Toffee Changes Lives at Rethreaded
Recovery can be a difficult path for victims of human trafficking. It is a nuanced and delicate process that is fraught with pitfalls. Rethreaded, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit, has been working to help these victims for the last decade through multiple approaches. The organization recently acquired a new avenue to provide assistance and funds: it incorporated local candy product Amelia Toffee, and is now the sole manufacturer of the confectionery.
Rethreaded launched in 2012 with the goal of breaking the cycle of human trafficking and the generational trauma it causes. The organization focuses on supportive employment and career development for survivors by providing a safe workplace and a livable wage. From their marquee product, an upcycled infinity scarf made from recycled T-shirts and other fabrics called the Grace scarf, the team at Rethreaded has expanded into jewelry, handbags, wallets and other accessories. They recently inked a deal with Southwest Airlines to upcycle leather first class seats into handbags. The survivors have their hand in the creation of all the products, from practical training in the skills needed to develop and create quality products to career development with sessions on resume writing, interviewing and long-term employment plans beyond Rethreaded.
An organization like Rethreaded adding a toffee business may seem unusual, but it aligns with its goal of creating gainful employment for its clients. Kristin Keen, founder and CEO of Rethreaded, says that “Anita (Comisky) was the founder of Amelia Toffee. It was a recipe passed down from her grandmother. Her safe place growing up was her grandmother’s kitchen.” The two met at a networking event in 2017 and both were enamored with each other’s enterprise and missions. “We decided to partner, and she would take our survivor-made goods, such as coffee, honey and tea, and infuse her toffee with it.” From there Rethreaded began buying the infused toffee products and the candy quickly became one of their bestselling items.
The cross-pollination felt natural. “We are mainly a gift company, and one of the main ways we sell gifts is to corporations that put together gift packets. The toffee became a very popular corporate gift,” Keen says. The collaboration between the two was delightful and benefited all, especially the toffee-loving clientele.
Then in early 2020 Comisky found herself looking at retirement and entertaining the idea of letting go of Amelia Toffee. Simultaneously in 2020, Rethreaded found their forever home at Dolores Barr Weaver Campus of Hope at 515 E 9th Street in Jacksonville and the new building allowed for kitchen space to make both the candy and a feasible acquisition of Amelia Toffee.
“We honor in our kitchen daily the legacy that Anita’s grandmother started so many years ago in her kitchen where she lovingly made this toffee with her granddaughter,” says Lisa Kiral, Rethreaded’s culinary division director. Not only does the organization manufacture the toffee; it also aims to recreate the space where the toffee originated by providing a safe and nourishing place for healing to occur. “Our staff is doing the incredibly hard work of healing and we’re able to come alongside as they rebuild their lives.”
That healing, Kiral says, is folded into the creation of the toffee. The team members cook toffee and enrobe the candy in chocolate, a methodical process that mirrors the disciplined process of healing. The toffee production makes the kitchen into what Kiral calls “a place of wins for people who have not experienced many wins in their lives.” Cooking toffee occurs in stages, and that inspires the folks making it to accept the natural stages of their own healing.
Rethreaded Toffee is the number one seller for the organization and is offered in nine different flavors year-round, with an additional two seasonal flavors in the fall-winter season. In 2022, Rethreaded made over 6,000 pounds of toffee, and demand continues to grow. With a permanent home and an ever-expanding community of dedicated consumers, there is an effervescent hope at Rethreaded that they have only taken the first bite out of their toffee endeavor and that the future will provide a continued sweet relief and recovery for the makers.
