January 20 through Feb. 20 will mark the “Divine Sweethearts” Fair Trade Chocolate Fundraiser sponsored by Georgetown Students for Fair Trade, working with the United Students for Fair Trade. Students from a wide range of universities across the nation have purchased thousands of cases of Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation Vocation’s Divine Chocolate Fair Trade chocolate bars and will be in competition to outsell each other.

The fundraiser commences Jan. 20 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., since some of the proceeds will benefit cocoa farmers in Ghana., according to USFT founder and President, Stephanie Faith Green (SFS ’05). The fundraiser is also an attempt to promote awareness about Fair Trade chocolate because of recent reports that as many as 284,000 children may be employed as slave labor in the cocoa industry in parts of Western Africa, according to a Jan. 16 press release put out by Georgetown University Students for Fair Trade.

GUSFT explained that Fair Trade chocolate guarantees a fair wage to farmers. The organization hopes to promote awareness of this product through samples to customers and by selling it at the Leavey Center on Friday evenings from Jan. 20 through Feb. 20.

This marks the first event of USFT, as it was only recently founded. “This event will be an exciting opportunity for Fair Trade activists across the US to begin interacting,” Green , said. “The fundraiser will become an annual event, strengthening the bonds between activists working nationwide to build a fair alternative to current trade models, and between the student activists and fair trade organizations such as SERRV International.”