Thrive + One Spark
September 12, 2017 8:38 pm
Thrive is about community.
Over the past 3 years, we’ve created a community that breaks the norms of “fitness culture,” that has brought strength, compassion, and sensible lifestyle change to the forefront and has made fitness accessible to everyone, not just gym bros and Instagram models.
We’re so proud of and thankful for our members who’ve inspired us and who are the glue that holds our community together.
Ultimately, this is our small and humble way of trying to make the world a better place.
But there’s always more that can be done.
That’s why Thrive is going to be teaming up with One Spark, a charity that helps women in abusive relationships achieve financial independence.
Enter One Spark
One Spark is a charity that aims to provide barrier-free opportunities for women experiencing violence to generate income through entrepreneurship.
One Spark began when, now Executive Director, Corrie Schneider was consulting with women’s shelters in Ontario. Despite their best efforts to help women get out of abusive relationships and improve their situation, they kept coming back to one problem:
Housing is so expensive that most of these women couldn’t afford to move out on their own.
Women were often going back to horribly abusive homes because they couldn’t afford to go elsewhere. It seemed like most of these women had no hope.
But Corrie’s entrepreneurial brain soon found a way to circumvent the problem:
Sure, we can’t change the price of housing…
But what if we could give these women the tools to build their own income and afford housing on their own?
And thus, One Spark was born.
Through hands-on education and guidance, One Spark is an organization that provides the resources, tools, and support needed for women to create their own businesses and build an income for themselves and their families.
Where They Are Now
Since inception, One Spark has helped over 20 women to start their own businesses (over 80% of whom are right here in Toronto), leave abusive relationships, and create an income for themselves.
And they’re not stopping there. One Spark is in the process of bringing on a Financial Advising service available to any woman who needs it, in an effort to help women manage their finances and make the most of what they have.
But even with all this good will and amazing work, the same problem continues to rear it’s head…
Ultimately the money to help these women has to come from somewhere.
It takes thousands of dollars to put just one woman through One Spark’s training program and, being a not-for-profit charity, One Spark relies on donations to make this happen.
And that’s where we want to help.
Thrive Gives Back
At Thrive, most of our members are women. To imagine the struggle of a woman stuck in an abusive relationship with no recourse because she has no income is heartbreaking. We feel very strongly about One Spark’s mission and we love the idea of helping these women achieve independence and empowerment through entrepreneurship!
Over the next few months, we’re going to be unrolling some new initiatives and ways to donate to One Spark, helping them further their cause.
And to show that we’re serious, we’re going to start off by doing this out of our own pocket.
But we also love to make things fun at Thrive, so you can bet you’ll have a chance to help us raise money and donate to this awesome cause in a way that builds the same community we’re so proud of already!
No woman deserves to be stuck in an abusive relationship. At Thrive, we’re fortunate enough, by luck of circumstance and through friends, family and the Thrive community, not to be vulnerable to those who would prey on others to fill holes that exist in their own hearts. If we can do even just a small part every day to help One Spark achieve their vision of a world where no woman faces financial barriers to living a life without violence, we’ll be making the world a better place.
PS: If you think One Spark has a good cause and want to donate right now, you can do so right here!
