Every candle includes the name of the woman who made it so the recipient can look up her story and send her a message on our website.

“Prosperity Candle offered a product that was perfect for our event. We were able to order nicely packaged, customized candles while also supporting the livelihoods of women refugees. Our committee agreed that the combination of a quality product and an important social mission made this a gift that the speakers at our conference would truly appreciate.”

~ Kevin Henderson, HBS Social Enterprise Conference committee member

We are excited to see our partner from FEED Projects, Lauren Bush Lauren, as a keynote during the Saturday line-up. She’ll now be able to add a new Prosperity Candle to her collection of FEED Projects Candles!

Click here to learn more about the event.

What we encountered was much different.  Tent cities were everywhere, and the worsened poverty and struggle were hard to witness.  But the people of Haiti were the same – strong, resilient, and full of hope for a brighter future.  As Donna Karan wrote on the 2^nd anniversary of the 2010 earthquake, “Hope is all over Haiti.  Hope is Haiti.”

There is a story written about Haiti that includes perpetual unrest, poorest country in our hemisphere, natural disasters, and unsolvable problems.  It begins with a tragic history of oppression, references familiar names like Baby Doc and Aristide, and often ends with international intervention – emergency aid, UN soldiers, and numerous efforts to help create a better life for Haitians.

But we found a different story in the making, one of determination to change things.  A Haitian beekeeper working to increase honey production for export, a local mayor focused on job creation for women.  A community of business leaders looking to invest in Haitian-owned enterprises.  And international organizations moving forward with housing, a modern hospital, and facilities to help Haitian and foreign companies grow and employ more people.  It is this new story that that gives rise to a different kind of hope… not that things will someday change for the better, but that the change that is already underway will have a positive impact on millions of Haitian lives.

Prosperity Candle has always felt compelled to work in Haiti, even more since the earthquake.  Our mission is to help women earn above a living wage through candle-making, an enterprise uniquely suited to rebuilding lives following conflict or natural disaster.  In Iraq we supported women in starting home-based microenterprises because they felt unsafe outside their homes.  In Haiti, we seek to assist a group of women to start a larger business with equipment to make many different types of candles for both local and international markets.

All of us here feel a deep connection to Haiti, and a desire to not only help, but also to empower.  To blend assistance with self-determination, supported by the simple idea of commerce for good.  On a recent Saturday afternoon I arrived in Port-au-Prince prepared for feelings of anguish and carrying a sense of determination.  A week later, I left inspired again by a country and people who truly embody the meaning of strength, resilience and hope for a brighter future.

Here Pam invites you to participate in the Join Me on the Bridge campaign this International Women’s Day (March 8th) in Boston! The Join Me on the Bridge campaign asks us all to “stand with women on 8th March to build bridges of peace and hope for the future.” It is “the coming together of women and men around the world, united in taking a stand for PEACE and women’s EQUALITY.” Take a look at this link for more information on Join Me on the Bridge campaigns in other cities around the world.

A friend introduced me to Women for Women International, and over the years I have been a sister to five women: two women from Rwanda, one from Kosovo, and two in the DCR. Each sister made me far more attentive to world news — and I would listen with new interest to any news related to their countries.

About three years ago at this time my partner and I were in the throes of wedding planning. That October we had gotten engaged while backpacking in the Enchantments in Idaho.  When we got out of the woods and called our parents they said “congratulations-and-what-is-the-wedding-date?” in one breath. And so began our journey into one of the most fun, meaningful, and stressful events of our lives.

We wanted a wedding that would be meaningful and fun for ourselves and everyone there. We began talking about what mattered most to us—having the wedding close to the people we loved so they could attend, and to minimize the wedding’s carbon footprint. Serving local food and fair trade coffee and buying rings, flowers, and other wedding products that reflected our values. We labored over our wedding registry, finally deciding to combine a traditional department store registry (I wish we had known about the I Do Foundation department store registry) with a custom New American Dream alternative gift registry. This personalized registry included gifts that give back, experiences, charitable gifts, and services friends and family could provide.

A less traditional photo of Brian and me--and one of my favorites

This year we are happy to be receiving wedding invitations rather than sending them. We are looking forward to weddings in Massachusetts, New York, and Maine and have begun to think about what we will purchase for engagement gifts, shower presents, and wedding gifts. We want to give gifts that are meaningful, memorable, and personal.

Last week Ted, Siiri and I were all sitting around the table at Prosperity Candle and finishing our lunches when we started talking about our weddings. It turns out that Ted and Siiri each got engaged to around Valentine’s day, and that was when my partner and I started dating.

A memorable moment from Siiri and Jeremy's wedding!

Siiri and I laughed when Ted told us that he and his wife call Valentine’s day “Malaria Day” since they both came down with Malaria in Ghana on February 14th, 2002, and got engaged while recovering.

Ted and Patsy jump for joy at their wedding

We’re all married now and as we thought back on our weddings little things stood out. A friend who spent hours helping set up and decorate, a toast, a meaningful gift, and the fact that all these people traveled to celebrate our love and commitment. We realized that our weddings were all about our love and our values. Siiri and I both got married in the last several years and spent hours and hours on sustainable and green wedding blogs. We both agonized over how to make our weddings meaningful for ourselves, our guests, and the people behind the scenes—the coffee growers, ring makers, farmers, and workers who made our garments and gifts. We were both surprised at how difficult it was to live our values and vote with our dollars while planning a wedding.

Therefore, Prosperity Candle is proud to announce that it will soon be offering a range of wedding gifts and wedding products that empower women and improved lives. From favors to wedding gifts to thank you gifts to decorations, you can now shop for a cause for weddings with Prosperity Candle. Whether you are planning an eco wedding or just want to or just to give a distinctive shower or wedding gift, think Prosperity Candle.

Bee Well Gift Basket

Imagine the Bee Well Gift Basket or the Numi Flowering Tea and Candle set as your next gift with meaning and impact.

Numi Flowering Tea and Candle

Make sure you are on our mailing list to learn more about Prosperity Candle wedding gifts, favors, decorations, and more.

~Marcie

In an earlier blog post, we asked you all to make women around the world your Valentine this year. Kind of like when we were in elementary school and EVERYONE got a Valentine in class. Somehow Valentine’s Day has become about private expressions of love, focused on gifts only for romantic love interests.

Today we discovered the idea of reframing Valentine’s Day to become GENEROSITY day. Check out this video to learn more:

We think love should be shared with everyone, in every way. Love can be shown by giving a meaningful gift, or it can be demonstrated in the smallest actions. We love, of course, giving meaningful gifts that give back to the world, but why not also show love in small ways – all day, every day? How have you shared your love today in a new way?

These heart soapstone candles are just incredible. They burn beautifully and, when finished burning, make a wonderful jewelry box or a treasure trove to hold your favorite memories. Each soapstone box is hand-made by the Kisii tribe in Kenya and the candles are hand-poured by women refugees from Burma. As always, each candle has the name of the woman who made it so you can connect with her through our website.

If the soapstone hearts aren’t right for you, consider a spa gift set, fair trade chocolate by candlelight, or a classic Vessel of Light. The sky’s the limit with creative Valentine’s Day gifts. Any candle will create a romantic setting set on a dining room table or by a bath.

Share your light and love with a Valentine’s Day gift that gives back! We’re putting the PASSION into compassion.

Order by February 9th to ensure prompt delivery by Valentine’s Day!

Every candle comes with the name of the woman who made it, with a link to her story and our connect page where people can send each woman a note.

Nicely aligned with the Honeybee Capital brand, each candle is a beeswax-soy wax blend – a new addition to our collection!

Thank you to Honeybee Capital for bringing such a wonderful opportunity to these women! We look forward to connecting with more firms that are interested in business gifts that are aligned with their values and give back to a good cause.

We’d love to share some of our proudest accomplishments of 2011 here.

Growth of our Refugee Program

We’re proud to say that we were able to expand our local program with Burmese women refugees in our Northampton, MA location. We trained two new women, Mee Mee and Naw, and Moo Kho was promoted to a trainer and manager. The women now work together beautifully and create stunning candles. They’ve been pouring perfect candles for a diverse range of clients and working more regular hours with us. And they’re learning more English every day!

An Amazing Team

We’ve been so lucky to have had the support of so many talented and passionate people throughout Massachusetts – and some either further afield (Chicago, NYC, etc.). Thank you to Nichole, Brenna, Elizabeth, Anna, Lynn, Joan, Kalista, Sarah, Ashleigh, Liz, Andrea, Sarah, Min Min, Stephanie, Sophie, Allen, Grace, Lourdes, Nandi, Lisa, Priti and Jamie for all of your help! You’ve helped us improve our branding, our newsletter, our social media/blog, our online marketing, our PR efforts, our product collection, and our sales outreach. And you’ve helped us at sales events, packed boxes, transport the refugee women… the list goes on! You’ve been invaluable to our team’s success.

A Beautiful New Product Line that Spans the World

As you must have noticed, our product line has expanded dramatically with new gift sets, artisan candles and collaborations with fair trade groups creating coffee, chocolate, tea, and other handcrafted products. We have been proud of the growth of our collection – which now spans the world from Haiti to Kenya, Vietnam to Afghanistan, Iraq to Massachusetts! Keep watch for our Valentine’s Day products, soon to come!

Custom Candles for Corporate, Donor & Event Gifts

A big part of our growth has been thanks to business and nonprofit leaders interested in giving uniquecorporate, donor, and event giftsthat embody their organizational values. We are now customizing our candles with the branding of other organizations – complete with their colors, logo, messaging, and url. These candles have been purchased by groups like Amnesty International, Kiva, eBay’s Women’s Initiative Network, Women for Women International, the Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise Conference, and FEED Projects, amongst many others! Thank you all for your support.

Deeper Partnerships with Nonprofit Causes

We have been proud to deepen our partnership with Women for Women International by becoming an alliance partner in addition to being a field partner. This means a commitment to supporting each others efforts to spread the word about our efforts and shared values.

We have also launched new collaborative efforts with groups like World Pulse and the Preemptive Love Coalition.

Faith-Based Partnerships

In 2011, we were excited to launch our first advent candle set for the advent season. It was a big hit!

We also started partnering with a number of faith-based groups committed to promoting social justice and undertaking humanitarian work around the world. We are proud to be working with the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and Week of Compassion.

More soon on some exciting announcements for 2012!

We are thankful to Catchafire for their support in providing us with talented pro bono professionals. Thanks to them we have had talent help us with PR, branding, newsletter crafting, online marketing, motion graphics video creation, social media and more.

Our team has also been beginning to lay groundwork for our own expansion into Haiti to develop our candle-making entrepreneurship model for Haitian women. We’ll keep you posted on this as it develops. It’s keeping us busy!

In the meantime, if you want to support the renewal and rebuilding of Haiti, supporting Haitian artisans and businesswomen is a great way to do it! As you might know, we have a number of beautiful products from Haiti that help Haitians rebuild their lives.

A Brighter Future Candle & Plate

This beautiful candle set brings together a handmade Haitian recycled steel drum candle stand – with a beautifully hammered design, with an Iraqi made pillar candle adorned by a pressed flower artist in the United States. 10% of the retail price is donated to Partners In Health, an organization that provides preferential health services to the poor and has been working in Haiti since 1985. We are proud to support their work.

What better way to light up a dark winter night but with a long-lasting pillar candle that illuminates the beauty of the Haitian candle stand?

Light from Darkness, Candle and Set 

This beautiful hand-hammered luminary and pillar candle make a beautiful gift and add so much elegance to a room. And, like all of our gifts, this one helps change women’s lives. The luminary is designed by a woman artisan in Haiti who is employing many others to create these stunning candle accessories. And the pillar candle is made by women in Iraq.

Peace and Prosperity Basket

This beautiful gift set has a huge amount of impact around the world, Haiti included. 10% of this gift is donated to our friends at the Preemptive Love Coalition, which works to provide children with life-saving heart surgeries throughout Iraq.

The beautiful (and fragrant!) vetiver basket is handcrafted by artisans in Haiti, the soaps are handmade in Afghanistan and the pillar candle is made by women entrepreneurs in Iraq.

As we round the 2 year anniversary of Haiti, we encourage you to stand with Haiti by supporting economic opportunity for Haitians! Click here to see our entire product collection of gifts that change lives.