Dear Friends,
We just returned from launching Operation 20/20 in Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, and El Salvador. The children were absolutely wonderful and the poverty was staggering. In Malawi people kept asking for our
t-shirts. Not only do people have no electricity, running water, or farm animals, the amount of food is pitifully small and most families survive on rice with an occasional root crop or vegetable. In one of the communities we visited, a 19-year-old boy we met told us that if you had a bicycle it would change your whole life. People walk for miles to get firewood or water and carry 5-10 gallon jugs on their heads to take care of basic washing, cooking and drinking needs. The Vitamin A and de-worming medicine we distributed is having a dramatic impact on these children’s lives. With Vitamin A, not only will these children not go blind, but a common childhood illness like measles or diarrhea will not kill them. At the end of one of the distributions in El Salvador, a young 11-year-old girl came up to me, held my hand and looked into my eyes. It was her way of saying thank you and instantly the “busyness” of the day just stopped and I remembered why we’re doing this. These children are worth it and they deserve a chance at a better future.
IN THIS ISSUE
|
|
UPDATE ON VITAMIN DONATIONS | Back to Top
Hope in Action! Our friend, Mr. Jim Floyd at Hope in Action (HIA), sent us a recent report on some of the vitamins we have provided to support their programs in Zambia and Burkina Faso. In Burkina Faso 45% of the people live below the poverty line and 90% struggle through alternating droughts and flooding. Since this past January, 397 sick people have been provided with multi-vitamins through a small clinic. An average weight gain of 5-10 kg (11-22 pounds) occurred within 2 months of treatment.
Included in the above multi-vitamin recipients are 10 HIV/AIDS patients. In addition to weight gain, these patients have experienced increased appetites, reduction of muscle and bone pain, and normal sleep patterns. We applaud the work HIA is doing and are glad to help provide vital nutrition to these children, women and families.
NEW VITAMIN ANGELS WEBSITE! | Back to Top
Check out Vitamin Angels new website: www.VitaminAngels.org. You can view the Vitamin Angels DVD’s, see our recent press releases, and check out the latest news on our work around the world. Major applause to our Development Coordinator, Megan Starks and Samer Mina from EverZen for their excellent work on the new site.
NEW VITAMIN ANGELS! | Back to Top
We would like to extend a hearty welcome to our newest “Angels,” Ada Lauren and Maureen Modl.
Ada joined our office in April of this year and has filled a desperately needed position for us as Director of Programs. Ada has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of non-profits and has been eagerly at work identifying needs and seeking opportunities for us. We feel very lucky to have found her.
Maureen joined our staff just this month as the Executive Assistant to the President. With the departure of Megan Starks, she will also be assisting in the area of Development. Maureen brings in a wide variety of experience from a very diverse background and is thrilled at the opportunity to be on board.
VITAMIN ANGELS AT THE VILLAGE LEVEL | Back to Top
Do you want to get a good idea of how Vitamin Angels’ programs look at the village level? Contact us at (info@VitaminAngels.com) and ask for one or more of our DVD’s: Operation 20/20, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Asia, or Mississippi. We will happily drop them in the mail to you.
We thank all of our supporters who make this work possible!
Thanks to everyone who supported our work this month: our amazing BOD: Tom Aarts, Barclay Hope, Yvon Bastien, Bill Sechrest, Elliott Balbert and Jeff Markel; Jeff Hilton and everyone at IMG; our new amazing interns Hava, Rachel, Ashley and Ruth.; Pitch Publicity; Sevan Matossian; Ken Krzeminsky; Hope in Action and Save The Children.
Congratulations to InterHealth, Vitaquest International, Xango, Twinlabs, Nordic Naturals, Arizona Nutritional Supplements, New Chapter, Vitamer, BI Nutraceuticals, Capsugel, Lonza, Ideasphere, New Hope, New Chapter, and Gronek & Associates for partnering with us on Celebration of Angels: Thursday, September 27, 2007 at Expo East. If you are interested in a Corporate Sponsorship, please contact Jeff@VitaminAngels.org .
WANTS & NEEDS | Back to Top
We are in need of financial contributions to help support our work. From the recent World Bank book ‘Repositioning Nutrition as Central To Development’, it is clear that our need for vitamin supplements is greater than ever before. We need planned production of children’s chewable vitamins (multiples), adult multiples, prenatals, and fish oil capsules. Please contact us at: 805 564 8400 or info@vitaminangel.org to arrange for a financial contribution or a product donation.
Thanks to our donors this month: Tishcon, Pharmachem, Rainbow Light, Nordic Naturals, and Now Foods.
As always, please forward this newsletter to all of your friends and colleagues. We rely on our supporters and friends to help get the word out and get people to our site (www.VitaminAngels.org) so they can see the scope of what we are accomplishing and make needed contributions. Your support and encouragement make all of the difference in the world!
Best,
Howard B. Schiffer
Vitamin Angels
PO Box 42029
Santa Barbara, CA 93140 USA
P: 805 564 8400
F: 805 564 8499
E: info@VitaminAngels.org
PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION REPORT (6/1/06 - 6/30/07) | Back to Top
Indonesia
For the initial training and distribution, the system we have in place for Operation 20/20 here is excellent. Working with Save the Children, we are getting to the smallest villages with extreme poverty. We were able to visit a small community clinic near the city of Medan and give out Vitamin A and anti-parasitics to 238 children.
Mozambique
This is the first program in the region to combine Vitamin A and deworming medicine, and to commit to a
3-year campaign. Poverty here is acute and 70% of the children are Vitamin A deficient. The two distributions we did here were outside the village of Xai-Xai. The school is doing a gardening program and we spoke with Save the Children about making sure to focus on the Vitamin A rich fruits and vegetables in the region.
Malawi
The need here is tremendous, the poverty and accompanying malnutrition is everywhere. In a country of only 12.5 million people there are now over 1 million orphans. We began our distribution to 60,000 children at a small school outside of Mangochi. We also did a detailed training with the teachers and staff at Save the Children on the fine points of our program.
El Salvador
The families we attended to are still recovering from the earthquake that shook El Salvador in 2001. Six years later they’re living in tin huts, cooking on outdoor fires and trying to hold life together for their children. Operation 20/20 in partner with Save the Children will have a major impact on these children’s lives as Vitamin A deficiency and parasites are rampant.
India
Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson our campaign in India is in its forth year and is now reaching 1 million nursing mothers and children with vitamin A and deworming tablets – both the vitamin A and the deworming are given two times per year.
Tibet
In this program we work closely with Dr. Nancy Harris who is the founder of Terma. We’ve been distributing up to 2 million children’s multiples per month.
Philippines
We are doing a deworming program in partnership with Save The Children reaching 250,000 kids per year. This program began in the first quarter of 2006 and is now slated to run through the last quarter of 2007.
Honduras
This program is sponsored by Sight & Life (DSM), UNFI, Anabolic Laboratories, United Flavors, Domino Foods, George Washington University, Pan American Health Organization and Medpharm. This program is reaching 55,000 children per year for three years. Our in-country partners are Cristo Salva, Ministry of Health and PAHO. We are distributing children’s multivitamins and antiparastics (the multivitamins are given daily and the antiparastics are given twice a year).
Dominican Republic
The DR program is slated to be a three year campaign to reach 55,000 children per year. We are distributing multivitamins daily and antiparastics two times per year. Our program partners are Direct Relief International, who will handle all to-country shipping and Batey Relief International, who will handle all in-country distribution.
Mississippi
Ruleville Mississippi is a very poor rural district in the Mississippi Delta. With the support of Univera and their Serve First Program, we are now reaching 2,000 children with a daily nutrition supplement; Ageless Essentials.