Love Heals

Thistle Farms 2016I am just back from Nashville, Tennessee, where I had the great privilege of visiting Thistle Farms — a community of women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction, and established the most successful social enterprise of its kind anywhere in the world. Spending time with Becca Stevens, the organization’s founder and spiritual leader, and learning more about how the women harness the power of love to heal was one of the most profound and beautiful experiences of my life. Their accomplishments are far too many to share here, but I hope next time you want to buy  a gift for someone you love you will shop for Thistle Farm products as well as those from their Shared Trade  partners — small enterprises worldwide that are also protecting and economically empowering women. (Pictured right: Becca Stevens, Thistle graduate Anika and Isabel Allende)

Love Heals Every Body

becca-women Thistle Farms is an extraordinary social enterprise run by women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets. To sustain their recovery programs, the women at Thistle Farms create hand-made natural bath and body products. Purchases of these products directly benefit the women by whom they were made. Through its Shared Trade initiative, Thistle Farms is now also selling products handmade by women survivors worldwide. If you’d like to save a life while shopping for the holidays, visit the online stores for Thistle Farms and Shared Trade. The sites are humble, but the products are beautiful.