Gina Gabel, co-founder of the Grosse Pointe-based Thrive nonprofit, has been named to Inc. magazine’s 2026 Female Founders list.
As co-founder of Thrive, Gabel has helped deliver nearly 5 million meals to children facing food insecurity across Bangladesh and the Philippines since launching the organization in 2012 with co-founder Priscilla Perry Heffelfinger.
Today, Thrive provides more than 3,000 meals each day, prepared by local moms, across 17 schools with plans to reach 10,000 children daily by 2028.
“What makes this work transformational is that it doesn’t stop with the child,” says Gabel. “We hire local mothers to prepare meals, creating income where there was none. When we strengthen local funding, we build sustainability that makes communities stronger. Feeding a child changes their day, but empowering both women and children changes generations.”
The organization prioritizes hiring local mothers to prepare the meals, which for most represents their first-ever form of stable income, and purchases its produce from local farmers. This changes lives and builds stronger communities, proving that scale and sustainability can grow together and strengthen families from within.
Inc.’s Female Founders honorees collectively represent billions in revenue and funding and span industries from technology and finance to nonprofit innovation. Heffelfinger and Gabel join the 2026 cohort of women redefining what leadership and impact look like.
