What does it mean to be fed?

If you’re physically hungry, it might mean getting a square meal. If you’re hungry for guidance, it might mean finding a mentor who can set you on the right path. If you’re hungry to make a difference, it might mean seeing how your efforts are bettering the lives of others.

Amway IBOs Jaimie and Renardo Edwards are familiar with all three types of hunger; and together with their daughters, Riley Aragon and Amway IBO Rezhia Edwards, they’ve found a way to feed all three through their family foundation, Infinite Wave Foundation.

“Growing up as an at-risk youth and young mom, I had no idea what to do. I had no support,” Jaimie said. “But when I actually got into trouble, there were people who believed in me. And that was the stepping stone to getting the help that I needed.” A referral from a mentor brought her to a program for at-risk youth. Another mentor helped her get her GED. “She’s the one that saw a lot of potential in me,” Jaimie said. “It took months until she was able to break through this hard wall I’d put up around myself, but she did. And she really made a difference in my life.”

“We were once at-risk youth, and we want to give at-risk youth a chance to be successful in life,” Renardo said. The charity they founded with their daughters two years ago now does just that, drawing on Jaimie’s and Renardo’s own life experiences to build effective, interlocking programs that, together, address food insecurity, empower youth and foster community resilience. Several of the programs – Cultivate Our Youth, Wellness Warriors and Farm to Families – draw on Renardo’s experiences in agriculture.

“I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, in a very poor community and family,” Renardo said. Raised by his grandmother alongside seven siblings, he knew he would have to be resourceful to expand his opportunities. One day, he asked his grandmother for $100 – and she gave it to him. With the $100, he bought 20 chickens. Soon he added five goats. For years, he raised and sold chickens and goats to feed the family and pay for his schooling. Eventually, that schooling unlocked an opportunity to join the U.S. Military, where he served for 16 years.

“I was still kind of lost being in the military, because I didn’t have any mentorship, any guidance,” Renardo admitted. While serving in the U.S. Navy, he and Jaimie were newly married. A visit to Canada, where he saw an Amway presentation, inspired him to become an IBO in his 20s. Building the business together, long distance from their mentors, wasn’t easy, but the lessons they learned about perseverance, leadership and personal growth, became the foundation for how they would approach life and purpose in the years ahead.

“It instilled in me a lot of drive, a lot of go-getter attitude,” Renardo said. As they continued growing as a couple and as entrepreneurs, they began to feel a calling to do something more, something that would create lasting change. They realized that to create real change, we needed to start at the roots, “We wanted to mentor youth.” Renardo said.

As the years went on, Jaimie and Renardo built a successful, non-Amway business together. The business was so successful that they began talking, as a family, about how to leverage their resources, experiences and skills to make a greater impact. Their conversations kept returning to one shared realization: there was a need to reach those who felt lost, unsupported or overlooked, especially with the youth. Drawing from their backgrounds, their shared love for growth, and their family’s passion for giving back, that desire to serve others and create opportunities for young people to grow became the seed of Infinite Wave Foundation.

As their vision expanded, they discovered how agriculture could be a powerful tool to fulfill their mission. They realized that agriculture was quickly disappearing in Canada, and a lightbulb went off for all of them. They could create a program that would teach youth how to farm, while at the same time, instilling business skills and providing them with mentorship and support to move forward in their lives. It not only helps youth cultivate crops but confidence and purpose. What began as a cry for help turned into a mission to build hope.

“All of our programs stem from a lived experience that we have gone through or that we’ve witnessed,” Jaimie said. “Everything we see that’s – not wrong, but just – not happening for certain people, we want to create something for them.”

For her part, Rezhia was 100% on board. “In elementary school, I was in a farming program for a year, and I learned how to grow my own vegetables and deal with chickens and goats,” she said. “And it was really fun for me. I enjoyed it.” She was also attracted to the idea of mentoring others. “Mom’s old mentor – the one who helped her get her GED – she got me into a program where I helped mentor people that were younger than me. I started off as a volunteer. Then I became a mentor for the last two years of high school. I really enjoyed being able to help guide children. Childhood is where everything starts.”

After high school, Rezhia attended film school in Vancouver, and she fell in love with camera operating, writing and directing – skills she now puts to use as Infinite Wave Foundation’s digital media director. She also ended up bringing her parents back to Amway.

“We wanted Rezhia to get some business education and decided we should have her see some Amway information,” Renardo explained. “We exposed her to many different businesses, but with Amway, almost immediately, she turned to us and said, ‘I’m going to build this business.’ I was like, ‘OK, good for you!’ And then her next question was ‘Can you help?’ And I said, ‘Of course I can help.’ As a father, I know the best thing I can do is support her in her dreams. So, we’ve been working our charity and building our Amway business, trying to do both, in tandem.”

At this point, the future looks bright for both. Infinite Wave Foundation continues to expand its reach and was recently invited by the Canadian government to apply for grants that could help launch new programs in communities across the country. Securing the initial funding would serve as the launchpad for creating a sustainable ecosystem; one that connects youth empowerment, agriculture, business education and community development. And as the Edwards family grows their Amway business, they remain inspired by the belief that success is not about recognition, but about using what they’ve learned to help more people who may not yet see the possibilities within themselves.

Yet, the clearest indicator of success, for all of them, isn’t dollars and cents: It’s seeing the impact of their efforts. “Every time we do a Meals Movement, where we go and feed homeless people,” said Jaimie, “I’m crying. Because you hear the stories and you talk to them, and they’re just such amazing individuals in not-great circumstances.”

“We went to feed them during the wintertime,” Renardo chimed in. “It was raining and very cold. And we pulled up, and they were asking us, ‘Why are you here?’ And I’m like, ‘We’re here to feed you guys!’ And they were like, ‘Nobody comes in the wintertime.’ That’s when I felt like we’re really making an impact.”