Latest news with #MANANutrition
NDTV
8 hours ago
- Business
- NDTV
USAID Cuts Threaten Supply Of Georgia's 'God's Food' To Children In Need
Georgia: Reaching into one of the giant white sacks piled up in his Georgia food-processing plant, Mark Moore pulls out a fistful of shelled peanuts - what he calls "God's food" - and lets them roll through his fingers. A former evangelical missionary, Moore is co-founder of MANA Nutrition, a non-profit that says it has fed 10 million children across the globe since 2010 with packets of peanut butter paste made in the small farming community of Fitzgerald, about 180 miles south of Atlanta. "This saves children," said Moore, 58, clutching a bunch of the protein-rich legumes. "It's not an overstatement: We defeat death." But MANA is now in the midst of its own struggle for survival. Deep cuts in federal programs targeting international aid programs under President Donald Trump have threatened to choke off the financial lifeline that has allowed the non-profit to carry out its life-saving mission. Since January, the US Agency for International Development - created during the height of the Cold War by then-President John F. Kennedy - has all been but dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump's cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk. In announcing the termination of its contracts, which accounted for about 90 percent of MANA's $100 million annual budget, DOGE sent a letter to the non-profit saying its work was "not aligned with Agency priorities." Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the State Department, which oversees USAID, have been unsuccessful. In two terse letters sent to MANA and reviewed by Reuters, USAID offered no specific reasons for the terminations other than to say the work "was not in the national interest." MANA has just enough cash on hand to keep running through August at the most, Moore says, but he seems unshakable in his optimism about the future of its mission. He has vowed to keep his 80,000 square-foot factory going and his 130 workers employed, even as the Trump administration has slashed 90 percent of USAID contracts and $60 billion in US assistance across the board. One possibility is finding another international aid organization to support the manufacture and distribution of MANA's peanut paste packets, each about the size of a cell phone. Most of the product - which also includes powdered milk, sugar and vitamins - goes to Africa, where Moore served as a missionary in Uganda for 10 years. "It saves children who are at the brink of no return," said Mark Manary, an expert in childhood nutrition at Washington University's Institute for Public Health who helped develop the paste's formula. "It's hard to wrap your mind around the need." Manary said the food created in Georgia and at a similar operation in Rhode Island, Edesia Nutrition, is an important link in the global effort to stave off starvation of children in countries where the No. 1 killer is malnutrition. Moore hopes lawmakers and the Trump administration will see the value in the work and put the money back into the new federal budget. "I believe that the US government will remain involved in global food aid," he said, adding that he has spoken to both Republicans and Democrats who want the work to continue. Moore is also seeking contracts with other organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid for children in crisis, including Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and UNICEF. The organizations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One bright spot in recent years was an infusion of cash from Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund billionaire based in London and a philanthropist with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Hohn's charity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent years, Hohn has given more than $250 million to MANA Nutrition, according to Moore, much of it already spent on expanding the plant, more than doubling its space and adding new machinery. But MANA needs new contracts to go forward, or another donation from philanthropists. "We've been put on Earth for a purpose," he said. "Jesus told his disciples to go and feed the people. So, we've been hustling nonstop."
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
USAID cuts threaten 'God's food,' made in Georgia for children in need
FITZGERALD, Georgia: Reaching into one of the giant white sacks piled up in his Georgia food-processing plant, Mark Moore pulls out a fistful of shelled peanuts - what he calls "God's food" - and lets them roll through his fingers. A former evangelical missionary, Moore is co-founder of MANA Nutrition , a non-profit that says it has fed 10 million children across the globe since 2010 with packets of peanut butter paste made in the small farming community of Fitzgerald, about 180 miles south of Atlanta. "This saves children," said Moore, 58, clutching a bunch of the protein-rich legumes. "It's not an overstatement: We defeat death." But MANA is now in the midst of its own struggle for survival. Deep cuts in federal programs targeting international aid programs under President Donald Trump have threatened to choke off the financial lifeline that has allowed the non-profit to carry out its life-saving mission. Since January, the U.S. Agency for International Development - created during the height of the Cold War by then-President John F. Kennedy - has all been but dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump's cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk. Live Events In announcing the termination of its contracts, which accounted for about 90 percent of MANA's $100 million annual budget, DOGE sent a letter to the non-profit saying its work was "not aligned with Agency priorities." Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the State Department, which oversees USAID , have been unsuccessful. In two terse letters sent to MANA and reviewed by Reuters, USAID offered no specific reasons for the terminations other than to say the work "was not in the national interest." MANA has just enough cash on hand to keep running through August at the most, Moore says, but he seems unshakable in his optimism about the future of its mission. He has vowed to keep his 80,000 square-foot factory going and his 130 workers employed, even as the Trump administration has slashed 90 percent of USAID contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance across the board. One possibility is finding another international aid organization to support the manufacture and distribution of MANA's peanut paste packets, each about the size of a cell phone. Most of the product - which also includes powdered milk, sugar and vitamins - goes to Africa, where Moore served as a missionary in Uganda for 10 years. "It saves children who are at the brink of no return," said Mark Manary, an expert in childhood nutrition at Washington University's Institute for Public Health who helped develop the paste's formula. "It's hard to wrap your mind around the need." Manary said the food created in Georgia and at a similar operation in Rhode Island, Edesia Nutrition, is an important link in the global effort to stave off starvation of children in countries where the No. 1 killer is malnutrition. Moore hopes lawmakers and the Trump administration will see the value in the work and put the money back into the new federal budget. "I believe that the U.S. government will remain involved in global food aid," he said, adding that he has spoken to both Republicans and Democrats who want the work to continue. Moore is also seeking contracts with other organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid for children in crisis, including Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and UNICEF. The organizations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One bright spot in recent years was an infusion of cash from Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund billionaire based in London and a philanthropist with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Hohn's charity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent years, Hohn has given more than $250 million to MANA Nutrition, according to Moore, much of it already spent on expanding the plant, more than doubling its space and adding new machinery. But MANA needs new contracts to go forward, or another donation from philanthropists. "We've been put on Earth for a purpose," he said. "Jesus told his disciples to go and feed the people. So, we've been hustling nonstop."
Straits Times
14 hours ago
- Health
- Straits Times
USAID cuts threaten 'God's food,' made in Georgia for children in need
Dozens of boxes filled with life-saving peanut paste line the floor of MANA Nutrition's plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, U.S. May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson Mark Moore, co-founder of MANA Nutrition, stands inside his production plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, U.S. May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson Machines on the production line at MANA Nutrition fill and package peanut-based therapeutic food at their plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, U.S. May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson Dozens of giant white sacks filled with peanuts, the key ingredient in MANA Nutrition's therapeutic food, await processing at their plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, U.S. May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson A packaged box of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) bears the USAID logo, inside MANA Nutrition's plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, U.S. May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson FITZGERALD, Georgia - Reaching into one of the giant white sacks piled up in his Georgia food-processing plant, Mark Moore pulls out a fistful of shelled peanuts - what he calls "God's food" - and lets them roll through his fingers. A former evangelical missionary, Moore is co-founder of MANA Nutrition, a non-profit that says it has fed 10 million children across the globe since 2010 with packets of peanut butter paste made in the small farming community of Fitzgerald, about 180 miles south of Atlanta. "This saves children," said Moore, 58, clutching a bunch of the protein-rich legumes. "It's not an overstatement: We defeat death." But MANA is now in the midst of its own struggle for survival. Deep cuts in federal programs targeting international aid programs under President Donald Trump have threatened to choke off the financial lifeline that has allowed the non-profit to carry out its life-saving mission. Since January, the U.S. Agency for International Development - created during the height of the Cold War by then-President John F. Kennedy - has all been but dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump's cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk. In announcing the termination of its contracts, which accounted for about 90 percent of MANA's $100 million annual budget, DOGE sent a letter to the non-profit saying its work was "not aligned with Agency priorities." Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the State Department, which oversees USAID, have been unsuccessful. In two terse letters sent to MANA and reviewed by Reuters, USAID offered no specific reasons for the terminations other than to say the work "was not in the national interest." MANA has just enough cash on hand to keep running through August at the most, Moore says, but he seems unshakable in his optimism about the future of its mission. He has vowed to keep his 80,000 square-foot factory going and his 130 workers employed, even as the Trump administration has slashed 90 percent of USAID contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance across the board. One possibility is finding another international aid organization to support the manufacture and distribution of MANA's peanut paste packets, each about the size of a cell phone. Most of the product - which also includes powdered milk, sugar and vitamins - goes to Africa, where Moore served as a missionary in Uganda for 10 years. "It saves children who are at the brink of no return," said Mark Manary, an expert in childhood nutrition at Washington University's Institute for Public Health who helped develop the paste's formula. "It's hard to wrap your mind around the need." Manary said the food created in Georgia and at a similar operation in Rhode Island, Edesia Nutrition, is an important link in the global effort to stave off starvation of children in countries where the No. 1 killer is malnutrition. Moore hopes lawmakers and the Trump administration will see the value in the work and put the money back into the new federal budget. "I believe that the U.S. government will remain involved in global food aid," he said, adding that he has spoken to both Republicans and Democrats who want the work to continue. Moore is also seeking contracts with other organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid for children in crisis, including Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and UNICEF. The organizations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One bright spot in recent years was an infusion of cash from Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund billionaire based in London and a philanthropist with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Hohn's charity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent years, Hohn has given more than $250 million to MANA Nutrition, according to Moore, much of it already spent on expanding the plant, more than doubling its space and adding new machinery. But MANA needs new contracts to go forward, or another donation from philanthropists. "We've been put on Earth for a purpose," he said. "Jesus told his disciples to go and feed the people. So, we've been hustling nonstop." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hindustan Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
USAID cuts threaten 'God's food,' made in Georgia for children in need
* MANA Nutrition, other aid groups face funding cuts from USAID under Trump administration * MANA seeks new funding partners to continue fight against child malnutrition * Philanthropist Chris Hohn has donated over $250 million to MANA FITZGERALD, Georgia, - Reaching into one of the giant white sacks piled up in his Georgia food-processing plant, Mark Moore pulls out a fistful of shelled peanuts - what he calls "God's food" - and lets them roll through his fingers. A former evangelical missionary, Moore is co-founder of MANA Nutrition, a non-profit that says it has fed 10 million children across the globe since 2010 with packets of peanut butter paste made in the small farming community of Fitzgerald, about 180 miles south of Atlanta. "This saves children," said Moore, 58, clutching a bunch of the protein-rich legumes. "It's not an overstatement: We defeat death." But MANA is now in the midst of its own struggle for survival. Deep cuts in federal programs targeting international aid programs under President Donald Trump have threatened to choke off the financial lifeline that has allowed the non-profit to carry out its life-saving mission. Since January, the U.S. Agency for International Development - created during the height of the Cold War by then-President John F. Kennedy - has all been but dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump's cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk. In announcing the termination of its contracts, which accounted for about 90 percent of MANA's $100 million annual budget, DOGE sent a letter to the non-profit saying its work was "not aligned with Agency priorities." Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the State Department, which oversees USAID, have been unsuccessful. In two terse letters sent to MANA and reviewed by Reuters, USAID offered no specific reasons for the terminations other than to say the work "was not in the national interest." MANA has just enough cash on hand to keep running through August at the most, Moore says, but he seems unshakable in his optimism about the future of its mission. He has vowed to keep his 80,000 square-foot factory going and his 130 workers employed, even as the Trump administration has slashed 90 percent of USAID contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance across the board. One possibility is finding another international aid organization to support the manufacture and distribution of MANA's peanut paste packets, each about the size of a cell phone. Most of the product - which also includes powdered milk, sugar and vitamins - goes to Africa, where Moore served as a missionary in Uganda for 10 years. "It saves children who are at the brink of no return," said Mark Manary, an expert in childhood nutrition at Washington University's Institute for Public Health who helped develop the paste's formula. "It's hard to wrap your mind around the need." Manary said the food created in Georgia and at a similar operation in Rhode Island, Edesia Nutrition, is an important link in the global effort to stave off starvation of children in countries where the No. 1 killer is malnutrition. Moore hopes lawmakers and the Trump administration will see the value in the work and put the money back into the new federal budget. "I believe that the U.S. government will remain involved in global food aid," he said, adding that he has spoken to both Republicans and Democrats who want the work to continue. Moore is also seeking contracts with other organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid for children in crisis, including Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and UNICEF. The organizations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One bright spot in recent years was an infusion of cash from Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund billionaire based in London and a philanthropist with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Hohn's charity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent years, Hohn has given more than $250 million to MANA Nutrition, according to Moore, much of it already spent on expanding the plant, more than doubling its space and adding new machinery. But MANA needs new contracts to go forward, or another donation from philanthropists. "We've been put on Earth for a purpose," he said. "Jesus told his disciples to go and feed the people. So, we've been hustling nonstop."
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A British billionaire funded therapeutic food production amid USAID 'craziness.' It won't be enough
NEW YORK (AP) — This 'yo-yo' of a year continues for America's nutritional peanut paste manufacturers, nonprofits that have found their lifesaving food packets disrupted by the U.S. State Department's sudden pause in foreign assistance. Georgia-based MANA Nutrition and Rhode Island-based Edesia Nutrition are two key links in the global supply chain sending nutritional mixtures of ground peanuts, powdered milk, sugar and oil to malnourished children worldwide. American farmers supply ingredients, shipping companies carry paste overseas and NGOs distribute the food throughout countries in need. Any delays complicate the network's delicate logistics, relied upon by millions of children. Yet the U.S. scrapped all of their upcoming contracts to make peanut butter paste, according to an April 4 email shared with The Associated Press detailing the U.S. Agency for International Development 's anticipated summer demand. Enough boxes to treat more than 450,000 children in Yemen were cancelled and more than 800,000 others 'will not move forward at this time.' Complicating matters further, MANA Nutrition CEO Mark Moore said USAID didn't pay $20 million in debts accumulated since December until last week. Neither maker was reimbursed by previous deadlines to expedite debt payments. Keeping MANA afloat amid the U.S. funding chaos is a longtime partner from across the pond: British billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Hohn. "The reason I can not be in just complete panic right now," Moore said last month, 'is Chris.' But the private support and reopened funding spigot are hardly enough to assure producers they will keep reaching youth in impoverished countries. And they don't expect philanthropy to replace government funding forever. The ups and downs underscore the pain felt even by the few surviving programs of the Trump administration's USAID purge that recently targeted initiatives keeping millions alive. Edesia Nutrition is still waiting to be made whole — and its production lines are running slowly. Production couldn't restart until Edesia CEO Navyn Salem saw 'at least some sign of payment." 'It honestly represents an entire life,' she said, watching a suspended conveyor belt in March. 'Every hour that goes by.' How the butter gets made A simple recipe is behind the revolutionary treatment for the estimated 45 million children younger than 5 who suffer from 'wasting.' Ten ready-to-eat pouches are filled every second inside MANA's rural factory. Locally sourced peanuts are roasted and cooled. Rollers separate kernels from skin before the peanuts are ground into paste and blended with powdered sugar. Kettles heat the final product to kill bacterial growth. The sticky paste gets pumped into sachets resembling oversized McDonald's ketchup packets. They don't need refrigeration and have a two-year shelf life. Each contains 500 calories, providing vitamins and nutrients necessary for early brain development. Malnourished children can be rehabilitated in six weeks by eating three of these energy-packed meal replacements a day. The usual cost? About $40 for a 150-packet box. This 'miracle food' became humanitarians' go-to tool for reducing undernutrition, which contributes to nearly half of deaths among children under age 5. NGOs forecast countries' need months in advance. MANA and Edesia compete for government contracts to make the paste. USAID buys their boxes and ships them overseas. Partners such as UNICEF and the World Food Program deliver them. Salem compares Plumpy'Nut — the popular brand name given by French company Nutriset — to baby formula. When the U.S. experienced a shortage, she said, parents didn't feed cookies to their children instead. 'We don't make a nice-to-have food," she said. 'You can't replace it with something else." 'Uncertainty and craziness' All the grinding and mixing was supposed to halt Jan. 29 when MANA and Edesia received stop-work orders from the U.S. State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration sought a program-by-program review of which USAID projects, criticized as liberal, make 'America safer, stronger or more prosperous.' He moved to keep strictly life-saving emergency programs going — but confusion reigned over exemptions. Moore ignored it nonetheless. 'When you have 100,000 pounds of peanut butter surging through a system you can't just really stop,' he said. Welcome news came a week later when the stop orders were rescinded. In late February, however, Moore said USAID contracts totaling $50 million — enough to treat 300,000 children — were cancelled. That included requests for countries high on the Famine Early Warning System Network's list of places expected to most need humanitarian food assistance. Reinstatements arrived late March 2 and MANA began squeezing ready-to-use therapeutic food the following morning after about one week down. 'We're grateful,' Moore said. 'But there's been a whole lot of uncertainty and craziness injected into our lives.' Thousands of Plumpy'Nut boxes piled up in Edesia's warehouses after the Trump administration paused contracts for their truckers. Salem said some shippers even had contracts terminated while in transit. Maersk Line, Limited — a container shipping company that transports ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF — worked with the U.S. government to comply with the foreign aid pause while "minimizing" supply chain disruptions, according to senior communications and media advisor Patrick Fitzgerald. Salem halted production on two lines for the first time since her nonprofit's 2010 founding. Edesia finally received $16 million in April for USAID orders shipped last year, she said, but still faces a $20 million hole that opened when the Trump administration froze humanitarian spending abroad. Lacking payments and clarity, she said she was forced to lay off 10% of Edesia's team. While this period has been difficult, Salem hopes they emerge 'more efficient and end up having more impact on children.' But switching production on and off is complicated and takes a toll. 'For sure, the ones who have the most costly price (are) children who will lose their lives as a result of these interruptions," Salem said. A British philanthropist steps up Enter Hohn. The London-based investor, who is described as unassuming, has made nutrition a cornerstone of The Children's Investment Fund Foundation. His charity declined to disclose how much money Hohn has donated to MANA. But neither the nonprofit factory nor Hohn views philanthropy as a sustainable way to fund malnutrition work that already lags behind the immense need. 'Sudden aid cuts have immediate and severe consequences for children, depriving them of life-saving support from products like RUTF," Hohn said in a statement to The Associated Press. 'While we are working with partners to minimise the impact, short-term solutions cannot replace stable, long-term government funding.' Hohn — who had previously given more than $250 million to MANA — called for 'urgent action' to bridge the funding gap and 'prevent further suffering.' The World Food Program has cut food rations and suspended nutrition assistance in recent years amid donor countries' dwindling support. A federal judge on March 10 ordered Trump officials to begin paying the roughly $2 billion owed to aid groups and businesses up to mid-February. Therapeutic food composes such a small fraction of U.S. spending that it amounts to a 'rounding error,' according to Moore. Nobody thought cuts would meaningfully help balance the federal budget. 'All of a sudden, boom. It's in the crosshairs for the first time ever as a partisan-type conversation,' he said. 'It does, though, highlight how we are at a unique moment where it could be politicized.' ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
