Our CEO wrote a book! (Get a $15 Trades of Hope coupon when you grab your copy.)

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We are so excited about our Trades of Hope CEO’ Gretchen Huijskens’ new book: Our Voices Rising: One CEO’s Journey to Alleviate Poverty Using Fashion as a Force for Good! You will love her honesty, conversational style and inspiring story telling. I highly recommend you add this to your summer reading list or book club!

It’s being released TOMORROW so…

  • We would love for as many people as possible to purchase the book on Friday, June 16th so that we can make the Amazon Top New Releases list.  That means it will be advertised farther and wider thereby giving our artisan partners the exponential exposure they deserve!
  • Gretchen is pricing the book at a discounted $9.99 on Friday ONLY and if you screenshot your receipt, text/email it to ToH customer service, you will receive a $15 coupon code to use on Trades of Hope goodies – win-win!
  • Within a week of receiving your book, we would love if you’d leave a review of what you love, because the more reviews it has, the more attention it gets.  I wrote mine today and our goal is 50+ reviews!
  • Consider purchasing an extra book as a gift for a friend who loves to read and/or initiating a book club discussion (online or in-person) with a group of women who care about things that matter!

Thanks in advance for any support you give our book launch, please let me know if you have any questions, ideas, or collaboration possibilities and here is the direct link for OUR VOICES RISING!

On Fire to Spread HOPE,

Melanie Sunukjian

National Executive Director

Trades of Hope

Is Trades of Hope a Scam? RESPONSE

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The article, “Is Trades of Hope a Scam” has been shared around and I finally had the time to respond to it.  These are my honest thoughts as someone who has been a part of Trades of Hope for over 4 years:

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Father in Heaven…

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My dad, Billy Ray Edwards, is spending his first Father’s Day in Heaven. Initially he was recovering from his stroke in April very well. He was determined and making progress, but complications from diabetes, dehydration, and eventually pneumonia weakened his frail body to the point where quality of life was dwindling and Jesus was calling him Home at 79 years old. We are so grateful for the assurance of Where he is and the knowledge of who he was. Continue reading →

Ethical shopping – on a budget!

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Local THRIFT, CONSIGNMENT stores, and YARD SALES are great places to shop for deals.  And clothing, etc. SWAPS are fun and purposeful activities for friend groups.
But if you want to know that the creators behind your clothing, accessories, home decor, gifts, etc. are being EMPOWERED and NOT taken advantage of, than consider this unique option:
You can get 25-50% discounts** on Trades of Hope Fair Trade goodies by joining us as an Affiliate or Brand Ambassador with a $24 kit (plus tax & shipping – through the end of JUNE!) and have all the perks of a Compassionate Entrepreneur without the pressure of building a team, doing regular events, etc. Just wear and share in person and/or on social media when you feel like it – BEST HOBBY EVER!

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She laughs…

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I had a genuinely good chuckle this morning at the humbling and ironic humor of parenting. My kids were trying to put into words the injustice of their sub-par lunches (which I make them pack and often from the dregs of what they can cobble together from the refrigerator and pantry) This was in comparison to other more desirable lunches that they have observed, apparently packed by, and I quote, “Moms Who Plan Ahead.” 🤣😜 (No disrespect, MWPA! I celebrate you and hope to learn more from you…) Continue reading →

HOPE in Haiti!

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(I was excited and thankful that Pastor Dale gave me the opportunity to share about my enlightening trip to Haiti with our wonderful congregation at New Life Church.)

Thank you to so many of you who were praying for our trip and especially to Luke who kept the kids alive while I was gone. 😉  The first question PD asked was

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BLESS THE EACKER FAMILY!

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Eric Eacker, a local Santa Barbara Firefighter and homeschool dad, is bravely battling prostate cancer.  The bills, medical procedures, unexpected complications, and emotional stress are overwhelming.  When I asked his wife, Carrie, what they could use right now, she said a family vacation to get away from it all.  I would love for their communities to help give that to them!  (And I know new financial needs have come up since, so we bless them to spend the money however they need it.)  Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Please donate to my personal Paypal account (https://www.paypal.me/melsunuk) through the friends and family option, otherwise the they will take a percentage away.  And I will send it directly to the Eackers.

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Headed to HAITI!

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I am thrilled to announce that – after almost 3 years with Trades of Hope – I am going on a Trades of Hope vision trip to HAITI! I will be traveling with 12 other Compassionate Entrepreneurs from around the country between March 23rd – 29th to visit our 2 artisan groups there.
Despite being a resource-filled country with beautiful people, colonization and natural disasters have caused Haiti to have an overwhelming number of “poverty orphans” – children whose parents turn them over to an orphanage because they can’t afford to care for them.

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Finding Balance in a World of Screens

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I have had multiple conversations with my fellow parenting friends over the years about how to maintain balance with our kids’ screen usage.  My wiring has a difficult time micromanaging (especially four kids) with timers, charts, daily check-ins, etc.  It’s very difficult for my personality to do the same thing every day – except breathe and that’s involuntary.   I’m more of an “ideas” gal, so I came up with a little saying that I’ve generally stuck to. In the spirit of raising balanced humans, I typed, printed, and hung a little diddy that says:

“Read, work, and clean before you play or screen.”

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READ THIS before joining Trades of Hope

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It’s important to research any new endeavor that we are considering.  I love to research, so I’ve done a lot of the work for you.  I’m going to share  FIVE THINGS about Trades of Hope that I didn’t know until I get involved in hopes that it helps you make a more informed decision.

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When I heard of Trades of Hope from a friend over 2 1/2 years ago, I was initially intrigued by the genius idea of creating jobs in America that directly partnered with artisans around the world to break the cycle of poverty.  And to do it not just practically, but through creating and marketing beautiful products was quite a bonus.  I watched every youtube video I could find (which wasn’t very many at the time) and scoured the website for more details.  I was hesitant about the Direct Sales and home party business model, because I had some negative experiences in the past.   Continue reading →