About Jubilee International Marketplace: Supporting Economic Justice

Typically held in November, Jubilee International Marketplace  is hosted by an enthusiastic group of FPC volunteers. Jubilee features fairly traded handmade products for sale mostly by local vendors who work directly with artisans from countries throughout the world, including Guatemala, Nepal, Thailand, Ethiopia and Chile. The majority of Jubilee’s crafts are created by artisans in developing countries who lack local outlets to sell their work. New vendors in 2024 will include recently arrived refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan whose artistic talents will be available to the community for the first time.

Jubilee International Marketplace Supports Economic Justice
Jubilee is a ministry of FPC that provides an opportunity for our multi-generational church family to raise awareness of economic justice through fair wages for artisans as they work to provide food, housing, education, and medical care for their families.

Since Jubilee’s inception 36 years ago, sales of fairly traded products have totaled over a million dollars. Through events such as Jubilee we can help bridge the gap between our abundant lives and the lives of people in great need. To learn more about Fair Trade visit www.fairtradefederation.org  

The Year of Jubilee: A Model for a Sustainable Society
Jubilee International Marketplace takes its name from the Biblical concepts of the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee that are described in Deuteronomy 15 and Leviticus 25: Every Sabbath (seventh) year all debts to members of the community are to be forgiven, Hebrew slaves are to be freed and the land is to lie fallow in a Sabbath rest.

Every seven cycles of Sabbath years is to be a year of Jubilee, a time when any land that has been sold is transferred back to the original family owners. The purpose for these actions is stated in Deuteronomy 15:4, “There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy.”

The year of Jubilee was a celebration of God’s provision for the whole community, and it serves as a model for a sustainable society in which members cannot acquire an overabundance of resources that permanently impoverish the lives of others. This model provides the foundation and motivation for the Jubilee International Marketplace at FPC, and the principles of Fair Trade provide a practical means to implement the ideals of the Biblical Jubilee.

2024 Jubilee International Marketplace Vendors

• Anuak Meer Ministry (Ethiopia)

• AHRO (Ghana)

• Feast World Kitchen

• Feast World Kitchen Crafts

• Ganesh Himal Trading Co. (Nepal)

• Hmong Community (US and Laos)

• Jasmine Crafts (Kashmir)

• Kizuri (Int’l)

• Maya Color (Guatemala)

• Maya Earth Coffee (Guatemala)

• Milagros Peru

• Nari Alliance (Nepal)

• Resilient Threads (Guatemala)

• Thai Village

• Thailand Orphanage

• Trades of Hope (Int’l)

• Ukrainian Artists in Spokane

• Vida Nueva Women’s Weaving Co-op (Mexico)