Extraordinary Coordinator: Jane Chandler
Jane and her kayak, about to make an Equal Exchange delivery across the lake.
Pondside coffee delivery and so much more
When you live on the edge of a pond in rural Maine and learn that a member from your community is in dire need of socially just coffee, what do you do? If you're Jane Chandler, veteran fair trade coordinator at West Parish Congregational Church UCC, Maine, you jump into your kayak, tied at your dock, and paddle across the pond to provide high quality products for your friend in need. Jane and her husband Jim live year round on the edge of Bryant Pond — located about 15 minutes away from Bethel, Maine. Jane delivers most of her Equal Exchange coffee orders by car or folks pick them up from her house or the church; but she keeps the kayak tied to the dock for caffeine emergencies.
Jane has been the fair trade purchaser at West Parish for about 20 years — though no one can recall exactly what year she started. She grew up in Rumford, Maine — not too far away from where she's living now. After graduating from Cornell University she returned to Maine to teach Home Economics for three years before stopping to raise her two children. Several years later she earned her second degree in nursing and worked as a public health nurse for Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice for 25 years. During this time assisted folks with their medical and psychological needs and felt privileged to be working with rural Maine families. Jane recalls that during this time she witnessed "...poverty first hand and understood, in a whole different way, the range of difficulties that people have in their lives." The idea of doing service became a primary motivator in her life.
Jim, Jane, and Pastor Tim in front of the Chandler home at Bryant Pond
Jane has held several positions at the church, but the one closest to her heart has been serving on its World Service Committee. Many years ago this committee made the decision to assist economically disadvantaged small scale producers to make a living through serving Equal Exchange small farmer grown coffee at all church functions. As she sees it, "...We brought the idea to the church governing body that we should practice what we preach, not just talk about helping others in the world." Drinking fairly traded coffee connected members of the rural Maine congregation with small farmers in rural communities in other parts of the world. This made them feel that they were serving justice along with their Fellowship coffee.
The community has several people that love good quality coffee, the freshest available. It started with Jane ordering for a couple of members who owned bed and breakfasts. They wanted to serve Equal Exchange coffee with their pancakes and Maine maple syrup and eggs. Then she started expanding the coffee orders to individuals and ordered cases. Those people with bed and breakfasts moved away or sold their business. Yet the desire to drink good coffee and help local coffee growers expanded into the community. Today she orders coffee for the church and community every other month. Some folks like the medium roast Organic Breakfast Blend), others the darker Organic Love Buzz or the stronger Organic French Roast. Jane sells about $500 each order. Come November the chocolate lovers respond with requests for Organic Panama Extra Dark Chocolate, and the Organic Chocolate with Coconut Milk.
Mission is vital to the work of the West Parish Congregational Church. Rev. Tim LeConey, the minister at West Parish Congregational for the last seven years, heartily supports the fair trade ministry. He views this as a way of spreading the love of God around the community and world. Tim, Jane and her husband Jim, along with other church members have led and participated in several mission trips around the world, including Puerto Rico for hurricane relief twice, Honduras for home rebuilding and medical mission, Back Bay Mission in rural Louisiana, United Church of Christ’s outreach center, for home rebuilding following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
The church takes the concerns of food insecurity very seriously – both globally and locally. It's very active in local outreach, providing Emergency Food Boxes for any needy families and working with the local food pantry on an every other week basis. It sponsors a CROP Hunger Walk (Communities Respond to Overcome Poverty) which provides disaster relief and small business loans to families in the global south. The church also partners with a group that supports local agricultural efforts, especially small farmers in Oxford County.
Jane has always felt a connection to "place." She reflects that the earth is best sustained when we all take ownership and protect it from being over developed. Jane is the chair of the Woodstock Conservation Commission and a member of the Mahoosuc Land Trust. She helped to organize a grassroots effort to raise money with private donations and grants to purchase six miles of hiking trails at Buck's Ledge for the Town of Woodstock. This will be a community forest for folks to enjoy.
Jane and Jim have two children, one in England working with Save the Children and one in Maine working remotely on computer systems, and four grandchildren. This fall Jane plans to introduce other Equal Exchange items like the Extra Virgin olive oil from Palestine and the dried fruit (mangos and dates) and nuts. Jane Chandler is an Extraordinary Coordinator who works to keep the alternative trade model strong while going above and beyond with her pondside delivery service. We appreciate Jane and West Parish Congregational Church's commitment to farmers and to trying to change the way we think about, purchase, and distribute food.
