Help New Traditions through this tough time

New Traditions Fair Trade is seeking community and asking for donations , of any size, to allow us to continue to serve you and keep this magical place alive while a ban on public gatherings has been put in place.

 We are asking for donations to support our laid off employees, to pay our rent, to pay our suppliers who are mostly 1-2 person businesses from other countries, to pay off loans that have supported us, to keep up the work of creating intentional and conscientious community.  We want to stay afloat in this urgent time of need.

Love and light,
Jody,  Stacy and New Traditions staff



GoFundMe notified us by email on 3/30 (last night) that they require us to post answers to 4 questions in
order to release your donations to our New Traditions bank account. They had previously told us to wait 7
to 10 business days for deposit, which already had us hanging fire until 4/2! I hear they have experienced
some fraud lately, (half a million to a fake cause!), so we are happy to be as transparent as possible to
guard the integrity of GoFundMe as well as our own.

1) We are Jody Tiller Mackey and Stacy Greengard Muguet. Legal entity is a Partnership. We recently
underwent background checks in order to successfully receive our liquor license from the State of 
Washington. We are from New Traditions Fair Trade, Olympia, WA. New Traditions (formerly Traditions)
has been a community center, music venue, cafe and Fair Trade shop for 24 years. Jody has been with
Traditions for 23 years. Stacy has known Dick Meyer (previous owner and founder) through the Fair
Trade Federation (of which he was also a founder) for 25 years.

2)  Our relationship to the intended recipients of the donations are as employers to 15 staff, customers to 
Fair Trade vendors, customers to local cafe suppliers, local private lenders who have supported us and
various utility, service and tax obligations.

3) Your donations will be spent first to aid our staff. We already borrowed, in anticipation of GoFundMe
deposit, to distribute $4600 that was handed to our staff today, 3/31/20. We have all worked
exhaustively together to make sure each staffer was filed for unemployment. But many have not yet
received payment and with 1st of month rent due for them, we shared this fund prematurely. Our staff are 
hard working food service folks, likely paycheck to paycheck. They are our family.
Loan payments are to local customers of New Traditions that have stepped in to make sure we stay afloat. We are hoping to stay current on the minimum payments.
The purchase price of Traditions is not included in our donation ask. Although we certainly want to keep in
business to insure Dick's trust in us for what we owe in the future! We are currently building a shopping
cart on our website and seeking government aid to create other revenue streams.
We have checks written but not mailed to all Fair Trade vendors and food and bev suppliers currently in
our accounts payable. (Please see our manager Jona's latest FB post thanking local suppliers!)
We are buying no new merchandise or supply (so unfortunate, but hoping to resume
asap!) Fair Trade vendors are companies following Fair Trade guidelines of fair wage and working
conditions for artisans worldwide, or artisan direct contact. Most artisans are the most vulnerable of 
indigenous peoples, including Tibetan refugees, Huichol, Otomi, Mayan, Zapotec, Mixtec, Nauhual,
Navajo. Zuni, Santo Domingo, Nisqually, Makah, Thai Hill tribes, Taureg, Masai, Balinese and Nepalese
artisans, many groups from Togo, Mali, Ecuador, Philippines and more. India being a special case, we
currently are supporting 3 groups that train sex trafficking survivors in textile arts. Many of these groups
we have relationships of 24 years standing. We do not have any outstanding bills to musicians but we are a source of support to these wonderful acts and our manager Amanda is working on rescheduling the event
calendar. Same for all other regulars, Poetry, Storytelling, Heartsparkle, Jazz & Bluegrass Jams, Economics
for Everyone, etc.

4) Our method to distribute donations is by company checks.

Thank you, Oly community! We love you! You know it!
Stacy and Jody

#SmallBusinessRelief