fundraising efforts of Mary Dipboye, a longtime volunteer with the organization in Texas who was anxious to open a store in her new hometown. “I was not happy (with the move) because I couldn’t bring the store,” she said, adding that after connecting with several other people, the group raised $70,000 in 18 months to open the Winter Park space.

“It really is a community store,” Dipboye said. “A lot of people, when we opened, really felt they had an investment in it.”

Volunteers are, of course, part of the organization’s lifeblood. Stores employ a couple of managers, however most guests are assisted by volunteers who believe in the organization’s cause and promotion of the Fair Trade movement. The Winter Park site has 40 volunteers, about a third of whom regularly devote time to the store. “Many of them have been with the store since we opened,” Schroeder said. “We’re a dedicated team.” Dipboye, the founding president of the local board of directors, volunteers every Tuesday. “We have a lot of longtime supporters, but it’s always great to have new people become involved,” she said. “They want to be there for the mission. It’s a win-win.” Aside from the Central Florida location, Ten Thousand Villages also has a storefront in Tallahassee, Florida. For more information or to volunteer, visit  TenThousandVillages.com or call (407) 644-8464.