Fair Trade Chocolate Giveaways

Before I go on to list the giveaways, I want to ask you something:  Did you know that slavery still exists today?  I'm not talking about people being paid low wages, or not having opportunities, or even children who have to work to help their families.  I'm talking  people being forced to work without pay, who can not leave, who are kept working under threat of violence...who are slaves in the full traditional sense of the word.   And sadly, there are more slaves today than in any time in human history.

With Valentines coming up, it's sad to know that  the cocoa in the chocolate we'll enjoy that day may have grown and harvested with slave labor.   While the cocoa industry has taken steps to deal with the problem, Hershys is still lagging behind.   Various groups around the net are encouraging people to send Hershys a Valentine message to do more to prevent slavery in their supply chain.

Buying Fair Trade chocolate is another way to help.  It supports companies who are already taking extra efforts to keep their supply chain slave free, and when they thrive, larger companies take note.  I'll be updating this post through Valentines, so if you know of any ones I missed, please share them.

I thought I'd track down some Fair Trade Chocolate giveaways going on in the blogosphere and share them with you...it's a fun way to get to know about some of the fair trade options out there!  A lot of these are low entry too!

Chocolate Giveaways

Organized by End Date

February 11

TerraSource Gourmet Chocolates at One to Try

February 28
Devine Chocolate Bars (UK ONLY)
Equal Exchange Chocolate Bars at Eat Well With Jane

Thanks to Hayouji for her Creative Commons Chocolate Pictures.