By Andrew Bailey, Editor.  Posted November 21st, 2011.

The Tumbler Ridge library hosted a Ten Thousand Villages craft fair over the weekend. Ten Thousand Villages is a member of the World Fair Trade Organization. It is a not-for-profit organization that sponsors workshops in third world countries. According to the organizations website, “Ten Thousand Villages began in 1946 when Edna Ruth Byler, a Mennonite Central Committee worker, visited volunteers in Puerto Rico who were teaching sewing classes in an effort to help improve the lives of women living in poverty.”

Byler took some of the pieces home with her and they became instantly popular causing the Mennonite Central Committee to create the program: Self Help Crafts. Self Help Crafts became Ten Thousand Villages in 1996.

As she has for the past several years, Carol Poff organized Tumbler Ridge’s Ten Thousand Villages craft fair event. Poff has been volunteering with Ten Thousand Villages since 2004. The first day of the craft fair went very well with a steady flow of customers. Poff says that this year’s Ten Thousand Villages has been more popular than in past years.
 
Sharon Bray, the Tumbler Ridge library’s children’s librarian, had predicted that the crafts would “display beautifully in the new library this year.”
 
 Poff confirmed Bray’s prediction saying that the library’s new flooring was a particularly beneficial change. Poff exclaimed “it is a much better arrangement; and this floor is so nice. The old carpet made it very difficult to clean up after the event.”
 
Shoppers eager to beat the Christmas rush had a wide selection of items to purchase. Diane and Sarah Perry were the event’s very friendly cashiersand Diane stated that “the first day is going well.” Poff said that the money that has been raised so far is much more than the money that was raised on the first day of last year’s event.
 
The money raised at the craft fair will be sent to Ten Thousand Villages who will use the money to fund more workshops.