Thistle Farms To Be Featured On CNN This Sunday

Thistle Farms will be featured in a CNN News special debuting on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT). CNN correspondent Amber Lyon has led a yearlong investigation into the US sex trafficking industry and visits Magdalene/Thistle Farms in conjunction with the successful administration of its “John School.” The Magdalene/Thistle Farms Prostitution Solicitation School (John School) teaches new behaviors to criminals convicted of soliciting prostitutes and is administered on a volunteer basis every six weeks by Kenneth Baker, Program Director of Behavioral Treatment Providers.

“The John School has generated over $500,000.00 of funding for Magdalene/Thistle Farms and helped us to provide housing, medical care, education and job training to enable women to leave a life of prostitution on the streets,” commented founder the Reverend Becca Stevens.

CNN filmed part of this documentary at the newly renovated Thistle Farms, Magdalene's social enterprise, where residents hand make bath and body care products. The CNN team interviewed and filmed some of the 30 women employed at Thistle Farms. Katrina Robertson, a graduate of the program and National Sales Representative for Thistle Farms, discussed how the community had made it possible for her to leave a life hustling on the streets and enter a fulltime career.

Stevens added, "This CNN feature will provide the greatest exposure to the vision and work of Thistle Farms to date. We hope that people will see the program and recognize that purchasing our bath and body products, online or in stores, is a great way to make a difference in the lives of women who have been directly impacted by prostitution and sex trafficking."

Be sure to watch this Sunday and let us know your thoughts!

The CNN Team interviews Magdalene graduate and Assistant Resident Manager, Shelia Simpkins-McClain, for the special Selling The Girl Next Door.

photo by Carolyn Snell