What's new at the Bookstore?

A Greater Gift
Come & see the charming handcrafts from around the world brought to us by A Greater Gift, a fair trade program of SERRV International. SERRV is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the social and economic progress of people in developing regions of the world by marketing their products in a just and direct manner.

Books for Kids
Courage by Walter Waber 2002. Waber explores many kinds of courage and celebrates the moments, big and small, that bring out the hero in everyone. Ages 4-8.
Meet Wild Boars by Meg Rosoff 2005. This Children's Book-of-the-Month Club and Junior Library Guild Selections star an insufferable gang of boars that set a very bad example. Ages 3-8

Books for Grownups
2008 Lenten Series: The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach Us about Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan 2007. Two best-selling authors use the best of biblical and historical scholarship to explore the last seven days of Jesus' life.
What One Person Can Do: Faith to Heal a Broken World by Sabina Alkire & Edmund Newell 2005. Authors address the challenge of living in a world broken by poverty and injustice and offer meditations and practical suggestions on how we can actually make a difference.

Book Groups
All are welcome at St. Paul's Book Groups. Afternoon Group meets February 12th at 1:00 to discuss The Interpreter of Maladies by Lahiri Jhumpa, a series of short stories about seeking love beyond the barriers of traditions & culture. Evening Group meets February 21st at 7:00 to discuss Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, an inspiring story of how one man changes lives by building girls' schools in a dangerous region.

St. Paul's Book Groups

St. Paul's Book Groups

All are welcome

Afternoon Group - 2nd Tuesday at 1:00 pm in the Bookstore
Evening Group - 3rd Thursday, 7:00 pm in the Bookstore

February
Afternoon: The Interpreter of Maladies by Lahiri Jhumpa
Seeking love beyond the barriers of traditions & culture
Evening: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
One man changes lives by building girls' schools in a dangerous region

March
Afternoon: Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert
Pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what we really want out of life
Evening: The Interpreter of Maladies by Lahiri Jhumpa
Seeking love beyond the barriers of traditions & culture

April
Afternoon: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
One man changes lives by building girls' schools in a dangerous region
Evening: A Crack at the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
An informative look a America and earthquakes

May
Afternoon: Take This Bread by Sarah Miles
Faith journey of a former atheist who starts food pantries
Evening: TBD

Gifts That Make a Difference

St. Paul's Bookstore offers wonderful handcrafts from around the world that are marketed by A Greater Gift, a program of SERRV International. SERRV is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the social and economic progress of people in developing regions of the world by marketing their products in a just and direct manner.

With nearly 60 years of experience, SERRV is a member of the International Fair Trade Association. Among the IFTA standards that SERRV adheres to:

payment of a fair price
gender equity
safe and healthy working conditions
adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in regard to child labor
environmental responsibility

Building up the economic opportunities of people in their own countries gives wage earners viable income so that families are not broken up and people displaced. This displacement most often occurs when family wage earners immigrate to improve their family’s economic survival. A jeweler in Kenya reports in the SERRV newsletter that, "Through sales proceeds from SERRV, our artisans are able to provide for their families' needs including food, shelter, clothing and education for their children." There are similar tributes to SERV from India, Mexico, Chile, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bookstore will have handcrafts from these countries as well as Haiti, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Peru, Uganda, and others. We invite you to come and see!

Melia Art and Training Center

St. Paul's Bookstore offers beautiful hand-embroidered items from the Melia (may-LEE-ah) Art & Training Center in Jerusalem. The artists who do the traditional embroidery are Orthodox Christian and Muslim women who are earning a living and building new confidence through their work. Each embroidered piece is unique, reflecting colors and patterns of the different villages in the Holy Land. Women from the Melia Center travel among the villages at some risk to their lives, distributing the work and providing opportunity to those who live in extreme poverty and danger.

A recent article in the Jerusalem Post explains that when a young Arab woman produces an income, her chances of postponing marriage improve; her chances of studying longer are better. Hala Jahshan of the Melia Center states, "We have to fight for our rights with love - not force - and to shout with words - not violence - for peace, and our children will learn from this example. When a woman has separate economic power, she will have more power in her family and community."

The Melia Center is a longtime partner of International Orthodox Christian Charities located in the Old City of Jerusalem. At St. Paul's Bookstore, we invite you to purchase these wonderful hand-embroidered items from the Melia Center as gifts or for your own enjoyment. By our purchases, we stand in solidarity with oppressed people everywhere and with women who empower themselves and their families through their faith and work. Come see their exquisite handcrafts and join us as supporters of the Melia Center women.