Eagle Magazine

What could be sweeter than your next cup of coffee or espresso making a difference in a farmer’s life and community!  When you order a cup of coffee, do you think about the farmer who grew and harvested the bean?  Eagle’s own Full Circle Exchange is a socially conscious company that actually does that by ethically sourcing, purchasing, roasting and selling only 100% Fair Trade, Organic coffee, tea and chocolate from small-scale farmers in Africa and South and Central America.

Full Circle Exchange empowers farmers and farm workers; guarantees a fair price for their products; provides safe working conditions, adequate housing, and ongoing education for children in the community, and scholarship programs to enable girls and women to access education they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.  This ties in with Full Circle Exchange’s mission is to address critical social issues locally and globally through the distribution and sale of fair trade and organic consumer products.

The Full Circle Exchange products include organic coffee, espresso, teas, and chocolates.  Coffee is big business, one of the most heavily trade commodities in the world.  Through conventionally traded coffee beans, the process leaves farmers with very little if any profit.  At Full Circle Exchange, the Fair Trade and organic coffees are handcrafted in small artisan batches using only the finest and rarest quality coffee beans from small estates and co-operatives throughout the world.

Full Circle Exchange co-founders Mark and Jeanette Priddy state, “By purchasing Full Circle Exchange products, together we can cultivate change and inspiring hope. It is a way to claim our common humanity, while enjoying products grown with love and care.”  You may know Mark and Jeanette through Rembrandts, making this coffee house and café a success through their love for the local community.  Now through this new company, Full Circle Exchange, the Priddy’s continue to make a difference in the global community.  Full Circle Exchange is committed to giving back by donating time, money and resources to fund global and local initiatives with partnering organizations such as children at risk programs, human rights, economic and social injustice, extreme poverty and environment.

Another sweet deal is the fundraising opportunities through Full Circle Exchange.  This is an exciting alternative to your standard fundraiser in that you earn 40 percent of each Full Circle Exchange sale with an additional 10 percent going to local charities.  “The fundraising program has a wonderful educational part in that children learn that it’s not just about their own needs, states Jeanette Priddy, “but it’s about what it means to be truly human—to come along side others in need and to make a difference in the world”. By participating in this fundraising program, you can support your local school, non-profit, church, sports club and other organizations while building stronger farming communities throughout the world.  And the program keeps on giving through online orders, giving organizations 30 percent on all sales.

Full Circle Exchange has joined forces with a cross section of local community organizations such as The Landing Community Center, Treasure Valley YMCA, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), faith based organizations, and Foundations.  Global partners include Connect Africa, Healing Waters International, Millennium Promise, Extreme Peru, Coffee Kids, Grounds for Health, Call+Response, and Invisible Children.  Together through local and global partnerships, we can make a difference, help restore dignity, and bring hope and opportunity to families and communities around the globe.
So next time you order a cup of coffee, you can not only brighten your day but the day of a farmer in Africa or Central America by purchasing Full Circle Exchange products.  Wake up to Justice™ and give a little bit more.  By battling injustice, we can claim our common humanity while enjoying products grown with love and care.