Common Rituals

My friend, Annie, has said that she is so much a creature of habit that she always welcomes a rut. When life sometimes falls into a daily sameness, she is comforted by it's predictability and coziness. Annie has one of the most colorful personalities I know, full of bawdy humor and the occasional possibility of a totally shaved head. Annie isn't boring, it's my opinion (after a few years of applying my own leanings toward amateur psychology), but rather, she simply has a reverence for ritual and ceremony, especially those traditions that have historically fallen to the women of a community.

There are so many people in the Thistle community who have taught us about the beauty of common rituals. Annie washes loads and loads of t-shirts for our paper studio. Babs and Gayle are teaching us the communal art of quilting. Fiona has taught us about the ritual of teatime. Marcie and Fran teach us that caring for our bodies can can be sacred time of healing, and as it becomes a ritual, every step can be a prayer of gratitude. Regina, one of the graduates of the very first group of Magdalene women, teaches us that if you "keep coming back," your sisters will carry your bags for you, and that knowing when you are too tired to carry them alone is a great gift. Lisa taught us that the person who grabs up the most unappealing volunteer jobs can harvest the greatest benefits of servanthood and hospitality.  

Our dear friend, Francie, has taught us about the rituals surrounding childbirth and women supporting women, so it was very exciting for all of us when Becca was booked as the keynote speaker at the annual convention of American College of Nurse-Midwives here in Nashville. The midwives allowed Thistle Farms to have a sales table at the event and it was the most successful sales event that Thistle Farms has ever had. They collected sewing supplies for our sewing studio and welcome basket items for women who are new to our community, filling an entire car down to the floorboard and up to it's roof with gifts of support and friendship. 

No one midwife did this alone. This was a loving example of how volumes of stories about simple kindnesses are written one word at a time. And isn't it absolutely the nature of the midwife profession to see the holiness in the smallest things? 

On the last day of the midwives' gathering, Regina went to the convention center to accept the gifts that the midwives had gathered for us. Before she accepted these gifts, an award had been given to one of the midwives for years of gentle service to her profession. In a place filled with such goodness, it only makes sense that the woman who received that award was the woman who, 20+ years ago, delivered Regina's first son. Sandwiched between that first meeting and this last, these women both carried universal stories of womanhood. Stories of giving and receiving, happiness and heartbreak, and the rituals that carry us though those stories, making us all the same.

Many thanks to the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and all who teach us the joys of tradition and ritual, peace to you as your carry on your good work.  

By Stacye Wilson
Thistle Farms Volunteer Coordinator

Thistle Farms' First National Conference

Welcome To The Circle: 

A Global Movement for Community Healing

We're excited to announce that REGISTRATION IS OPEN for Thistle Farms' First National Conference on October 13-15, 2013 in Nashville.

Our goal is to share inspiration and best practices for meeting the recovery needs of women who have survived trafficking, prostitution, addiction and homelessness. 

Visit www.welcometothecircle.org to find out details and reserve your spot before the end of June for the early bird rate! 

WELCOME TO THE CIRCLE: A Global Movement for Community Healing

•  INSPIRATION for Survivors of Sex Trafficking, Prostitution and the 

    Communities where they Live

•  INFORMATION on the Shared Trade Alliance, a Global Network of 

    Social Enterprises in which the Workforce is the Mission

•  REJUVENATION and Connection through Story & Song

YOU are part of a global movement. Welcome to the circle. 

Lisa Froeb Tribute

It is with great sadness and a very heavy, heavy heart that we announce that Lisa Froeb, a dear friend to Magdalene/Thistle Farms, wife to Luke Froeb, and mother to Jake and Halley Froeb, died in a hiking/climbing accident in remote Utah where Luke and Lisa own a cabin on Friday.

Lisa served this community as a Magdalene Board Member, Co-Chair of our 2010 fundraiser, and as a remarkable volunteer who was always eager to help and serve. Lisa was at the Grand Opening of the Thistle Stop Café, just prior to leaving for the trip in Utah.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, June 6, at 3pm in Benton Chapel on the Vanderbilt Campus. Reception will follow at 4:15pm-6pm at the Owen Graduate School of Management, right next door.

We offer prayers for Luke, Halley and Jake Froeb. A tribute page has been set up for her HERE and all are encouraged to join and post photos and memories of our dear friend.

Lisa, on left, pictured volunteering with Kay West at the Chestnut & Sage Fundraiser last fall.

A Welcome In Person and Online

Friday, May 24th, marks the grand opening of the Thistle Stop Cafe. Mayor Karl Dean will participate in the official ceremony and lead a ribbon cutting, then the Nashville community is invited to an Open House from 12:00pm - 2:00pm. The Cafe is located at 5128 Charlotte Pike, anchoring the corner of the Thistle Farms building that also houses our bath and body care manufacturing facility, and paper-making and sewing studios.

Our founder, Becca Stevens says, “With the theme of ‘a story in every cup,’ Thistle Stop Café is the next step in creating a community of hospitality and love that will nourish everyone who thirsts for justice as well as a great cup of tea. The Cafe has hired six residents and graduates of Magdalene, the residential program, which will help them become financially independent.” 

We invite all to visit us tomorrow between 12:00pm - 2:00pm or during our regular business hours of 7:00am - 2:00pm, Monday through Friday, starting Tuesday, May 28th.

We also encourage to help us promote our newest venture online, by liking, tweeting, sharing and checking in. You can find us at the following:

• ThistleStopCafe.org 
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Foursquare
• Yelp

We are excited to offer you fair trade coffees and teas in our new healing space and appreciate you sharing your experience at the Thistle Stop Cafe online. 

Four Days To Go: The Cafe Needs List

Friends -- we are SO close to putting the final touches on the Thistle Stop Cafe and are grateful to each and every person who has donated their time, money, skills and prayers to creating this space.

We are looking forward to opening its doors to the community on Friday, May 24th. We have a short but important list of things we need before we can do just that. Please take a look below and email Courtney if you can provide:

• 1 - combination money safe (2-3 feet high that can be bolted to floor)
• 3 - stainless insulated creamer pitchers
• 1 - stainless cart for bus tubs
• 1 - 5 gallon plastic bucket (this will hold coffee grounds)
• 1 - trash cans (old school galvanized-- ala Oscar the grouch)
• 2 - large plastic commercial trash cans and dolly 
• 1 - trash can and lid for public use
• 2 - step on trash cans for bathrooms
• 1 - small modesty can for women's bathroom
• 6-10- digital kitchen timers
• underwrite cost for custom tea bag holders; $200 for 20 
• underwrite cost for 4 gallery wraps; $170 each

Again, please email courtney@thistlefarms.org with your donations. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to sharing a cup of tea and a story with you.

Love Of Mother, Love Of Self

Often times, we take for granted the far reaching impact that mothers have on our individual and collective world. The relationship we develop with our mothers is the very first relationship we develop with humanity.

For Shana, a 2013 Magdalene graduate and currently a Sales Representative for Thistle Farms, Mother’s Day had no significance whatsoever in the past. She can’t even recall celebrating Mother’s Day as most of her childhood, adolescence and adulthood were spent doing crack cocaine alongside her mother. For Shana, the mother/daughter bond was established through drugs. As a means of survival, Shana used dissociation, a defense mechanism involving the breakdown of memory caused by psychological trauma. How amazing that our psychological defenses coupled with the soul’s yearning for self-love and healing can protect the heart, mind and physical body during times of sustained crisis.

The decades of despair, addiction, violence, and incarceration guided Shana to Magdalene.  The symbolic season of spring, renewal and finally, self-love was bestowed upon her. “Forgiving my Mother was essential to my healing, even though my mother is in active addiction. Although I experience fear she will die an addict, I want my mother to know that she is loved. Everybody deserves that.”

Shana is now the proud grandmother of her 5-month old “grandbaby”. She was beaming with joy when she made an announcement at the Thistle Farms meditation circle. “Three of the happiest moments in my life was being at the hospital the day my granddaughter was born, the day my daughter called to ask if I would like to spend the day with my grandbaby on my own, showing the great deal of trust that she had in me, and the day my granddaughter woke up from napping in my arms.  I thought she was going to freak out, but instead she opened her eyes and looked at me with a smile as if to say, 'That’s my Nanna.'" 

Shana and her grandbaby

This Mother’s Day, Shana is planning on giving her mother a special gift to honor her in a practical way. “I think she would love a pair of sneakers.  The last time I talked with her on the phone, she mentioned that she needed them. That would really make her day.” Shana had some advice for those with similar stories, “Trust in God, the power of prayer and LOVE no matter what.  Holding on to anger did nothing for my Mother or me.  Now, when she calls me on the phone, my heart pitter patters with joy.”

We are all reflections of our mothers. To unconditionally love our mothers is to unconditionally love ourselves.  May we as a whole heal ourselves, our mothers and our world.

By Heather Venesile, Thistle Farmer

Shana and her children 

Stopping The Cycle One Small Community At A Time

We are grateful for people who reach out to us from across the country who share the work they are doing in their own communities. Police Officer Jonathan Zitzmann just contacted us with the following story:

I am Cpl. Jonathan Zitzmann with the Madisonville Police Department in Madisonville, TX. On Friday April 26th, my Department continued a high-profile investigation regarding Human Trafficking and Prostitution of many different ages, 13 - 35. An arrest was made on a 35 year old female, who is being charged with six felonies including Trafficking of Persons and Compelling Prostitution. Many girls were coerced into selling themselves for sex and paying the madam for it as well. Madisonville is a small town of approx. 4300 people. Cases like this are not typically possible in small cities like this but we made it happen. I thought you might like and appreciate what are 12 man department is doing and I wanted to let you know.

More information and press can be found at KBTX and 

The Eagle.

Thank you,

Cpl. Jonathan Zitzmann #205

Madisonville Police Department

Madisonville Texas may be a small community, but abuse, trafficking, prostitution and addiction are present there as they are in most communities. We greatly appreciate the work the Madisonville Police Department did to help fight the abuse of these young women, and the compassion Officer Zitzmann and others showed them. To end the cycle of sexual abuse, addiction and trafficking, we need communities to partner all their resources to help women heal. We can all make a difference, one small community at a time.