This year, on May 10 at 3 pm EST and noon PST, thousands of people across North America and Canada will join together to enjoy a Fair Trade Coffee Break at the same time. The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the current record for the World's Largest Coffee Break consisted of 3,000 people enjoying the same break. We can break this record! Peace Coffee is committed to helping break this record by offering to mail a pound or two of ground coffee & a sleeve of 50 compostable cups, along with some educational materials like Coop America's Fair Trade Guide Magazine, cool stickers and magnets that promote Fair Trade, to anyone that is willing to host a Fair Trade Coffee Break. All you need to do it read over the Action Guide below, decide your plan of action & email orders@peacecoffee.com for your free pound of coffee and more! Be sure to include: your name, your address, what you are going to do to help us break the record and why you support Fair Trade. Deadline for emailing us your coffee request is Thursday May 1st, 2008.

Worlds Largest Coffee Break (WLCB) Action Guide

Here is a checklist to help you get your plans underway.

1. Sign up. Make sure you post your event on the Fair Trade Resource Network website (FTRN), which this enables you to promote your event to other Fair Traders and help others gain ideas on possible event ideas.

2. Consider forming a committee to help with tasks. On the other hand, you can certainly plan a WLCB event by yourself; any number of people coming together at 3 pm EDT or 12 pm PDT will be counted towards the record! Invite some friends over for some coffee or bring some folks together at your local farmers market. What's most important is that you participate!

3. Organization. You may want to consider the following and delegate the tasks amongst your committee.

• Having an MC for your event who can educate attendees further on Fair Trade and why having the Worlds Largest Coffee Break is important.

• Make sure there is enough product and supplies for your Break (securing the coffee, coffee makers, food, distribution systems etc). We also recommend that people bring their own cups/mugs to cut down on waste. If this is not possible then paper cups may be used as a backup for those who forget their own cups. Consider any complimentary Fair Trade snacks or other beverages to have available, such as baked goods, iced tea, chocolate.

• Have a person present to take an official COUNT of the number of people who participate in the event. These numbers can then be emailed back into FTRN after your event.

• Try and organize a photographer and/or a videographer to take photos or film the event to communicate the excitement and local support for Fair Trade and also to verify the number of people present.

4. Advertising and promoting your Break is highly important. If your event is public, the goal is to reach out to as many people as possible in your community. FTRN offers a number of free resources: World Fair Trade Day posters, Fair Trade Break postcards which can be used as invitations to your event, and stickers to acknowledge participants' support for Fair Trade. Be creative with your promotion -- the greatest mix of advertising the better. Include strategically places posters, ads in local papers, email campaigns and evites, chalk on the sidewalk, eye-catching banners, free public service announcements and spots on your local radio stations -- the possibilities are endless.

5. Use the media to promote your event. Check out the World Fair Trade Day media kit for more instructions.

6. While hosting your Break don't forget to get a solid count of participants. We will need exact figures to send off to the Guinness World Book of Records.

7. Report your numbers and submit your photos/videos at the FTRN website or events@peacecoffee.com or email wftday@fairtraderesource.org

Remember World Fair Trade Day is more than a day. Though the pinnacle of the celebration is Saturday, May 10th,we celebrate WFTD during over a span of two weeks, from May 3rd to May 18th. This period is called Fair Trade Fortnight. For more information on the Fair Trade Breaks, check out the Fair Trade Break Planning Guide on the Fair Trade Resources Network.

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