These candles are made by a group of women in a residential program in Tennessee that provides housing, food, dental, medical, therapy, education and job training for women who have survived lives of violence, prostitution and addiction. When women come into this group, they are offered the resources needed to maintain recovery, heal from childhood wounds, and get physically healthy. Eventually these women find work, return to school or enter the job training program at Thistle Farms.
   Through Thistle Farms, women gain much needed job skills, responsibility and cooperation. It is a supportive workplace where women acquire the skills they need to earn a living wage. Into every Thistle Farms product goes the belief that love is the most powerful force for change in the world. The programs the group offers are grounded in spiritual principles about living gracefully in the community with each other. Residents, graduates, staff and volunteers share daily tasks, offer hospitality, build on each other’s strengths, and provide compassionate, disciplined support. This group stands as a witness to the truth that in the end, love is more powerful than all the forces that drive women to the streets.