From Gatorade to Global Disability Inclusion: Celebrating 17 Years of Partnership with Emily Morrison and the Gloria Dei Foundation

A sports drink created to restore depleted bodies has become part of a family legacy devoted to restoring hope, dignity, and belonging for people with disabilities around the world.

A Legacy of Faith and Generosity

Dr. Bob Cade’s invention of Gatorade generated resources that he and his wife, Mary, used to support churches, organizations, and people in need. Today, their children continue that legacy through the Gloria Dei Foundation, whose name means “glory to God.” Guided by Isaiah 58:6’s call to loosen the chains of injustice and Jesus’ command to serve “the least of these,” Gloria Dei supports innovative organizations that affirm the God-given dignity and worth of every person.

For 17 years, the Cade family’s generosity has helped Kupenda grow from a small Kenya-based organization into a global leader in disability stigma reduction and inclusion.

Emily Morrison, Bob and Mary’s daughter, began supporting Kupenda personally with her family in 2009. Then, in 2013, the Gloria Dei Foundation awarded its first grant to Kupenda. Since then, the foundation has provided 10 significant grants. Together, the family’s personal giving and foundation support total more than half a million dollars.

A Partnership Beyond Funding

Yet this partnership has always been about more than funding. It has been sustained by Emily’s friendship with Kupenda’s founder, Cynthia Bauer, her devotion to Kupenda’s mission, and her commitment to keeping children with disabilities and their families before the Gloria Dei board.

Emily’s experiences with dyslexia, chronic illness, pain, and reduced mobility have shaped her commitment to disability justice. She understands how beliefs about disability can become harmful practices. In the communities Kupenda serves, children may be hidden, neglected, or denied education and medical care because disability is blamed on witchcraft, curses, or family sin.

“It is the changing of people’s hearts and minds,” Emily said. “We have to reach them, or else things won’t change.”

From Malawi to the World

In 2019, Emily traveled to Kenya and Malawi, where she witnessed Kupenda’s work firsthand. Gloria Dei’s support then made possible Kupenda’s disability-inclusion pilot with World Relief in Malawi. Kupenda analyzed World Relief’s curricula and tools, identified gaps, and recommended ways to make its programs more inclusive. We also developed and delivered disability training for the World Relief staff that has since been refined and used to train thousands of nonprofit staff around the world.

World Relief’s disability-inclusion work has helped churches and communities reach thousands of people with disabilities.

Expanding into Latin America and the Caribbean

Today, Gloria Dei is helping carry this model into Latin America and the Caribbean. Kupenda’s Disability Guidebook has been translated into Spanish, and we are exploring partnerships in Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Guatemala.

Bob Cade

With Gratitude

Over the past 17 years, this partnership has enabled Kupenda to save and improve the lives of thousands of children with disabilities around the world. We are profoundly grateful to Emily, the entire Cade family, the Gloria Dei board, and Your Philanthropy, which manages the foundation’s grant-making, for walking beside Kupenda in this work. Their generosity is helping churches, nonprofits, families, and communities recognize a truth at the heart of the Christian faith: every person bears God’s image and deserves to be known, valued, and included.

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