Thrive Farmers International
You may be familiar with Thrive Farmers coffee if you’ve ever grabbed breakfast on the way to work at Chick-fil-A, but what you probably don’t know is that Thrive Farmers is interested in a whole lot more than just making a good cup of coffee. For this farmer-direct specialty coffee company, it’s about being an agent of change.
Unlike many coffee suppliers, Thrive Farmers uses a farmer-direct profit sharing model to eliminate unnecessary costs and allows farmers to earn sustainable livelihoods. Before their partnerships with Thrive, many farmers would only see fractional returns on their coffee production; averaging nearly just $600, while U.S. markets would make up to $40,000 on those exact beans.
Source: https://thechickenwire.chick-fil-a.com/News/Chick-fil-A-Looks-to-Perk-Sales-by-Offering-First-Ever-Specialty-Grade-Coffee-in-QSR-Industry
Because the price a farmer gets for producing coffee is highly volatile — completely dependent on external factors beyond his or her control — these low returns can wreak havoc on farmers.
By creating a transparent supply chain to the U.S., Thrive Farmers is able to exponentially decrease the gap between product value and financial returns to its partner farmers. In fact, farmers who sell with Thrive Farmers receive on average 66% above the Fair Trade minimum per cup.
Now that’s something to raise your cup to!
Thrive Farmers, however, doesn’t just support and represent its farmers all the way to the marketplace — or your local Chick-fil-A — it also seeks to empower the communities of its farmers and allow its partners to truly thrive.
The ThriveWorx Foundation
Through the efforts of the ThriveWorx Foundation, Thrive Farmers’ non-profit counterpart, real transformation happens in the communities of these coffee farmers. The ThriveWorx Foundation model seeks to elicit economic and social transformation in the communities of farmers across the globe.
Source: thriveworx.org
At the same time, ThriveWorx has created a platform that allows other organizations to invest in these communities in an effective and strategic way.
Enter WinShape Camps!
In the Spring of 2018, ThriveWorx began its inaugural partnership with WinShape Camps as we piloted two weeks of camp in Costa Rica with our spring international project.
Believe us when we say that the two weeks in Costa Rica exceeded our expectations tenfold. Beyond just bringing the experience of WinShape Camps to the communities of our Thrive Farmers partners in Costa Rica, we were able to witness a shift in the dynamic of these entire communities.
Mike Mannina, president of ThriveWorx Foundation, describes these transformations in three words: Unity, Hope and Inspiration.
Unity
“For the first time every kid was an equal,” explains Mannina. “Every kid got to come and be part of a camp and be treated as an equal, be invested in, be poured into by Americans and by local leaders alike.”
Hope
“I saw kids who had never had an experience like this before,” says Mannina. “Parents came up to us after and said, ‘We could only dream of something like this for our kids. We never imagined that someone would invest in our kids like this.'”
Inspiration
“We saw communities getting inspired to do more. We saw talents unleashed in some of the volunteers.”
This new partnership with ThriveWorx is one that will continue throughout future summers as we have the chance to bring camp to six different coffee communities in Costa Rica. Throughout these six weeks, WinShape Camps has the opportunity to develop leaders and share key virtues with more than 1200 campers, 2000 family members and 300 volunteers in communities of Thrive Farmers!
What this means is that when you support Thrive Farmers International by buying a cup of coffee at Chick-fil-A, you are supporting entire communities and creating opportunities for unity, hope and inspiration.
None of this would be possible if it were not for the original vision of Kenneth Lander and Michael Jones, founders of Thrive Farmers International. This mission for change paired with tools for actionable empowerment, brought to life by ThriveWorx, is what allows coffee communities across the world to truly thrive.
The intersection of this movement with the mission of WinShape Camps is a partnership that only providence can orchestrate.
We believe that incredible things are happening through the developing relationship of Thrive Farmers and Chick-fil-A and their non-profit affiliates, ThriveWorx Foundation and WinShape Camps. And we are excited to continue working to help be part of this transformation around the world.