"10 years ago, Hershey, along with many other chocolate companies, joined the campaign to stop child labor and many of the other abuses involved in the cocoa industry. 10 years came and went and Hershey has yet to take action against these inhumanities. Imagine if it was your little brother, sister, cousin, or friend, who worked for long hours on cocoa farms performing hazardous work like using machetes, carrying heavy loads, and coming into close contact with toxic pesticides. For thousands of children today that is their daily life.
You can be part of the fight against child labor for chocolate by raising the bar. Those who signed the petition last year have already begun with one small step, refusing to eat Hershey brand chocolates. Now it is time to take it another step and spread the word starting this very day with Reverse Trick-or-treat.
Every time someone offers you any kind of Hershey candy just give it back. And with it spread the knowledge. That Hershey has not taken action to stop child labor and that there is a better option. Fair trade chocolate, grown in good conditions, by actual farmers, that get paid an honest days wage. Tell people, because knowledge is power. Plus fair trade chocolate is just as sweet as that Hershey bar; perhaps even sweeter.
Any of you who are willing to take this step and reverse trick-or-treat sign the petition today and become an even bigger part of this change. "
Thank You
For additional information, check Equal Exchange http://www.equalexchange.coop/reverse ,
Green America http://www.greenamerica.org/livinggreen/chocolate.cfm
International Labor Organization http://www.ilrf.org/stop-child-forced-labor/cocoa-campaign/news/as-profits-soar-chocolate-industry-fails-to-deliver-on-p
Benedictine Academy Child Slave Labor: http://teacherweb.com/NJ/BenedictineAcademy/Religion-Michalski/apt12.aspx
