Maybe you’ve seen emails, social media posts, or even ads sharing, “When you donate $15 to Thrive for Good, you can transform an individual’s life forever.”
Your first thought might be “HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?”. Followed by “$15 isn’t a lot of money, how can that change someone’s life forever!”
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one thinking that.
Here’s how $15 can transform a life in East Africa.
Every $15 donated provides the training, seeds and simple tools needed for 1 person to grow organic, nutritious food for a lifetime. Let’s break that down.
To start, a Thrive community Life Garden, on average, uses approximately ¼ acre of land. The garden is made up of at least 40 garden beds that are 5ft wide by 20ft long (if you haven’t done so yet, click here to take a 360-degree virtual tour and see what a Life Garden looks like).
Each Life Garden produces enough nutritious food to feed approximately 50 people.
- It costs $250 USD in the first year to start a Life Garden project. This cost covers the supplies, seeds, and tools needed to prepare and plant the gardens, dig the beds, plant starter seeds and care for the crops.
- It costs an additional $225 for the initial training of the community members through practical workshops and visits by a Thrive Organic Agricultural Trainer.
- Last, there’s $275 for ongoing training for the entire year, training the community on table-banking and income generation as they work towards sustainability.
At that point, a successful project is sustainable and doesn’t require any further funding. In total, the sustainable project costs $750 USD.
Costs do differ depending on the location of the project and the costs associated in that country, but $750 is the average.
With 50 people benefiting from the Life Garden, it equates to $15 USD per person ($750/50 = $15).
These individuals are able to collect the greens, coloured vegetables, and alliums to include them in their meals.
They harvest the medicinal plants to help fight off life-threatening diseases.
They grow and sell the surplus to help cover the costs of needed tools and seeds, making the project sustainable. They practice seed-saving techniques, in order to reduce costs and grow healthier and stronger plants each year.
That being said, you can donate only $0.50 per day for a month to change someone’s life forever (that’s less than your coffee money!).
Consider joining The Harvest, Thrive’s monthly giving program, by donating $15 per month. Every month you will transform a new life. That means over the course of a year, you will empower 12 individuals to grow their own health, step out of poverty and reach their full potential.