Nonprofit group uses soap-making business to teach employment skills

Published: 2003-12-19

CHICAGO (CNS) -- The can of coconut oil has run dry, so Aja Robinson moves out of the kitchen where soap is made and into the assembly room at The Enterprising Kitchen to help wrap bars of sweet-smelling soap for sale. Robinson, who started working at the company 13 months ago, is now chief soap-maker, overseeing the blending of various solid and liquid vegetable fats, lye and essential oils, lavender and other ingredients that go into The Enterprising Kitchen's high-end, all-natural soaps and bath salts. But the main product made by the small, nonprofit company isn't the soap, it's women such as Robinson: women who come in with few employment skills and leave on the path to getting a job and becoming self-sufficient. "The soap is a tool," said Joan Pikas, founder and co-executive director. "What we do really well here is help women develop self-esteem. It's very difficult to go out and find a job and maintain it if you have no ego, no self-confidence."

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .