Giving Back

Providing Ukrainian Families with Food, Shelter, & Daily Essentials



When our CEO, Ken Jacobus, saw images on TV of thousands of Ukrainian refugees gathered at Warsaw Central train station in Poland, trying to escape the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he thought he could help. So, he booked a one-way flight to Warsaw armed with 6 million American Express Marriot Bonvoy credit card points and a plan to transport, feed, and book Marriott hotel rooms for weary refugees.
Since this fateful flight, Ken and Good Start Packaging have provided support to hundreds of Ukrainian families. To date, we’ve invested $305,000 in relief efforts for the people of Ukraine and have donated more than $30,000 to UNICEF, the International Red Cross, and the International Rescue Committee in humanitarian assistance in Poland.
Our focus initially was on providing temporary housing, but as the nature of need has shifted, we’ve concentrated our efforts on supplying food, personal hygiene products, and other daily living essentials for refugees living in Poland. This shift has also been critical as government and non-profit aid started being focused elsewhere.
We’ve also recently sponsored a Ukraine family to relocate to the United States, providing complimentary, furnished lodging while they acquire work permits. They are three of 100,000 refugees allowed entry through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Uniting for Ukraine program. We are excited and grateful to welcome them to the New Hampshire community.
The crisis in Ukraine represents an opportunity for all of us to demonstrate that we’ll stand up to protect basic human rights, the sovereignty of every country, and international laws.

Feeding School Children in Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. About one million people are undernourished, and 17% of children under five suffer from chronic undernutrition.
Currently, Nicaragua is under additional stress facing the cumulative impacts of multiple
crises, including a protracted economic recession, the covid-19 pandemic, climate shocks,
and rising costs in food, fuel, fertilizer, and energy prices linked to the crisis in Ukraine.
Social protection programs, like school feeding, alleviate nutrition and economic pressures
at home and serve as a necessary safety net for vulnerable communities. They also
incentivize education for future generations, as children are often removed from class to
contribute to household income during times of crisis.
We’re proud to partner with World Food Program USA to deliver daily nutritious meals to
16,600 food-insecure school children for 1/3 of their school year, contributing $200,000 to
this crucial cause.
The full food basic we provide contains beans, maize or wheat flour, rice, vegetables, oil,
dates, and a specialized super cereal enriched with microcultures to provide a nutrition
boost. This basket covers 30-40% of these children’s daily nutritional requirements.
World Food Program USA also sources ingredients for these baskets from local producers
and helps train parents and teachers on proper food handling, storage, and preparation.

Supplying Clean Water to Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa

164 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have no drinking water service at their schools, and 215 million children attend schools without basic sanitation.
Finding water is a daily challenge for communities, particularly women and girls who spend
hours fetching water that is often dirty and unsafe. This lack of safe water and proper
sanitation limits education and food production and leads to illness and disease.
The Water Project helps bring clean water to these communities by providing training,
expertise, and financial support for water project construction. The projects include new
wells, rehabbed wells, sand dams, rainwater catchment systems, and spring protections.
We’re thrilled to support the Kasioni Community in Kenya in the construction of their new
hand-dug well adjacent to a new sand dam on the riverbed. The sand dam will build up
sand to raise the water table and naturally filter water, while the well will provide a safer
method of drawing drinking water for the community.
It could take up to three years of rain for this sand dam to reach maximum capacity
because sometimes it only rains once a year! As the sand dam matures and stores more
sand, the surrounding landscape will become lush and fertile.
Learn more about this water, sanitation, and hygiene project and the tangible impact this work is
having on the Kamami community below. The water crisis in Africa is real, and we can
make a real impact because of your support.
GIVING BACK TO OUR COMMUNITIES
Our products are
green and so are our
business operations.
We replaced nearly
6
MILLION
PLASTIC
STRAWS
We sold close to 6 million compostable and marine-degradable straws in 2021 helping keep harmful plastic out of landfills and waterways.
We cut our
electricity
usage by
30
%
We replaced all of the lighting in our office with LED bulbs allowing us to cut our electricity usage by 30%.
We saved
79.9
metric tons
of co2.
Our optional work-from-home policy saved an average of 8,979 gallons of gas in 2021, the equivalent of 79.9 metric tons of CO2.