Thrive on Kilimanjaro is a virtual fundraiser with a goal of raising $500,000 – enough to plant 5,000 Life Gardens and impact 200,000 people.
You can join worldwide to help climb the 19,340 feet to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro by climbing stairs, hiking walking or running between September 17 – 23, 2021.
Thrive empowers people with the training and simple tools they need to grow an abundance of healthy, organic, disease-fighting foods for life, sustainably.
The hunger for nutrition is universal.
Access is not.
We are on a mission to change that.
The Problem
2 billion people – including 33% of children – aren’t getting enough life-giving nutrients to reach their full potential and fight disease.
The problem is “hidden hunger” — a chronic lack of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients only whole foods can deliver. Hidden hunger shows up when the first priority is to get food in bellies, and “nutrition” means meal after meal of processed, white grains and corn.
Hidden hunger keeps people from escaping extreme poverty. It causes kids to miss school. It prevents adults from working when they’re chronically ill. And it orphans too many children.
Until now, a nutrient-dense diet has seemed out of reach for the poor.
But with Life Gardens, anyone can grow health.
For people in developing countries, access to nutritious food can change everything.
Preventable diseases linked to malnutrition kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
45% of those deaths are children under five years old. Access to nutrition and disease-fighting food can save around 16,000 lives every week.
Hidden hunger causes kids to miss school.
Less time being sick means more time in class. Not only that, but when their growing bodies are well fed with nutritious, life-giving food, kids are able to focus, study and learn more.
The poorest regions have up to 40% unemployment. When 2 billion people live on less than $2 per day, hope is distant.
However, with health and the skills to generate an income from growing surplus food in a Life Garden, they can escape the vicious cycle of poverty.
Industrial food production is hurting the planet. And people still go hungry.
Thrive’s model for growing diverse, 100% organic food is nourishing the planet’s people and the environment — sustainably.
The Solution
How do we tackle hidden hunger?
Simply, through Life Gardens.
Thrive trains and equips people to grow an abundance of healthy, organic, disease-fighting foods and medicinal plants. With knowledge, simple tools, and starter seeds, people who can’t afford to buy healthy food can grow their own – sustainably.
We call these projects Life Gardens because growing health is the first step to a thriving life.
Thrive and its partners are creating sustainable and lasting change by bringing nutrition and health to people around the world.
34,275
Life Garden Beds
80,720
People Benefiting
742
Partner Communities
1.9 Million
Monthly Meals Produced
$714,161
Value of Food Per Month
Life Gardens changed the lives of Jacob, John, Mara, and Joyce. Read their stories.
"Growing Life Gardens not only lifts individuals out of poverty, it also renews our planet for future generations. Our gardens nourish the soil. Compared to other methods of farming we don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizer yet we can produce more this way and conserve the environment at the same time."
"I am very happy that Thrive trained my son. I am a maize farmer myself. When my son came home from prison he told me all about what he had learned. I gave him some of my land and immediately he started digging in a way that I had never seen before. His plants did much better than any of mine. We are so grateful for the knowledge and skills that you have shared. We are a family of 19 and hunger is no longer a problem for us. May God bless all that you do to help people in prison and other communities."
"Our lives were the definition of poverty. Myself, my 5 parent-less grandkids and the 5 other orphaned children that I took in. Everything changed when I had the opportunity to attend a 5-day workshop in my community. Immediately I started my own gardens at my home. Every square inch of my property was turned into different areas to grow health. Soon enough we had food. Food that filled our bodies and helped us to feel good. After our first harvest, we had way too much food. Not being able to store it, I decided to see if anyone would purchase my extra crops by laying them out on a blanket in front of my hut. For the first time in my life, I had enough food to feed my family and enough money to purchase a mattress."
"Every single month I use to suffer from malaria and allergies. I was very weak, I had muscle pain, chills, fever, loss of appetite, headaches and weight loss. After learning about natural medicine and growing health, my life changed. Within 2 days of using artemisia, my body was completely healed, I never experienced malaria or allergy again. Since 2012 I am a disease-free man."
The Return on Investment
Every $1 invested in Life Gardens can yield $15 in economic returns to a community.
It’s a solid investment. Life Gardens are perhaps the single most powerful tool for ending poverty.
With the right knowledge and simple tools, it costs very little to grow health. But the impact is enormous, rippling out to dramatically improve child development, mortality, economic security — creating brighter futures.
$15 a month gives 12 people a year everything they need to grow health.