Feel Good Friday - Last Minute Gift Guide

Happy Feel Good Friday! Hanukkah is here, Christmas is coming... if you're like me, you've waited until the last minute to do your shopping. Don't worry, there's an upside!

For today's Feel Good Friday, we're going to take a look back at companies we've profiled in 2014 that have a feel good product to sell. Given how last minute this list is, you may need to make these presents for the new year or save them for someone's birthday in 2015. But hey, now you've got your birthday shopping taken care of too. You're welcome.

Click on the links below to go to the original FGF posts and get all the details!

Guardian Princesses - books about "super heroines who work together to protect the people and the planet."

GoodWeave -  rugs made without child labor by a group that also provides "education and opportunities to rescued and at-risk children."

Thistle Farms - beauty products made and sold by women in Tennessee "who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets."

luminAID - a solar-powered, waterproof, inflatable light. When you buy one for yourself, take a moment (and get a discount) to buy one for a person liven in a country without reliable access to electricity.

ChopChop Magazine - a magazine full of recipes to teach kids how to cook real food with their families.

GoldieBlox - engineering toys designed for girls to get them interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Wonderbag - "a non-electric, heat-retention cooker that allows food that has been brought to a boil, to continue cooking after it has been removed from the fuel source." For every Wonderbag you buy, one is sent to a family in Africa!

If you'd rather make a donation to another organization in someone's name or buy a goat for a family in Guatemala, you can scroll through the Feel Good Friday archives to get ideas or just to feel good.

Happy Holidays!

Feel Good Friday - Magdalene and Thistle Farms

Today's Feel Good Friday story is both for your soul and your body!

Magdalene is a residential program in Nashville, Tennessee for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets. It was founded in 1997 by Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest on Vanderbilt's campus. A few facts from their website:

• For two years, we offer housing, food, medical and dental needs, therapy, education and job training without charging the residents or receiving government funding.

• Our six homes function without 24-hour live-in staff, relying on residents to create a supportive community, maintain recovery, and share household tasks.

• Women come to Magdalene from prison, the streets and from across the Southeast and the country.

• The women of Magdalene/Thistle Farms range in age from 20-50, and many have been sexually abused between the ages of 7-11, began using alcohol or drugs by 13, have spent years in and out of jail, and have spent on average a decade on the street prostituting.

• 72% percent of the women who join Magdalene are clean and sober 2 1/2 years after beginning the program.

So how does a great program like this get any greater? With their social enterprise, Thistle Farms, founded in 2001. Again from the website, Thistle Farms "currently employs nearly 50 residents and graduates, and houses a natural body care line, a paper and sewing studio and the Thistle Stop Cafe. By hand, the women create natural bath and body products that are as good for the earth as they are for the body. Purchases of Thistle Farms products directly benefit the women by whom they were made."

Told you this was a feel good story for your body and soul! Learn more about the program in this Huffington Post article by Executive Director, Becca Stevens or see the residents in action by watching the 3 minute video, Thistle Farms: A Look Inside or 9 minute NPR story from 2011.

If you believe in their philosophy that love heals and you're ready to do more to support these women who are rebuilding their lives, like Thistle Farms on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or treat yourself to some of their beauty productions by going shopping!