Our mission at Thistle Hills is to serve women from the Chester County and Coatesville areas who are survivors of trafficking (commercial sexual exploitation) and addiction that deserve a second chance at life.

A home built upon grace, mercy and love.

After years lost to prostitution, drug addiction and human trafficking, years that cost her custody of her children and a relationship with her family, along with any sense of self-worth, Regina left prison for the last time in 1997 and found a home—a real home—at Thistle Farms’ Magdalene House in Nashville.

In Coatesville, Thistle Hills (a sister organization of Thistle Farms) is offering women who have traveled the same hard road as Regina the opportunity to discover the grace and mercy and love that she found at Thistle Farms more than two decades ago.

Regina shared her story with us when she visited Coatesville in anticipation of the opening of Thistle Hills and had this to say:

“It’s coming. It’s going to be a refuge to so many women who are feeling what I felt all those years ago. Hopeless. Helpless. Loveless. Worthless. And this community is about to spread grace, mercy, and love and let these women know they have a home, not a house. You have a home to come home to.”

Why the Thistle?

The thistle is symbolically used to illuminate the adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” The thistle is a weed with the fortitude to thrive in brutal conditions. Thistles grow on the streets, alleys, and hills of Chester County where the women of Thistle Hills walk.

Thistles have beautiful, soft purple centers with deep taproots that can shoot through concrete and survive drought. The same is true of these women who’ve gone through trauma. Beauty and strength underlie their trauma and past baggage. The resilience, vibrancy, and healing qualities of the thistle parallel the survival and flourishing of women survivors.

Our History

Dream it.

The idea took root in Coatesville after Becca Stevens, the founder of Thistle Farms, came to speak at a Diocesan clergy conference in November 2018.

Create it.

Episcopal Church of the Trinity, Coatesville, in partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania’s Anti-Human Trafficking Commission created Thistle Hills, a program modeled after the highly successful Thistle Farms Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee.

Grow it.

The congregation of the Episcopal Church of the Trinity enthusiastically supported this new mission as does the larger Coatesville area. We are a community that is supportive and understanding of the concept that “love heals.”

Build it.

In 2019, a Mission Committee was formed to identify, purchase, and rehabilitate the inaugural Thistle Hills home to serve up to four women. With the success of each house, it is the goal to continue growing this initiative, one home at a time to build a strong network of support for survivors.