Aug 5, 2011

California Gift Show Honors Kentia Hall Exhibitors at 3rd Annual World Style Stories Award Ceremony and Reception

MMPI and California Gift Show® announce the five outstanding winners of World Style Stories from exhibitors in Kentia Global Marketplace. This vibrant division of the California Gift Show is home to exhibitors that source products made by artisans from around the world, and who’s ethical and responsible business practices serve to strengthen communities with minimal impact on the planet.

A special awards presentation honoring the five exhibiting companies whose humanitarian efforts and Fair Trade practices have contributed to the health and well-being of countless citizens of the world was held on Friday, July 21 during the Market at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Each winner was asked to step on stage and say a few words to the crowd of guests and was given a freestanding life-size poster embellished with their company name to use at future trade shows and events. Pam Williams, divisional sales director for California Gift Show and Kentia Global Marketplace, emceed the awards ceremony accompanied by Yvonne Miles of San Diego Zoological Society’s gift shop.

Over 30 exhibitors from Kentia Global Marketplace submitted essays recalling the journey each traveled in creating the products they have made. They were asked to expand on the positive impact on the people and communities served. A committee of VIP judges evaluated essays that met specific criteria, including: identifying the people or communities that benefit; demonstrating the economic, social or educational impact on the country of origin; describing the impact on the greater global market; and specifying the length of time the company has been in operation. Additionally, one “fan favorite” was selected through online Facebook voting.

The five award winners included:

SPIRAL Foundation | Healing the Wounded Heart Project – Hue, Vietnam

Located in Hue, Vietnam, Healing the Wounded Heart Shop is a project of the nonprofit SPIRAL Foundation in cooperation with the Office of Genetic Counseling and Disabled Children, Hue College of Medicine and Pharmacy. This unique shop sells handicrafts made by disabled artisans using recycled materials. HWH currently employs 20 disabled artisans, providing them not only work but also medical insurance, housing, a daily meal, and a recreational allowance. HWH donates half of its income to fund heart surgeries for poor children in the Hue area through OGCDC. They are proud of their work and enthusiastic about explaining HWH’s cause and accomplishments. In this manner, they are no longer “disabled” but are empowered to give to those who are even more in need. Products made by the artists are also sold by SPIRAL Foundation fundraisers and retail outlets in the US.

Project Have Hope

Project Have Hope, founded in 2006, is a non profit which empowers women in Uganda’s Acholi Quarter. The women are talented artisans who craft jewelry from recycled paper, often combining other natural elements, like seeds, glass and bone, to create distinctive designs. Project Have Hope uses the profits to help the women establish additional income generating activities through direct loans, vocational training and agricultural initiatives. We also enroll their children in school and offer adult literacy classes. One artisan, Labuka Santa, gave us the highest compliment, “Thanks for taking us from nowhere to somewhere.” Hope, and a little help, makes all the difference.

Good Paper

Good Paper is America’s premier distributor of handmade, fair trade greeting cards. Good Paper is the exclusive home of Cards from Africa, a greeting card line which creates jobs for young people in Rwanda who have been orphaned by genocide or diseases like AIDS. Good Paper’s newest line, Sanctuary Spring, creates jobs for women who are escaping human trafficking in the Philippines and building new lives for themselves. Good Paper is a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation and is committed to fair trade principles, including strong wages, protection of children from labor, and environmental sustainability.

Heavenly Treasures

Since 1998, Heavenly Treasures has assisted the poorest of the poor; orphans, the disabled, refugees, widows, and many others. Across the world, thousands of lives are affected each day through the sale of handicrafts. Each product made reflects the heart and soul of one or more of our artisans around the world. Here’s one example of a changed life: Once known as one of the worst gangsters in the slums of Kenya, John was a man to be reckoned with. While running a recycled jewelry and wire vehicle business John, met the Lord. Now he is employing 28 street boys, ex-prostitutes, and gang members, helping rehabilitate them back into a productive and healthy role in society. John is now known as a change agent in his slum community and his life is truly changed. Every Product Represents a Changed Life!

Dunitz & Company, Inc. (Fan Favorite)

Nancy Dunitz, owner of Dunitz & Company views herself as an artist and an explorer. These two character traits catapulted her from corporate America to the highlands of Guatemala in 1989. For over twenty years, Dunitz & Company has been working and collaborating with the same community of women (and a few men) to successfully bring fashion forward and fair trade beaded jewelry to appreciative customers. Dunitz believes her contributions to Puerta Abierta and Pueblo a Pueblo, two grass roots charities based in Santiago Atitlan is another way she makes a difference in what she considers her Guatemalan community.

For a complete listing of CGS show information, please visit: www.californiagiftshow.com. Image downloads are available at: www.pressroom.mmart.com/cgs/image-gallery/ and at http://www.facebook.com/californiagiftshow

ABOUT L.A. MART and CALIFORNIA GIFT SHOW L.A. Mart® is a registered trademark of MMPI. The California Gift Show® is a registered trademark of MMPI. Beckman’s Handcrafted Show(TM) L.A. is a registered trademark of MMPI. L.A. Mart is home to nearly 200 permanent year-round, residential, decorative accessory and gift showrooms serving the retail and interior design industries. The California Gift Show Temporaries feature over 800 temporary exhibitors of lifestyle merchandise, home décor and furnishings, in the newly enhanced and expanded Temporaries at L.A. Mart and Los Angeles Convention Center, making the California Gift Show the preeminent market for gift and home furnishings products on the West Coast. L.A. Mart is located at 1933 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007. For more information call 213-763-5800 or visit www.californiagiftshow.com or www.lamart.com.

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MMPI manages The Merchandise Mart and 350 W. Mart Center in Chicago; Architects & Designers Building and 7 W New York in New York; Boston Design Center in Boston; L.A. Mart in Los Angeles; and Washington Design Center and Federal Center Southwest in Washington D.C.

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