Global Connections
was
started in 1994, the brainchild of
Marjorie and Richard Troeh, of Independence, Missouri. At the time,
Marjorie was teaching sociology in the Kansas City Metropolitan Community
College system, and Richard was a practicing physician, looking toward
retirement. They have both traveled a great deal, to all 50 states and to
over 40 countries. Their travels have frequently been with their family
for enjoyment, but have also included study tours to Africa for Marge with
Church Women United, and several medical missions by Dick to Haiti, Guatemala,
and Honduras. They see travel as educational and as a way to bring
people together. They have found that, deep down, people everywhere have
the same yearnings for their families, and the same basic needs, but that the
differences in the ways that cultures meet those needs are interesting and
worthy of respect and preservation.
On June 9, 1994, Marjorie and Richard were preparing for a trip to French Polynesia to visit friends. They like to read about places before they visit--more than just a travel book (though they enjoy good travel books)--but also books about the history and customs, and even native-written fiction about their destination. Encountering difficulty in finding the books they wanted, they began brainstorming, "If we had a place," "we would have the kind of books we're looking for to help people be better travelers," " we would have ethnic music playing in the background," "we would show videotapes of other countries," "we would have stories set all over the world," "we would have fair trade crafts from other countries," etc. (Marge had come into contact with the alternative trade organizations, Serrv and Self Help/Ten Thousand Villages in her work with Church Women United.) Dick asked, "What would we call this place?" Marge said, "'Global Connections,'" because we want to connect the people of the world."
The next day, on a "lark," Dick called the Missouri Secretary of State's office and found that "Global Connections" was available for a retail business name. He sent in the fee to reserve the name for six months. Marge decided Dick was getting serious about the idea and used her summer vacation in the library to study how one starts a business. They developed their mission statement, and presented a business plan to their banker friend who felt it looked reasonable. They took the jump and their trip to French Polynesia became their first buying trip.
Their store opened October 1, 1994. It couldn't have become a reality, though, without teaming up with their manager, Paul Tankersley. Paul, the son of one of Marge's college roommates, had taught English at a school in Japan, and in 1994 was in management with a large store chain. His dream was to someday have a store devoted to travel and multi-cultural products. His dream and the Troehs came together at the right time to create Global Connections.
Their store opened the doors for Paul and the Troehs to follow other avenues and to provide services that were not part of their original dream. Foreign language teachers found Global Connections and invited them to display and sell their multi-cultural crafts and books at state and regional conferences of foreign language teachers. Music teachers showed great interest in the books and native musical instruments and invited them to their conferences as well. Now they are regular exhibitors at music educators' conferences in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas, as well as smaller conferences in the Kansas City area. Church organizations, such as the National Catholic Youth Conferences and the World Conference of the Church of the Nazarene have also invited them to their gatherings to enjoy Global Connections' multi-cultural fair-trade handcrafts. In fact, their involvement with conferences and with this web-page have become so time-consuming that the Troehs closed their storefront in June of 2002 to devote their full time to the conferences and internet sales.
Global Connections' mission of helping to promote appreciation and understanding among cultures has brought the Troehs and Paul into contact with thousands of wonderful people. Their greatest treasure, their most valued "souvenirs" of their experience, has been the many friends they have made in the United States and abroad. They look forward to making many more friends and sharing many more rewarding experiences through their work with Global Connections.