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Founded by the Rev. Elizabeth Knott, 1993
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Pal Craftaid
is a proud member
of the Fair Trade Federation
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Celebrating the Season and Another Good Year
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 Advent greetings to our friends from your Pal Craftaid board members! It's already been a busy year for us, even as we approach our busiest selling season of the year.
We've added two new board members, revised our Strategic Plan which guides our work together, amended our By-Laws, attended the Fair Trade Conference, and held a productive face-to-face annual Board meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.
We've selected several new exciting products for our sales, spent money to purchase products from our artisans, and donated over $25,000 to six organizations we help support in Occupied Palestinian Territories: ATTA, Atfaluna, Rawdat, Sabeel, YWCA and AOS. Find more information about these ministries in the brochure on our web page.
So... we've been very busy. But now, even with dozens of Advent sales planned for all across the country, our spirits are preparing to wait... to wait again for the birth of our Lord.
 Part of waiting for me is unpacking my angels. Long before I'd heard of Pal Craftaid, I collected angels. Early in Advent, they appear on their special display table in my Christmas Room... each one a memory of a person, a place, an event, a joy, sometimes a sorrow. And each has its specialty, as if they're preparing to sing SATB (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) carols!
 And then, a few decades ago, I met human angels, Liz Knott and Connie DePond, founders of Pal Craftaid. And suddenly, there with my angel collection, were a multitude of lovely olive wood angels and dainty angel ornaments made by our artisan friends in Palestine.
Angels abound within Pal Craftaid...
My new friends on the board and their families, donors, sales persons and supporters, artisans, every person who prays as those angels did in the sky over Bethlehem - for peace and good will - in a world where it is so sorely needed.
 I've been selling goods received from Kirsten Johnston, our distribution coordinator... boxes of wonderful things for the sales events I'll be hosting! I'll open those boxes to search for my first sale of this Advent season - a sale to myself for a new unique angel to add to my collection... an angel still singing "Glory to God" and praying for peace and good will to all on God's good earth.
Be an angel this Advent and join us as we wait again for the birth of our Lord. Sing and pray with us! God is waiting and listening too.
God bless you all.
~ Rev. Jean Henderson
Pal Craftaid Board Secretary
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Christmas keepsakes recommended by those who know
No one knows Pal Craftaid stock like our board members - from personal experience or from watching folks make Christmas choices through years of sales.
In what is fast becoming a Pal Craftaid tradition, we're offering our favorite things to you this season to consider for your very own Christmas list or for your holiday shopping. Not only are these products useful and lovely, but, the ties to artisans in Bethlehem is an unforgettable touch.
So browse away... and Merry Christmas!
Nativities as Wedding Gifts
 My husband is a pastor and we were invited to so many weddings. We began giving nativities as wedding presents years ago - to the delight of many couples. Pal Craftaid sculptors use only the olive wood that is pruned from the trees. So, no trees are damaged to produce these lovely nativities. Knowing they are beautifully carved from olive wood in Bethlehem... what could be more meaningful?
~ Ervin Bullock St. Augustine, FL
Lemon Reamer is the Best...
 I got this to replace my old plastic hand-held citrus reamer and absolutely love it. It's a quality product, with a good weight and a nice size - so convenient to use with lemons and limes.
It's also good to know my purchase helps support Palestinian artisans earn a livelihood. ~ Jenny Y. Kim
Oakland, CA
Tops are the Top...
 They only cost three dollars, so I know that no one makes much money on them, but one of my favorite things to sell for Pal Craftaid are the tiny tops. I think that they are beautiful - smooth, perfectly balanced, carefully wrought. I like to hold them in my hands. BUT more than that, I love it when a small child picks one up, tries a few times, and then gets a really good spin. They spin and spin and inevitably elicit smiles and words of admiration.
Yesterday, a small boy stopped at my table and picked up a top. On his first try, the top spun rapidly, even jumping over a small crack between my two tables. With his eyes shining, he said, "I think that I am good at this," and proceeded to spin the top two more times. I said to the father, "It only costs three dollars." The father agreed that this would be a good expenditure for his son.
~ Mary Witherspoon
Huntsville, AL
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YWCA of Palestine Campaign
Your gifts to Pal Craftaid are appreciated !
Each year, Pal Craftaid conducts an appeal to support ministries in Palestine that empower the lives of individuals through education, job training, health care or community life. Funds from this year's appeal will go to the YWCA in Palestine.
"Keep Hope Alive" is the principle by which the YWCAs of Palestine live. No organization is more dedicated to non-violence and to improving the lives of the Palestinian people than the YWCAs, which conduct programs in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jericho. These programs empower women by teaching them to operate businesses such as food production, to educate their children in the refugee compounds, and to keep their heritage alive by creating traditional embroidery representing villages which have been destroyed. The YWCAs are deeply committed to upholding the human rights and the dignity of each person. Sessions which empower women and men to bring reconciliation within the family as well as in the community are a priority.
Keeping hope alive is a difficult goal. As you are aware, the effects of the occupation on East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza result in severe restrictions on the everyday lives of Palestinians. Tensions are high and the lives of Palestinians are ever more restricted. In spite of this, most Palestinians continue to seek non-violent solutions to their situation.
The production of olive products is the mainstay of Palestinian agriculture. Thousands of their olive trees have been bulldozed over the years, but the YWCA and the YMCA conduct a campaign to plant olive trees to replace the ones destroyed. This campaign brings hundreds of volunteers from all over the world to Palestine to plant trees, harvest the olives, and to observe firsthand the situation there.
Because of the steadfast work of the YWCAs of Palestine, Pal Craftaid is partnering with them this year by raising money on their behalf.
Please partner with us by contributing to our annual fundraising effort. Not only do the YWCAs need our donations, they also need to know that there are people of good will in the United States who recognize the work that they are doing and want to stand with them.
Tax deductible contributions can be sent to Pal Craftaid, 3520 North 30th Street, Tacoma, WA 98407. We are most grateful for your donations.
Checks may be made out to Pal Craftaid and designated for the YWCA Fund. Please mail to Virginia Priest, 3520 North 30th St., Tacoma, WA 98407. Pal Craftaid operates as a 501(c)(3) organization.
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