Ten Thousand Villages Buffalo

Hello, I'm Dave, new manager of Ten thousand Villages Buffalo. I'm starting this fundraiser to raise much needed funds for our store.

We're a non-profit, fair trade store run by a local board of directors. Half of the people working in our store are volunteers and increasingly we are dependent on donations from our customers and community. We're looking to raise money to help keep our location in business. Every little bit makes a difference to an organization like us. We've been struggling since Covid and it's hard to keep our doors open while we try to raise money to improve what we offer to the local community. We love being the place where you can find items that you can feel good about purchasing.

We would love to be able to continue our mission of supporting artisans from developing countries and carrying their products in our location. Fair Trade is important to support as the actual makers of the products get a living wage instead of the money going to middlemen. These wages help ensure artisans can feed their families, educate their children, some even work to help fight sex trafficking. Fair trade also encourages fair and safe labor practices, gender equality and items are typically produced more sustainably.

All the money raised will be used to help pay our bills, work off past debts and get as much inventory as we can to help in our mission of supporting artisans across the globe.