@PBJfoods #SAM + #charity: This Christmas consider helping others, such a small amount to you, can make such a BIG difference in the lives of others. #ad

Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is the number one killer of children under five years of age. Nearly 20 million children around the world suffer from SAM.  In fact,  SAM kills 3.5 million children each year. That’s more than HIV, AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria combined.
 PB + J stands for peanut butter plus Jesus.

PB+J Foods Program Development Director Haley Hunsaker distributes PB+J fortified peanut butter paste to the parents of children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition in Malawi, Africa. One jar of the paste is a therapeutic food treatment that will provide all of the nutritional requirements for one child for one day.  PB+J Foods distributed nearly 16,000 pounds of the paste during it first seventeen months of operation, enough to save the lives of nearly 1,200 children (see more http://www.pbjfoods.org/animation)

In March 2012, 5 unique individuals from Orange County, California got together and pooled their personal time and money to fight SAM in undeveloped nations.  In just 17 months, the non-profit organization they created, PB+J Foods, saved the lives of nearly 1,200 children in Malawi, Africa, who were suffering from SAM.

In March 2012, Stan Smith recruited his friends Brian Hunsaker, Donna Wertz, Heather Premac, and Haley Hunsaker, to create PB+J Foods, Inc., a non-profit organization designed specifically to eradicate Severe Acute Malnutrition in underdeveloped nations, like Malawi.

“To beat SAM we were going to have to do more than what typical humanitarian organizations do to feed the hungry,” Smith explains.  “We had to develop a way locally manufacture Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Foods (RUTF), to distribute RUFTs to remote villages, to provide locals with medical treatment and health care education, and we had to create a localized, self-sustaining economy that could provide for its people on an on-going basis.”

            From April 2012 to August 2013, they did exactly that … with their own money, on their own time, and with a few contributions from friends.  During the seventeen month period, the five members of PB+J Foods traveled to Malawi, Africa multiple times and accomplished the following:

·         Partnered with Nkhoma Hospital to create a RUTF manufacturing plant, to establish RUTF distribution sites, and to develop and operate medical and SAM treatment clinics throughout the region;

·         Created an educational program to provide villagers with basic knowledge about food safety and storage, malnutrition management, hygiene and sanitation, family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention, childcare, nutrition, and agriculture;

·         Began the formation of a local farmers co-op, intended to have at least 800 members, in order to grow local ‘ground nuts’, one of the most valuable nuts in the world, with Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Afri-Nut, and World Vision which provides a cash crop for the local farmers, creating economic growth, and a steady supply of nuts for the RUTF peanut paste.

  

PB+J Foods has an ambitious goal for 2014. It is now working to secure financial donations to expand its infrastructure to: manufacture and serve RUTFs to 11,000 children suffering from SAM; to provide medical treatment to 1,000 children at Nkhoma Hospital and area clinics; to increase employment at the local PB+J RUTF production facility; and, to sell locally produced RUTFs on the open market to create revenues that will enable the PB+J programs in Malawi to become self-sustaining and provide RUTF products at no charge to their patients.  Donations may be contributed at http://www.pbjfoods.org/animation or by calling 949-702-3187.  

PB+J Foods is a non-profit organization designed to eradicate Severe Acute Malnutrition in underdeveloped nations. Their programs provide specially fortified foods for children suffering from SAM, medical treatment, and health education to those in need. Moreover, the programs they have developed help build local self-sustaining economies that can eventually provide the necessities of a better life in the future.

 PB+J Foods White Board Animation


Please consider contributing to this great cause. If ever there was a charity I feel proud to stand behind it is this one. Do the right thing this holiday season and give the gift that keeps giving. Life. Anything can help so donate now. Even as little as 1$, but I would hope you'd consider giving up a value meal or two and donate a little more. To help one child is 30$, a family is $100 and you can also donate $500 if your feeling extra generous.



Twitter.com/PBJFoods

PB+J Foods Program Development Director Haley Hunsaker gathers children in Malawi, Africa to prepare for distribution of PB+J fortified peanut butter paste. One jar of the paste is a therapeutic food treatment that will provide all of the nutritional requirements for one child for one day.  PB+J Foods distributed nearly 16,000 pounds of the paste during it first seventeen months of operation, enough to save the lives of nearly 1,200 children.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by BlogDash and PB + J Foods. Regardless all opinions are my own.

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