It’s 9 a.m. at the Thistle Farms manufacturing center on Charlotte Avenue, and, just as they have every morning for 20 years, employees—women survivors of trafficking, addiction, or prostitution—meditate around a candle, lit to help the next woman find her way home.
It’s been 20 years since founder and Episcopal priest Becca Stevens welcomed her first female survivors into a home, and, since then, Thistle Farms has become a nationally recognized organization with a residential program for female survivors, a bath and body company, a cafe, retail outlets, and a global marketplace.
“Last year, we were able to put over $1 million in the pockets of our employees, the survivors who work here,” Hal Cato, Thistle Farms CEO, says. “That economic healing piece is so important, which is why we’re…
