Chugiak residents Liz and Jill (right) Dean opened Grassroots: A Fair Trade Store about a month and a half ago in Anchorage. Fair trade means the the store only sells products made by artisans who earn a living wage while working in safe conditions without fear of abuse or harassment. Photo by Gretchen Weiss

The shop's shelves and tables are laden with hand-made crafts: hair pins, jewelry, scarves, handbags and other accessories — as well as musical instruments, children's toys, tablecloths, dishes, flatware, decorative sculptures, embroidered wall art, picture frames.

Each object contains something that's usually missing from our mass-production society: the unmistakable imprint of a creative human spirit.

“That's what it's all about: that human connection,” Jill said.

Running a shop with another person one is intimately connected with — a family member — has its benefits and challenges, Liz said.

“Certain parts are easier because you can be very frank; you don't have to hide your emotions,” Liz said. “But the other part is, you also have to be on top of your stuff, because they won't have any problem coming after you for it.”

The mother and daughter team are close, Jill and Liz Dean said. The two drew nearer to each other in 2001, Jill said, after her 13-year-old son and Liz' older brother, William, died.

“We held on to each other pretty tight for a long time after that,” Jill said.

Over the long haul, though, the family's loss has also granted mother and daughter a new perspective.

“I think it made me more willing to step out and do things, and realize there wasn't infinite time to do whatever I wanted to do,” Jill said. “If I wanted to do something, I better do it, because you never know what tomorrow's going to bring.”

Grassroots: A Fair Trade Store is unlike anything in the state of Alaska.

It's true, there are a few places locally where one could buy fair trade coffee or other items. But Grassroots is unique. It is entirely devoted to selling products from artisans around the world who are paid a living wage and work according to the principles of fair trade. This includes working without fear of abuse or other harassment from one's employer in safe conditions.

Navigating uncharted business territory isn't new for Jill. In 2003, the retired domestic relations attorney started an employment law consulting business. After working a year for the state of Alaska in its Human Rights Commission, she saw many employers' need for human resource services.

“I saw a lot of businesses getting into trouble, not because they were bad, but because they didn't know the law or what they were supposed to do,” Jill said. “I was trying to fill that gap.”

But at the time, there was no model for Jill to follow. No one was doing that kind of consulting work in Alaska, and only a handful of people were doing it in the country.

It was challenging and at times frightening, but Jill soon found herself with a successful consulting business, which she still operates.

Through her church, United Methodist of Chugiak, Jill encountered another face in the human workforce that drew her interest, and compassion: missionaries who came back with stories about the people they served abroad.

Other people's struggle to work with dignity for a living wage resonated with Jill, and she began selling fair-trade certified coffee, tea and other items at cost through her church.

“It just felt right,” Jill said.

She wanted to do more, and she asked her daughter Liz to help.

Last summer, Jill and Liz set up shop at Anchorage's weekend market. It was a good opportunity to see the crafts in person and get used to working with different organizations for ordering, Jill said.

Meanwhile, they searched for a place to open a store.

The right one finally opened up in August, and they set about leasing and fixing the place up.

It's just the right spot, Jill said, nestled among shops like Middle Way Cafe, Woolies, Kaladi Brothers Coffee Company and Title Wave Books, at the southwest corner of Spenard Road and Northern Lights Boulevard.

While Jill shuttles back and forth between Grassroots and her consulting business, Liz keeps track of the inventory, does all the ordering and oversees the store's three other employees.

“I can't even list all the things I've learned doing this,” Liz said. “It's a lot of work staying on top of things, making sure everything's under control, looking ahead to see where you need to order and managing employees, which is especially hard because some of them are a lot older than me.”

Liz will pull back her hours to part-time when she goes to college this spring at University of Alaska Anchorage, where she's majoring in international studies. But her involvement with the store will continue for the foreseeable future.

Liz is planning to travel around Southeast Asia in the summer of 2009. She will visit the sites where some of the store's artisans are working, and keep an eye out for other potential crafters for the store.

It's a big trip for a young woman, but international travel is a family tradition. The Deans have been to Mexico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Australia, New Zealand and, most recently, Peru.

“For me, it's never been a question in my life of whether I will travel,” Liz said, “But where.”

Now that mother and daughter have seen the first fruits of their goal to bring fair-trade crafts to Alaska, they're hoping their passion for the cause will catch on.

Jill said she hopes Grassroots: A Fair Trade Store will get people thinking about the principles of fair trade.

Jill gives customers a card to go along with their purchases. It contains a picture of the artisan who made the craft that is being purchasing and a little info about them.

“It's the American dream to be able to earn a living, without depending on hand-outs,” Jill said. “It should be the world dream, to be able to earn a living.”

Grassroots: A Fair Trade Store is located at 1300 W. Northern Lights Blvd. For more information about the store, go to www.grassrootsfairtrade.com, call 907-929-5835 or e-mail store@grassrootsfairtrade.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, December 11, 2008.