“You’re carrying someone with you,” she said. “Someone like me.”

At Christ the King, Mary Lou Haldorson has been trying to turn the parish into a fair trade one — which would affect all the food it buys and products it uses.

“We want fair trade to be a little more than just coffee on Sunday,” she said.

Yochi Zakai, of Green American, a group that promotes fair trade and monitors its status by means of various publications, urged those in attendance to push to make Mankato the first fair trade community in the state.

Since 2007, 10 cities have convinced enough merchants to work with fair trade that they’ve been designated “Fair Trade Towns.”

Locally, a movement is afoot to have Mankato declared a fair trade town 2010. If you’re interested in joining or learning more about the effort, call Paul or Arlene Renshaw at 387-5329.