Easthampton candle company creating opportunities for women and beautiful gifts

EASTHAMPTON, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- This week is National Small Business Week and with Mother’s Day coming up, Western Mass News stopped by one local candle and gift company to find out more about their presence in the community.

“People are always looking for really meaningful gifts and all of our gifts are poured by women who have created a better life for themselves, so people feel really inspired by our gifts,” said Patsy Kauffman Barber, co-owner of Prosperity Candle in Easthampton.

Prosperity Candle is a local candle and gift company that works to create opportunities while selling ethically sourced goods.

“Our mission here is to provide living wage work for women artisans who have formally been refugees and they are now resettled here in the United States,” Barber added.

It started as a program in Iraq where they wanted to help female entrepreneurs living in conflict areas, which is where they got the name ‘Prosperity Candle.’ One of the supporters of that program then wanted to expand and make a local impact by helping refugees who have resettled in the Pioneer Valley. Barber told us the bulk of their workers are from Myanmar, formally Burma, and came through refugee camps in Thailand and all of them with a story to tell.

“All of our gifts come with the story card about the woman artisan, a picture of her, her story from her homeland through the refugee camp to our studio and actually a way to connect with her...so there is a link and people can actually write to the artisan themselves,” Barber noted.

The company sells candles, gift sets, and corporate gifts and are in the process of expanding to spa products like sugar scrubs and bath salts. They are available for online orders and if you live locally you can pick up at their studio

“It’s kind of a great gift, whether its Mother’s Day or holidays, just an uplifting message,” Barber said.