Giving Back

WE DONATE AT LEAST 20% OF OUR PROFITS TO CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS WORKING TO FEED COMMUNITIES, ADVANCE HUMAN RIGHTS, AND PROTECT THE PLANET.

Every purchase you make helps us support important causes like these.

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

We work hard to create prosperity here in our home state of New Hampshire. All Good Start Packaging employees receive paid volunteer time each year, and we collectively contribute through donations, service projects, and charitable giving. Here are some of the organizations we support locally.