Colin Powell performs with the Nigerian hip-hop group Olu Maintain at the Africa Rising Festival in London
Photograph: Yui Mok/Press Association
Fairly traded chocolate is all treat and no trick for United Methodists wanting to put their faith into action this Halloween.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief and the United Methodist Board of Church and Society are partnering with Equal Exchange, a Massachusetts-based cooperative operated on fair trade practices, to raise awareness about the topic this Oct. 31.
Fairly traded products provide small-scale farmers a fair living wage and an opportunity to break out of the cycle of poverty.
The three organizations have created a Halloween resource to increase awareness about the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program, UMCOR Coffee Project and the need to advocate with “wallets and voices” for better working conditions and prices for cocoa farmers throughout the world.
This Halloween, with orders of fairly traded mini chocolates and trick-or-treat bags from the Equal Exchange Interfaith Store, customers receive 300 postcards with educational information about cocoa and ways to make an impact on the chocolate industry. Orders should be placed by Oct. 17 to guarantee delivery by Halloween.
“Chocolate should be a source of joy for all children, including those where chocolate’s main ingredient, cocoa, is grown,” the postcard reads. “Yet, it isn’t.”
It’s official. At least for the kids! The Scholastic Presidential Election Poll results are in: Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Republican nominee Senator John McCain.
The poll was open to kids from grades 1 to 12 in Scholastic News and Junior Scholastic magazines. Almost 250,000 (a quarter of a million) kids voted by paper ballot or online at www.scholastic.com/news. The poll closed on October 10.
Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.
Obama and McCain weren’t the only vote getters. Four percent of the students voted for other people like comedian Stephen Colbert, and entertainers Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers. It was the highest percent of write-in votes in the history of the poll.
