Thanks to You, One Conversation Became a Nonprofit
You’ve probably never met Torie or Marta.
But more than a decade ago, Flatirons attendees like you helped start something that would eventually change both of their lives.
It started in 2014 with a conversation between a local community partner and leaders at Flatirons, including our Local Outreach Pastor and CFO Michael Koehn.
They were wrestling with a problem: getting a job could change someone’s circumstances. But keeping it, and building a more stable life around it, was another story.
So they asked: What if we could help with what happens after someone gets hired?
That question became Thrive – Transformation at Work.
At the time, nobody knew how many people would eventually walk through Thrive’s doors.
Twelve years later, the answer is pretty incredible.
THE GOAL WAS ALWAYS BIGGER THAN EMPLOYMENT
Thrive was built around a simple belief:
Everyone was created with dignity to add value to the world through their work.
But getting hired doesn’t automatically fix everything that made finding or keeping a job difficult in the first place.
So Thrive took a different approach.
Instead of just helping someone write a résumé and sending them on their way, Thrive came alongside people as they rebuilt four important relationships: with God, with others, with themselves, and with the world around them.
That meant practical help finding and keeping a job. But it also meant encouragement. Accountability. Community. People who didn’t disappear once the paperwork was signed.
Thrive is faith-based and open to anyone, regardless of what they believe. The goal is bigger than employment. It’s helping someone believe their past doesn’t have to decide their future.
And for Torie, that wasn’t just a nice idea. It became her new story.
REMEMBER TORIE?
When Torie came to Thrive, she wanted a different life.
Torie and Rick
She just wasn’t sure someone with her past could actually have one.
“Before Thrive I didn’t know it was possible for someone like me who had done the things I had to even have a remote chance at a new life,” she said. “I didn’t know where to begin.”
Thrive gave her somewhere to begin.
She went to work for Rick, president of S&R Environmental Consulting and one of Thrive’s employer partners. And instead of simply helping Torie get hired, Thrive stayed alongside her as she learned new skills, worked through hard moments, and built a more stable life.
As Torie put it:
“This program is not meant to do life for you… it walks alongside you through the hard times, encourages you through the struggles and celebrates your accomplishments.”
Torie showed what could happen when someone got a real shot at a new life.
Then came Marta.
MARTA DIDN’T JUST FIND A JOB.
When Marta came to Thrive, she had recently lost her job. She was a single mom of two, living in subsidized housing, dealing with significant health problems, and trying to figure out what came next.
After completing Thrive’s workshop, she landed a full-time job at Walmart.
That alone would have been worth celebrating.
But she didn’t stop there.
With continued support and coaching, Marta kept moving forward. She became a full-time manager. She became a foster parent to two more children. And she began working toward financial stability and owning a home that could give her family an even stronger future.
A job became stability.
Stability created room to help other people.
And one family’s future started looking different.
Torie’s and Marta’s are just two stories out of hundreds.
Looking for work or trying to build a more stable future?
Thrive offers free employment coaching to help you overcome barriers, strengthen your job search, and move toward meaningful, lasting work.
THEN SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENEd.
Thrive grew up.
From the beginning, Flatirons didn’t want to create something that could only survive inside our walls. The hope was to build something strong enough to eventually stand on its own.
So shortly after Thrive launched in 2014, Flatirons began the process of turning it into an independent nonprofit. That would allow Thrive to build relationships with more churches, businesses, volunteers, donors, and community partners while staying connected to the local outreach work that started it.
In 2015, Thrive officially became a 501(c)(3).
Flatirons attendees like you helped launch Thrive through financial generosity and volunteer impact. Then we got to watch it grow beyond us. And more than a decade later, Thrive faced another question:
How do we meet the needs of unemployed and underemployed across the front range in a job crisis today?
SAME MISSION. A FASTER WAY TO GET THERE.
Some people coming to Thrive today are on the edge of losing their housing or their car. Some don’t have enough money for basic needs. Others are trying to build a new life after incarceration, addiction, or years of believing failure gets the final word.
Waiting months for help isn’t much help when the crisis is happening now.
So in 2026, Thrive rebuilt its program.
Today, participants can go through a free, five-week online coaching intensive designed to get them help faster.
The program is trauma-informed and practical. Participants work through past barriers, learn modern job-search skills, plan for their financial well-being, and begin replacing old narratives with a different picture of what their future could look like.
And the change is working.
75% faster access to coaching.
72% faster program completion.
In September alone, 30 people secured employment—tripling Thrive’s best month in 2025.
As of September 2026, Thrive reports helping 2.5 times more people find purposeful employment than in any previous year in its history.
But here’s what makes those numbers matter:
Every one of them represents somebody like Torie or Marta.
Want to help more people find stability through work?
Thrive’s coaching is free to participants because of the generosity of donors and partners. Your financial support helps more people get the coaching and support they need to move toward meaningful work and a more stable future.
LOOK WHAT ONE CONVERSATION ACCOMPLISHED
More than a decade ago, a conversation between a local community partner and leaders at Flatirons uncovered a problem worth doing something about.
People like you who call Flatirons their church home helped turned that idea into something real.
They didn’t know Torie or Marta.
They didn’t know how many people would eventually need Thrive or what the organization would become.
They just started.
And today, Thrive has its own team, its own partners, its own donors, and a model reaching more people than ever before.
In 2025 alone, 138 job seekers completed Thrive training and joined a coaching cohort. Sixty-seven secured employment, earning an average of $21.11 an hour. Thrive estimates those jobs represent nearly $2.95 million in annualized economic impact.
That’s what can happen when a church doesn’t just ask, “What can we do to bring economic freedom and stability?”
But also:
“What can we start that might keep going long after us?”
HELP BRING FREEDOM FURTHER
Be Free gives us the opportunity to keep saying yes to work like this—to invest in people, partners, and ideas that can bring lasting freedom far beyond the walls of Flatirons.
If you haven’t activated your pledge yet, or you’re new to the Flatirons family and want to join the mission, you can give at: flatironschurch.com/give