Ten-Thousand Villages is celebrating its 70th anniversary at its stores across North America in this month.

The organization originated in the United States in 1946 when Edna Ruth Byler was in Puerto Rico with her husband who worked for the Mennonite Central Committee. It has thrived by bringing unique goods made by artisans from around the world to conscientious buyers in Canada and the U.S. with an emphasis on fair trade in which people are compensated appropriately for their work.

The Altona store celebrated the special milestone on the weekend with cake and discounted prices on many of their goods.

Linie Friesen

Linie Friesen of Altona remembers those early years when there was no store in town; it was just her selling items from around the world from the trunk of her car as a volunteer for MCC. MCC, which took over the initiative in the U.S. in 1962, introduced the concept in Canada in 1965. At that time it was called the Overseas Needlework and Crafts Project.

"We had different articles that came from abroad such as tablecloths from the Middle East, plastic trays from Vietnam, wooden salad bowls from Africa and one of the more popular items were the pearl necklaces from the Holy Land," said Friesen. "I had a whole suitcase of articles like that and I would usually visit ladies auxiliary groups and sewing circles. They would look at the articles and I would take their orders which I then sent in to the MCC office in Winnipeg."

Doreen SawatzkyFriesen recalled travelling around the region to communities like Winkler, Morden, Plum Coulee, Halbstadt and Arnaud, displaying various articles that had been made by disadvantaged people around the globe.

"Many people in these communities were quite familiar with MCC. There were times when local churches would collect money for MCC projects and this was just another avenue of support, but in this case you would receive something tangible for your money."

In those days, the "tangible" items that customers would order that came from places around the world often took well over six months to finally arrive at the Winnipeg MCC office.

"When the articles did finally arrive, I would have to phone all the ladies and tell them to come and pick up their items. That's how it worked."

In 1972, a group of volunteer ladies in Altona opened the first ever MCC Thrift Store as a way to raise money for MCC relief projects. That move also marked a turning point for Ten Thousand Villages.

"They originally sold items out of the back of a car, but then when the first thrift store opened, they began displaying some of those items on a shelf inside the store," recalled Doreen Sawatzky, manager of the Altona Ten Thousand Villages store. "They eventually moved to the old McLeods store where they had a corner in the building and could display quite a lot more of their goods."

In Canada, there are now 37 locations and more than twice that number in the U.S. leaving Ten Thousand Villages well positioned to grow the North American market for artisan products around the world.