healthy food from healthy sisters

Have you thought about eating healthier?  Or how about eating better by buying local, fresher foods?  Or maybe you’ve considered giving to a charitable organization that supports local citizens in need?  Good news!  Now you can do all those things with one step by purchasing food products made by the Healthy Sisters Soup and Beanworks (HSSBW), part of Rochester’s Catholic Family Charities organization.

Started in 1996, HSSBW helps local women by providing them a chance to become part of the “working world.”  In the program, women in recovery from substance abuse and moving from welfare to work learn first to come to work, then to grow with others in a team, to take pride in their efforts, and to learn initiative and confidence. The group of women makes soups, chili, dips, and other products from crops grown in the area.  Beans, for example, come from farms as close by as Lima, NY.  HSSBW creations are sold in more than 50 retail outlets throughout the Greater Rochester community, as well as in Syracuse, Buffalo, Ithaca, Clayton, and beyond.  Locally, you can find their foods in Wegmans Nature’s Marketplace departments.  Additionally, you’ll find “the ladies” selling at more than 40 fairs and festivals throughout western New York.

The organization got its start in 1996 after Catholic Family Charities (CFC) President Carolyn Portanova attended a conference in San Diego, CA. There she observed a program for women in recovery called the Women’s Bean Project.  She returned to Rochester determined to establish a similar program here. With a $15,000 venture grant from the Diocese of Rochester, the Rochester Women’s Bean Project was launched. Today, the renamed group is one of only three programs of its type in the country.

Women who work in the company experience all aspects of a modern business, including production, product development, marketing, and inventory management. They are paid an hourly wage funded by income received from the sale of their products.  As a testament to the program’s success, 240 women have been employed since the project was launched in 1996 and more than half have found full-time employment or enrolled in school. 

Michele is one shining example of the program’s positive power.  She joined the group in 2004 after drug use had gotten her in trouble with the law.  At the time her mother was quite ill and Michele says “I didn’t want to go to her funeral in handcuffs.”  She was assigned by drug court to enter a residential treatment program at Liberty Manor, another CFC unit.  From there she saw an opportunity to change her life by joining HSSBW.  Since then she has risen steadily in the organization.  In January of this year her hard work and dedication led to a big promotion and new employment by CFC as Marketing Services Coordinator for the Healthy Sisters Soup and Beanworks.  In this role she is responsible for account maintenance, building customer relationships, prospecting for new accounts, driving “the ladies” to festivals, and training them to sell their wholesome products.

For women in the program, making a necessary lifestyle change can seem like an overwhelming obstacle.  But clearing those hurdles has become a lot easier for many because of the Healthy Sisters program.

For more information, or to place an order, call (585) 546-2784, ext. 202, or visit them online at www.healthysisters.org.