Shopping at companies that give back to communities in need or purchasing products from B Corps (for profit businesses that make a positive impact socially and environmentally while meeting high standards of accountability and transparency) has never been more popular. The simple, yet effective vision of using a business as a force of good is on the rise and consumers today are all about supporting their efforts.

The healthy snack bar aims to end childhood malnutrition worldwide. For every bar bought, a nutritional pack is purchased and donated to Action Against Hunger who distributes the life-saving nutrition packets to children in need.

Heather Newgen talks with Kristen Bell about This Bar Saves Lives for The Voluntourist.

Along with Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell and Ravi Patel, actress Kristen Bell is one of the co-founders of This Bar Saves Lives and told reporters how she got involved.

“I had always been a bit preoccupied with the idea that charity is wonderful, but businesses can do better. It was sort of coinciding when Ryan Devlin was in my living room and he had been lamenting about this humanitarian trip he went on. He had seen severe acute malnutrition patients up close and personal, and it really sat with him and was haunting him.”

She continued, “He was like, “Why is no one doing a one for one in the food space? Why are no companies doing a give back in the food space?” He’s like, “I’m going to start a bar company. I’m going to do it.” I was like, “Okay, bro. Great. If you ever start it, let me know.” Then sure enough, because you cannot stop Ryan Devlin, he started baking recipes with his wife in their kitchen. Nobody knew how to do anything but he was like, “I think I want to do this.” I was like, “Okay, great. I want to do it with you, so we asked the people who we knew how to do it and somehow started this company.”

Bell knew she was entering a space she didn’t know much about, but was determined to help make the company happen.

“It was honestly figuring it out in a world where we had never swam before. Ryan and I were both actors and Todd Grinnell and Ravi Patel also knew the business, so we were like, “Let’s figure it out. Let’s cold call people and put together this company with the main intention to have it be a one for one, deliver food aid to the charities that needed it. Let them know where to drop it. Let them get it to the kids. We don’t know how to do that. We would botch it. So trust the people who know what they’re doing. We sourced everything really ethically to the standards of what we would feed ourselves and our children and somehow it came about.”

So far 3.5 million nutritional packets have been donated and This Bar Saves Lives can be purchased at Starbucks, Amazon, Target and Whole Foods.

And to safeguard the intent of the company and the guarantee of providing aid for those in need, the founders have taken steps to ensure transparency.

Heather Newgen interviews Ryan Devlin about The Bar Saves Lives for The Voluntourist.

“For us we have these pillars on the giving side that we absolutely have to adhere to. Traceability and accountability are two and we knew that if you’re going to call something as bold as This Bar Saves Lives, it damn well be backing it up,” Devlin told The Voluntourist.

“So we partnered with top non governmental organizations around the world like Feeding America and Save the Children, and many others. We’re very transparent about the number of food packets we’re sending, where we’re sending them to, when it gets there and reporting back on the good news and bad news of those shipments. It’s the customer making this donation and they’re trusting us to make sure a kid somewhere is getting the nutrients they need. So we hold ourselves to the highest standard.”

The food packets are given to children in several countries including the U.S., Haiti, South Sudan and more. For additional information on This Bar Saves Lives click here.