Danielle Riberio from Great.com interviewed Meds & Food for Kids founder, Dr. Patricia Wolff, as part of their 'Great.com Talks With...' podcast. This series is an antidote to negative news stories that aims to shed light on organizations and experts whose work is making a positive impact on the world.
The 80s and 90s crippled the country to a point where similar underdeveloped countries were surpassing Haiti. Farmers weren't producing food, the country lacked any sort of healthcare, and there was no industry. The country needed a way to break the cycle of poverty and sustainably stimulate economic development. In this episode, Danielle talked with Dr. Patricia Wolff, the founder of Meds & Food for Kids, who started the organization in 2003 to address these urgent needs in Haiti.
Meds & Food for Kids is dedicated to meeting the essential nutritional needs of malnourished children, pregnant and nursing women and school children using Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) produced in our factory in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
By transferring skills and knowledge to Haitian men and women and engaging farmers to source local raw materials, we break the cycle of poverty and sustainably stimulate economic development.
Malnutrition treatment is Meds & Food for Kids biggest initiative. So far, we’ve saved over 588,000 children from severe acute malnutrition with our Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic Food, Medika Mamba. Haiti still has nearly 300,000 severely malnourished children currently in need of assistance, according to recent reports from UNICEF.
Other key initiatives include our school snack program, where we donate therapeutic food to school children all over Haiti to prevent malnutrition. Over 120,000 Haitian school children have received our school snack, Vita Mamba. Agricultural development is integral to our mission-- we are investing in Haiti, one farmer at a time, as over 2,500 Haitian workers have been trained to grow more and better peanuts. Our organization then takes the peanuts and produces therapeutic foods in our factory in Haiti.
Great.com is an innovative charity project working to solve the climate crisis. They believe that climate change is the most pressing issue facing mankind today and ending it will take swift action and creative problem solving. Great.com’s founder, Erik Bergman, has a background in online casino marketing and started Great.com with the goal to move money from the New Jersey online casino industry to climate research.
