The Sustainable Student Organization at Southeast Missouri State University is cooperating with Lattitudes LLC in order to buy organic chocolate bars that support the World Fair Trade Organization. Lattitudes LLC supports ethical producers by purchasing products that are made in developing countries to be sold other places for better profit. Fair Trade is responsible for monitoring the manufacturing conditions, ensuring the quality care of the workers, communities and the environment of those locations.

Lattitudes LLC sells products such as clothing, jewelry and food items bought from vendors and businesses that are affiliated with and monitored by fair trade organizations around the world. According to the Earth Week coordinator of the SSO, Elaina Mensinger, the owner of Lattitudes LLC Rayme Hooten-Caruso is the connection allowing student members to purchase Fair Trade organic chocolate bars to sell in order to promote her local business and provide funding for the SSO.

"She connected us with the people that she buys it from," Mensinger said. "We asked her if we could help support her by buying the chocolates from her. She would get a cut of the profits and we would sell them here [on campus]. She's not taking any kind of profit out of it. She's just being a facilitator, ordering the goods because she wanted to support that group. We'll make the purchase and that money goes to the people we bought it from. Then once we sell the candy we don't have to give a cut to Lattitudes, but we promote and talk about her business when we're selling the candy."

The idea to sell the chocolates initially was to promote local business and raise funding for the SSO, but overall, supporting the Fair Trade effort has associated a deeper cause with the fundraiser.

"When someone doesn't know what Fair Trade is I'll let them know that it is global effort to support developing countries in a moral and ethical way," Mensinger said. "So the workers on any sort of plantation for cocoa beans, especially for the chocolates that we sell, we can ensure that they are getting paid a decent amount of money, they're not getting cheated out and the lands in which they're harvested off of are harvested sustainably. That's a big thing with the Fair Trade, both the people and the land are being treated well. It's for supporting developing countries and making sure that they're not getting cheated out through cheap labor or destroying their lands. Because a lot of people haven't heard of it before, and they don't understand maybe why the chocolate is so expensive."

According to former president of the SSO and Southeast alumnus Dalton Webb, the chocolate is brought into places like the United States to be sold at a higher price for the developing countries to gain greater profit.

"Instead of keeping it local they send it to other places to increase their selling," Webb said. "That actually allows them to make more money because they send it here. Even if they might make a little more it improves their lives, educates them. It improves their communities. That's of the reason why the cost is $5 and we're raising money for the club. We have a ton of things we plan on doing in the future."

The profit earned from selling the chocolate will support SSO meetings, events and educational resources necessary to stay updated about sustainability. The organization has an extensive itinerary for the semester, but it has a few top priorities.

"Our goal is to get more recycling bins on campus, and if that means that it's through our profit with this then we would hope to front some of the money for that or at least introduce some of them onto the River Campus," Mensinger said. "Then, anything we might need for Earth Week. If we have vendors who would like to sell things there it is a $40 fee for vendors to be present at Earth Week, so we would be able to pay for that cost. Then, the conference we're going to in March, if someone needs some extra funds or something for that. That's all from what I know the funds are being raised for."

The SSO plans to sell the organic chocolate bars at the University Center and the River Campus on Tuesday and Thursday during the week of Feb. 16-20. Members plan to offer the chocolate for sale throughout the semester to support Fair Trade, Lattitudes LLC and upcoming sustainability events on campus.

"It's good quality chocolate. Unlike most, these don't have fillers for chocolate," Webb said. "You know exactly what everything is. This was harvested where people are getting a fair wage and that's why you buy it, to help them. Get yourself some really nice chocolate, or a gift to someone. It's about what you're supporting. It's just like anything you buy. Whatever you buy you're supporting that company and what it means. Think of where your stuff comes from."

According to Mensinger, there are a variety of flavors to choose from. The organic candy bars offer a much more diverse experience of chocolate flavors and are also larger in size than regular chocolate bars.

"Some of them are kind of experimental tastes," Mensinger said. "We just bought a couple different ones, and there is really interesting flavors. There is one with a chili flavor in it which has been a hit or miss with some people. We just bought some white chocolate with strawberries, which were really good ones. My favorite is the dark chocolate and coffee beans, that one is really good."

For more information about dates or locations to buy organic chocolate bars from the SSO, contact the adviser Shelby Hicks at sshicks@semo.edu. Official members can also be contacted on the organization's Facebook page "SSO @ Southeast."