Marsham Employee Challenge to Thrive for Good

World hunger has dramatically increased due to COVID-19, supply chain issues, shipping challenges, and the war in Ukraine. The sharpest rise has been in developing countries, where the marginalized and impoverished are the most at risk. 

Every day, more parents wonder how they’ll feed their children. And more of the vulnerable fall ill because they can’t afford life-giving, nutritious foods.

At Marsham, we want to help make a difference by giving back to the community and providing nutritious food to those in need. With knowledge, simple tools, and starter seeds, people who can't afford to buy healthy food can grow their own - almost anywhere in the world. It costs $15 per person to produce nutrient-dense, life-giving foods and proven natural medicines and provide a sustainable source of potential income generation.

The Competition

Our company aims to raise over $70,000 to empower these families and communities, with individual goals set at $1,000 each within the 2023 calendar year. Individuals and regional teams across Canada will compete to raise money to support "Thrive for Good" projects in East Africa, South Africa, and India. Employees are allotted 10 hours of Marsham company time and additional resources to achieve our goals.

Hidden Hunger is Everywhere

The biggest health challenge today is unequal access to nutrition. 2 billion people - including 1 in 3 children - aren't getting enough micronutrients to reach their full potential and fight disease.

It shows up in wealthy countries where packaged and fast foods are cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables.

It happens mostly in poor countries, where the priority is to get food in bellies, and "nutrition" means meal after meal of processed, white grains and corn. Because even among farming families in the world’s poorest countries, people aren’t growing nutrient-dense foods.

But developing brains and bodies are hungry for micronutrients. Without real nutrition, children never get a fair chance. They can't thrive, and their immunity isn't strong enough to fight infection. In fact, 45% of deaths in children under the age of 5 are related to poor nutrition.

Hidden hunger keeps people from improving their own lives. It causes kids to miss school. It keeps adults from work when they're chronically ill. And it orphans too many children.

The diseases caused by hidden hunger cost the poor too much to treat if they have access to healthcare at all. And the burden of disease from hidden hunger keeps the best work of charities from making enough impact. Because nutrition is a basic need and only when it's met can people thrive.

The Solution

Until now, a nourishing, whole foods diet has seemed out of reach for the poor. That's because we've come to see food as a cost and healthy food as a luxury.

But through Life Gardens, communities including refugees, prisons, schools, HIV groups and churches can grow health. Thrive trains and equips people to grow an abundance of healthy, organic, disease-fighting foods and medicinal plants.

These projects are called Life Gardens because growing health is the first step to a thriving life.

The Thrive model works anywhere there are:

• 100 square feet of soil (the size of a standard living room)
• 6 hours of daily sunlight
• Scarce rainfall (500 mm / 20 inches a year)

It's based on the best organic growing methods, nutritional research and an education-first approach.

About Thrive

Thrive is a worldwide not-for-profit based in Canada operating out of Kenya, South Africa and India, putting nutritional security - not just food security - in the hands of the poor so they can improve their lives.

Thrive empowers the poor to be self-sufficient, starting with nutrition. When people can take health into their own hands, they have new dignity and pride. Nutritional security also gives them hope for a better future without the constant burden of disease.

Vision & Mission

By 2025, Thrive will empower 1 million people in the developing world to lead healthy and sustainable lives by training them to grow nutritious and income-generating whole foods.

When people have everything they need to grow healthy, disease-fighting foods, they have the foundation for reaching their fullest potential.