‘Toward a good cause’: Olive Branch in Pine helps world by selling fair-trade products

Feel good about spending money by shopping, or even volunteering, at the Olive Branch, a nonprofit store in Pine that sells fair-trade products to support underserved and developing communities.

Everything sold supports someone or some group in need.

“If you spend money here, it definitely goes toward a good cause,” said Vivian Sylvester, missions coordinator for the store.

The Olive Branch, 11160 Perry Highway, features a unique array of products, from coffee to soaps and lotions, toys and jewelry, to name a few. Most are handmade, sustainable and all-natural.

There are earrings made with butterfly wings, sustainably sourced by indigenous farmers in Peru after the insect’s natural life cycle. Belts are made from leftover tires. Socks benefit the penguin population, and a collection of cards aids rural communities or survivors of human trafficking.

Each product is accompanied by information about the artisan and what it’s supporting.

“We want people to understand the store. Everything has a story of the people who made it,” said Mary Sheehan, fair trade coordinator.

Buying fair-trade products helps workers in developing countries get a fair price for their products, which helps reduce poverty, provides for the ethical treatment of workers and farmers, and promotes environmentally sustainable practices, according to the Olive Branch’s mission statement.

Renee Full, inventory manager, enjoys the distinctive gifts and products that come through the store. For example, she said recycled aluminum crosses and angels from Nicaragua are among her favorites.

“It is so hard to believe that they are made from scrap metal and car engine parts that are collected from local dumps and melted down and cast into sand molds. As with a lot of our fair-trade goods, one man’s trash is certainly another’s treasure,” Full said.

Visit the store

A holiday open house at the store is scheduled for Nov. 9. Sheehan said they would welcome anyone who wants to volunteer.

Sales at the Olive Branch help support the many missions and outreach projects.

The store first operated at Salem United Methodist Church in Pine before moving to the Wexford business district in 2015, and is staffed by all volunteers, according to Sheehan.

She and Sylvester hope more people would like to come in and help out, such are retirees and stay-at-home parents.

Volunteers also help with the store’s sewing projects, such as the Sew Powerful Purse mission.

These are purses sewn by volunteers and filled with necessary products so girls can attend school during their monthly cycle. The purses go to schools in Zambia and Haiti. If they do not have access to these hygiene products, girls can miss up to two months of school every year, making them fall behind, Sheehan said.

People who sew create blankets with fidget items attached for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients as a way to keep hands busy and combat restlessness commonly associated with memory loss.

Soap sacks, basically a soap in a hand-knit sack, are made for those without a home in Pittsburgh. Blankets and prayer shawls are sewn for local cancer patients.

Volunteers make blankets for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, and stuffed bears and specially themed pillowcases are handmade for children visiting the emergency room at AHN Hospital in Wexford.

The store-affiliated Busy Hands knitting and crochet group meets twice a month on the first and third Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon, and there’s a sewing bee once a month.

‘It has been a joy’

Occasionally, the store hosts speakers on cultural and social awareness issues. Sahin Pravin, one of the founders of Local Women’s Handicrafts, recently discussed issues of fast fashion, child labor and how it relates to fair trade. The store, based in Kathmandu, Nepal, was founded by women who are former child laborers.

Dee Cirilli of Richland visits the Olive Branch once a week.

“I’m helping people in the world that need it, and I made really nice friendships,” she said.

Lucille Roos of McCandless was among those sewing blankets in early September.

“I felt I wanted to do something that was needed,” she said. “It has been a joy.”

Local groups can use the store as a meeting place or a learning opportunity, Sheehan said. Two local Girl Scout groups recently visited to learn about fair trade.

For anyone who wants to volunteer, stop by the store or call 724-935-6883. Shop hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.