by Jody McVeigh, Editor, Grosse Pointe News
Since 2012, the nonprofit Thrive has delivered more than 5 million school meals to hungry children in Bangladesh and the Philippines. That’s more than 15,000 meals per week and more than 3,000 meals per day to combat hunger.
The organization’s co-founders, Grosse Pointe Farms resident Gina Gabel and California resident Priscilla Perry Heffelfinger, recently were named to Inc. Magazine’s 2026 Female Founders 500 List, for their work feeding hungry children across the globe and creating income opportunities for women in-country.
“It’s a real big honor,” Gabel said. “When I look at others who’ve been recognized, it’s super impressive… This gives us a chance to be in front of people to share our story. It’s been a community thing from the very beginning”.
The story of Thrive began when Gabel’s family moved to Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2012.
“My husband was a federal prosecutor,” Gabel explained. “In Dhaka, the level of poverty was something I’d never experienced firsthand. It was heartbreaking, especially with the kids, who were the same age as my kids at the time”.
She recalled children caked in dirt, begging for food. She saw the same children during a school visit in one of Dhaka’s largest slums.
“I asked the school what we could do to help,” she recalled. “They said food”.
With a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s in special education, Gabel knew students that were malnourished weren’t learning. She and her friends decided to bring bananas once a week for 250 children.
They soon expanded, asking for donations through social media and emails back home, as well as to expat friends and others at the embassy.
“Our first meal was partially provided by funds from Grosse Pointe,” she said. “We had Ziplock bags with eggs, rice and pumpkin soup, and a banana. The kids devoured that little meal”.
She noticed some children not eating their eggs. One little girl said she planned to take it home to share with her family.
“I thought, ‘We cannot stop this,'” Gabel said. “This was a hunger I’d never seen in the flesh before. Not only is she hungry, but her family’s hungry and she knows she has to share this egg with them”.
After speaking with a nutritionist, Gabel and her cofounders upgraded to a meal of fruits, vegetables and proteins. What started as a once-weekly offering grew to two days, then five. Then they added a second school, then a third.
“The response from (Grosse Pointe) and Bangladesh was so great, that now we just served our 5 millionth meal and we feed 3,500 kids a day,” she said. “We have donors from all over the world who give their funds, time and expertise”.
The program continued to grow. Currently, Thrive serves 13 schools in Bangladesh and four in the Philippines. This year, through a grant from the Jones Day Foundation, Thrive began offering hot meals to some of the schools it serves.
What’s more, the nonprofit buys its produce from local farmers and started hiring local moms in those communities to prepare the food.
“These are the first paychecks these women have gotten in their lives,” Gabel said. “They’ve either been foraging for food or begging for it in the streets. The effect of this is now they can buy food for their families. … If you feed a child, you change a child’s life,” she added, “but if you employ a mom, you feed a community. That is generational change”.
In addition to impacting students and families, Thrive has affected entire communities. Gabel recalled taking a rickety boat to an island to visit a school and hearing its inhabitants before ever reaching land.
“There was cheering and music and people with signs saying, ‘Thank you, Thrive,'” she said. “Everyone came out for us — the villagers, the department of education, the ministry of health, government officials. They gave speeches saying we are part of the fabric of their community. We’ve served the school on that island every day for five years. We’re showing those kids there’s a world outside of this island, which they’re probably never going to leave, where people care about them and are making the island healthier”.
Thrive meals contribute to up to 50 percent of a child’s daily nutritional needs. They’ve also boosted the chances of children showing up to school.
“We have 95 to 100 percent attendance rates,” Gabel said. “One native tribe, just on the promise we’d start to deliver meals, the first day, their enrollment doubled. The first year, all of their sixth graders were going on to seventh grade. That had never happened before at that school”.
During COVID, Thrive provided family food packs.
“We’d feed the whole family for month,” Gabel said. “They would pick up food and educational materials. If we didn’t provide food, the kids had no incentive to (get their homework)”.
When the program expanded to the Philippines, Thrive founders further realized it’s not just about the meals, but about the education.
“Adding the moms (to cook hot meals) has been so cool to watch take shape,” she said, “their involvement in their kids’ education and spending time with their kids while in school and earning money”.
Gabel said Thrive works closely with the communities it serves, enlisting help locally to ensure sustainability. Paid personnel in Bangladesh and the Philippines help Thrive operations run smoothly.
“That has allowed us, in 13 years, to only miss a month, on average, to three days of meals,” she said. “That’s through a massive terrorist attack, COVID, political unrest and weather conditions, solely because we have such a strong local base”.
Thrive hopes to feed 10,000 children daily by 2028.
“I want to feed as many kids as I can,” Gabel said. “There are schools on the waitlist and other schools beyond that. … Hunger is a huge problem, but it’s a basic need with an easy solution,” she added. “It’s $10 a month, on average, to feed a kid. Childhood hunger seems so massive. How do you make a dent in it? If you feed one child, you’re literally feeding a kid”.
“… changing the life of a child, for $10 a month. It’s an easy solution at a microlevel with all these amazing ripple effects.”
In Grosse Pointe
To assist with raising funds, Gabel has created a Thrive Youth Council at Grosse Pointe South High School.
“It’s 15 to 20 kids who do pitches around town,” she said.
“They’ve raised $15,000 on their own. We’ve been able to add 240 more kids than we had before they started fundraising for us. We’ll pitch to anyone who wants to hear from us.”
The Thrive Youth Council is available to visit organizations and businesses in the community.
“Every parent wants their kids to realize the greater world,” Gabel said. “This is a great way to do this.
“… We’ve had success with small gatherings at people’s houses,” she added. “Or I’ll just come and share our work. We’re so close with the schools that, some of them, we’re able to Zoom in with the moms cooking or with the classrooms.”
“I can’t imagine being a kid and not having food, but also being a mom and not being able to provide,” said Gabel, a mother of three. “I can’t imagine not having a consistent way to nourish kids. Knowing these kids are getting one healthy meal a day is such a relief.
Supporting Thrive is an easy buy-in, Gabel said.
“It’s $10 a month at the individual level. At the corporate level, you could sponsor a school. Churches are sponsoring schools. Families can sponsor a school.”
A month of support for an entire classroom is $250. A month of support for an entire school is $1,000.
“When we go, we do home visits,” she continued. “We ask what the needs are. They just want their kids to be healthy, happy and educated. We see it in every house we go to. That’s what I want for my kids, too. There are commonalities with basic parenting needs and I’m super lucky to be able to help another mom out.”
Gabel thanked the Grosse Pointe community for its continued support.
“I never realized how easily philanthropic this community is,” Gabel said. “I’ve always known it, but I’ve never experienced it. I’m super honored people care enough.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit thrive-global.org.
Article first featured in Grosse Pointe News on April 23, 2026.
