Did you know that even though 75% of America’s chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast, cocoa farmers suffer due to severe inequities in the world cocoa trade?

Project Hope & Fairness (PH&F) distributes farming tools directly to villages, empowering African cocoa farmers to begin to repair these inequities. Each contributor to the efforts of PH&F will receive a gift of delectable, fair trade chocolate from Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates, owned by Tom Neuhaus, the founder of PH&F. Support a good cause and enjoy your chocolate, guilt free.

In addition to the donations below, please browse through Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate’s website for other holiday gifts. From Thanksgiving to Christmas they will be donating 1% of gross sales to Project Hope & Fairness. http://www.sweetearthchocolates.com.

Donations at the following levels will provide:

$25 - Basic Toolkit

Many cocoa farmers’ machetes are completely worn out. Your $25 donation supplies a farmer with what is needed to cut cocoa safely – a machete and a machete sharpener.

Gift: One bag of Sweet Earth Chocolates Fair Trade Peppermint Bark or Hannukah Gelt

$50 - Boots Not Bites

Often, cocoa farmers go into the bush without proper foot protection, leaving them vulnerable to bites by ants or Green Mamba snakes, or cuts by rocks or branches. Your $50 donation will supply two pairs of boots to cocoa farmers.

Gift: 2 bags of Sweet Earth Chocolates Fair Trade Peppermint Bark or Hannukah Gelt

$75 - Tools To Compete

Cocoa-growing villages often lose money because they don't dry their beans sufficiently. Thanks to the dryness meter PH&F brought in August 2008, the village of Depa now produces the best cocoa in the county of Issia. Other villages are in dire need of dryness meters so they can get a better price for their cocoa. Your $75 will go towards the purchase of a dryness meter.

Gift: Sweet Earth Chocolates Tannenbaum Triangles

$100 – A Scale Will Cut Out The Middle Man

Some middlemen, knowing that cocoa-growing villages can't afford scales, use “tricked” scales when weighing cocoa so they can pay farmers far below fair market prices. PH&F has been distributing scales in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire since 2007. Your donation goes towards the purchase of a scale to tilt the balance towards the hard-working cocoa farmers.

Gift: Sweet Earth Chocolates Christmas Tree Caramel Box (either vegan or regular)

Clicking on the donate button will bring you to Project Hope & Fairness’ site where you can make a donation at any of the above levels.

For more information about Project Hope & Fairness or their mission please click the link below their logo.