When Women Lead: Welcoming the Community

When you first visit Thistle Farms, you are likely to meet Jennifer.

She’s the name in the email signature sign line, the face greeting you in the volunteer space, and the first to say, “Welcome home!” when you walk through the doors.

The volunteer space has been a vision of hers for years now as she serves on the Volunteer Engagement team. What was once used as shipping and logistics storage is now a bright green space with the core values of Thistle Farms along the walls.

If you look closely at the walls, you’ll see that each of the tiny petals on the walls are individual volunteers who have left their mark after their service time. The space’s renovation took creative direction from Jennifer who coordinated volunteer groups to support the renovation. The goal? To make it a place to host the people who love Thistle Farms the most.

“I was full of so much anger and hate when I walked through the doors that love truly has transformed me. It has changed my world. I like to say here in the volunteer space, we are loving the darkness out of the world one person at a time,” Jennifer said.

The volunteer space hosts the 2,500 volunteers that come in over the course of the year. Volunteers help with everything from prepping candle wicks, cutting tissue paper, to creating meaningful encouragement for women coming into the emergency shelter program. The Volunteer Engagement team has continued to grow to support this essential part of Thistle Farms community and Cortney and Jennifer work closely together representing the Thistle Farms value of “Radical Hospitality” hosting.

Cortney shared how being a graduate of the program amplifies her passion for working in this department.

“I am proud that I'm a graduate, and when I share my story because I've done so much healing, and I'm still healing. But because I'm a graduate of the program, I am a walking, living example, and they can see the impact directly with us, and I'm so passionate about sharing about the organization that helped me change my life.”

Every volunteer group focuses on different projects, but they all start the same: lighting the candle for the next woman survivor finding her way home.

“They’re our family.”

Volunteers are at the heart of Thistle Farms, from the beginning, starting with the residential program that originally had five beds. The opening of the Café was made possible by volunteers who sanded donated materials to create the original floors.

The volunteers that keep Thistle Farms running are the core volunteers that work regular shifts in the Café and Shop.

“We've got 63 core volunteers, and the core volunteers, they're our family. Everybody is our family, you know, but the core volunteers will sign up for a four-hour slot once a week, and they are committed, and they're faithful, and they're really our family,” Jennifer said.

The community found among volunteers is beyond the shifts alone. During Winter Storm Fern, volunteers leaned on each other for support over email. Jennifer sent an email thread to check in on volunteers which led to personal sharing and resources taking care of each other. For many of the core volunteers at Thistle Farms, it’s more than a volunteer shift; it's community.

“We keep hearing this word community over, and over, and over right now it's become like a buzz word. Thistle Farms was, is, the OG community. Women have been organizing in community for centuries,” Cortney emphasized.

Loving and learning together

The Volunteer Engagement team continues to grow with the mission, and they have recently added another team member. As Thistle Farms nears 30 years of operation, the door for volunteers continues to be open, thanks to the team that welcomes them.

“I am just grateful to share the space and learn from you every day, because you've been here for 15 years and you saw this go from 10 people to 1000s coming through the door, and it is my honor to hear the stories and learn from you,” Cortney said to Jennifer.

“I love to watch you go and you're brilliant, and you're smart, and you're the perfect person, just perfect. I do not have to worry about this space. We're learning together.”