The Steinbach Ten Thousand Villages celebrated the companies 70th anniversary on Saturday.

Store Manager Heidi Martens says they celebrated with coffee, cake, live music, and promotions. She says the whole company was started to create employment for people in developing countries.

“70 years ago a woman named Edna went to visit Puerto Rico and she brought back some embroidery because she saw the poverty that many people were living in and she thought that selling their handicraft was a very practical way to help them.”

Special celebration cake

Martens says the Steinbach Ten Thousand Villages is one of around 30 stores across Canada and the United States and has been open for nearly 30 years. She says it is run by the Steinbach Community Assistance Inc. Board which is the same board that runs the thrift shop.

“Our store actually used to be located in the thrift store. We believe that trade can also be used as a way of helping people in developing countries and so by creating meaningful employment and jobs we can also make a difference.”

Martens says Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit organization that depends heavily on volunteers. She says the company focuses on improving the lives of artisans.

“What we do is we make an order, then we pay the artisans 50% of the agreed upon wage and then when the order is finished we send them the other 50% before the product even leaves the country. When we have a sale Ten Thousand Villages decides to take a risk to sell more product and the artisans wages are not being impacted at all.”