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.

Ted Barber & Siiri Morley, Prosperity Candle Founding Partners (Photo Credit: Judith Kelliher for The Republican)

Much of the time away from the blog has been spent planning and strategizing about next steps. We’ve also in reveling in the tremendous amount of support we’ve had from our supporters. 2011 was a fantastic year for us and we’re looking forward to the rest of 2012.

Nazahat in Iraq with two of her children

The entry into a new year seems to always bring with it lots of big picture thinking. What’s the meaning of the past year? And what will we do with the new year? As part of our team’s own reflections, we thought we’d share this New York Times article that resonates with us. It’s based on a research done with elderly people – asking for life lessons on what worked and what didn’t. How to live life without regrets, so you enter old age feeling satisfied with what you’ve done. It offers advice on marriage, parenting, careers, happiness, wellness and growing old.

Our favorite advice? From a 75-year old man: “Adopt a policy of being joyful.”

Happy new year!

Thank you for sharing our story!

Listen to this fantastic radio program here!

We love being featured by local media and were honored to be included on this program alongside MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Seven Fund and Containers2Clinics in the discussion.

Each one is made by a woman refugee rebuilding her life in the Pioneer Valley. The candles embody the values of Vitality Spa to “Live Long, Live Well” and also help foster a powerful woman to woman connection. Learn more about Vitality Spa here.

To help you choose the right gift and cause for everyone on your holiday gift list, we’ve compiled our top picks here. 10% of each product goes to these partners!

Sponsor Women Survivors of War

Women for Women International is an extraordinary partner of ours. They help women survivors of war rebuild their lives through social support, vocational skills and international sister-to-sister sponsorship. They work in some of the world’s toughest places. We have partnered with their program graduates in Baghdad, Iraq. Our Women for Women travel tin candle and our Global Sisters Candle set both donate 10% to support their work.

Women for Women travel tin candle gift

Global Sisters Candle Set

Broadcast Women’s Stories to the World

World Pulse is an extraordinary organization working to bring women’s voices into the mainstream so they can tell their own stories and connect with other women to create a global sisterhood. We are helping tell their story with our World Pulse travel tin set. On your next trip around the world, bring this travel tin set to remind you of the qualities you want to embody to create change in the world: courage, beauty, possibility. This comes in three enticing scents: tea infusion, lemongrass sage and arabian sandalwood.

World Pulse Travel Tin Set

Deliver Life-Saving Heart Surgery to Children in Iraq

Our friends at the Preemptive Love Coalition do incredible work in Iraq to provide children with life-saving heart surgery. They are saving children’s lives every day from congenital heart disease. Every one of these Peace and Prosperity gift sets supports their incredible work.

Peace & Prosperity Gift Set

Bring Critical Health Services to Haiti

Partners in Health is an incredibly dedicated organization working to advance health services for all. They work in numerous countries around the world but are perhaps best known for their work in Haiti. They see health services as a basic human right. We’re proud to offer our Brighter Future Candle & Plate to benefit their work in Haiti.

A Brighter Future Candle & Plate

Advocate for Global Human Rights

Amnesty International needs no introduction. It has been an honor to collaborate with them on their 50th anniversary candle this year. This Vessel of Light benefits their work and shines a light on 50 years of human rights. They have been tireless advocates of justice and freedom for all and are responsible for freeing innumerable political prisoners. We are excited to collaborate with them as they dive deeper into gender equality with their first female Executive Director!

Amnesty Vessel of Light

Support International Volunteerism

The National Peace Corps Association is the organization that supports and connects returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Thousands of American volunteers span the world every year creating change for communities in need. But perhaps more importantly, the Peace Corps experience changes the volunteer’s lives forever. The National Peace Corps Association helps these returned volunteers continue to change the world for the rest of their lives. We’re proud to note that this National Peace Corps Association tin candle donates to their work and celebrates 50 years of the Peace Corps!

National Peace Corps Association Travel Tin Candle

Our FEED Joy candle was a stand out at the event

It was a great night of shopping and socializing with others who share our passion for doing good in the world with great products!

Founding Partner Siiri Morley stands proudly with the Prosperity Collection

A highlight of the night was selling an Amnesty Vessel of Light to Donna Karan’s daughter, Gabby Karan.

The FEED 3 Candle was a huge hit!

We were proud to have our collaborative FEED 3 Candle grace the FEED Projects table. The candles have been a huge seller this season.