Dear Friends,
Didn’t someone once say it takes many angels to save the world?! While we were busy flying around the world launching Operation 20/20 in Indonesia, Africa and Central America, there were other groups doing some outstanding work around the world;
The Global Medical Brigades at the University of California Santa Barbara, recently completed their first medical brigade trip to Honduras this June. In 5 days the students, doctors and nurses saw over 2400 students for chronic malnutrition and intestinal parasites, handing out vitamin supplements and deworming medicine.
Heartwalk Foundation recently visited the remote hamlets of the Q’ero tribes high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. During their last visit the team delivered prenatal vitamins to the pregnant women in the village. The day after Heartwalk recently arrived, Felicitas, who had previously lost two babies to malnutrition, delivered a healthy baby boy, the largest and strongest of her five deliveries! Women in the village spoke about being able to provide more milk for their babies and credit the prenatal vitamins as being the key factor in improving their babies’ health.
Global Partners Medical Missions recently returned from a trip to Cambodia where they brought vitamins and deworming medicine from Vitamin Angels to the children in the region suffering from chronic malnutrition, parasites, and dehydration. The team reported major improvements in the health of the children and babies in this area since they began providing nutritional supplements 9 years ago. Nice work Global Partners!
Cristo Salva and their medical director, Pat Havener, recently sent us photos from the Northwest Region in Honduras, where Vitamin Angels is doing our Honduras Children’s Nutrition Campaign (presently reaching 55,000 children). We are thrilled to see new gardens that the children have started at their schools and the first crop of melons, carrots, tomatoes, and green peppers (all high in Vitamin A!). We also saw beautiful needlepoints that the children have done showing Vitamin A rich foods. This is truly our home for sustainable programs for the future!
IN THIS ISSUE
VITAMIN SHOPPE | Back to Top
Vitamin Shoppe’s 30th Anniversary Celebration will help solicit donations for Vitamin Angels’ Operation 20/20 campaign to eradicate Vitamin A deficiency childhood blindness by the year 2020. The month long anniversary promotion will begin on September 1 in all 330 stores across the U.S.
On-line customers can also donate with each purchase at www.vitaminshoppe.com, plus with a $5.00 or more donation, a Vitamin Angels’ ‘Be an Angel. Save a Life / Operation 20/20 wristband is also included.
VITAMIN COTTAGE | Back to Top
During the month of September, customers at all 25 Vitamin Cottage stores will be able to donate to Vitamin Angels and support our Operation 20/20 campaign at the register. Customers can also make a donation in cash or by check of any other amount and Vitamin Cottage will match the donation dollar for dollar up to $50,000.00.
HOME ECONOMIST MARKETS| Back to Top
Customers at all 3 Home Economist Market stores will be able to donate to Vitamin Angels ‘Operation 20/20’ program during the month of September.
NATIONAL CO-OP GROCERS ASSOCIATION / NATURE'S GATE | Back to Top
For every purchase of Nature’s Gate Organics shampoos or conditioners, or Rainwater Organics lotions on sale during September from any National Co-op Grocers Association store, a 25 cents donation (enough to save 1 child’s eyesight) will be made to Vitamin Angels.
WHOLE FOODS AND MICHAELS | Back to Top
At all Rocky Mountain and Southwest region Whole Foods stores, during the month of September, for every purchase of specific Michael’s Naturopathic products a donation will be made to help support Vitamin Angels ‘Operation 20/20 campaign’ to eradicate Vitamin A deficiency childhood blindness.
JONES SODA / YOU TUBE!| Back to Top
We just passed 75,000 views of Jones Soda’s video to help raise money for Vitamin Angels’ ‘Operation 20/20’ campaign. Jones is donating 25 cents (enough to save 1 child from going blind) for every view so click on their site today and save a child: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn3s2j33oEY
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. Or go to our new website at; www.VitaminAngels.org and check out all of the videos in our video section!
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 amazing interns Hava, Rachel, Ashley and Ruth.; Pitch Publicity; Sevan Matossian; Ken Krzeminsky; and Save the Children.
Congratulations to Ideasphere, Vitaquest, InterHealth, Lonza, New Hope, Xango, Nordic Naturals, Arizona Nutritional Supplements, Capsugel, BI Nutraceutical, Vitamer, Gronek & Associates, Nutritional Outlook Magazine, IMG, Alternative Medicine Magazine, Vitamin Retailer Magazine, Nutrition Business Journal, and New Chapter, Inc. 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, Nutriforce Nutrition, Barleans Original Oils, Nordic Naturals, Kevin & Kimberly Wheeler, Natural Alternatives International, Highland Laboratories, Canon Communications, Thomas Najarian M.D., Michael’s Naturopathic Programs, The LifeForce Center, LifeLine Foods, Pure Fruit Technologies, Acelera Nutrition, 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 (7/1/06 - 7/31/07) | Back to Top
Peru
In the remote hamlets of the Q’ero tribes high in the Andes Mountains there are no medical services, bitter cold year around and little but potatoes to eat in the villages. Almost half the babies die each year. We, distributed 257,520 prenatal vitamins to expecting mothers.
Cambodia
In an area where there is severe malnutrition, parasites and dehydration among children the administering team has reported major improvements in health following distribution of vitamins and deworming medicine.
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). Recent photos show new gardens that children have planted at their schools with crops high in Vitamin A!
In a medical brigade trip to Honduras where 2400 patients were seen and treated, 24,000 prenatal vitamins and 24 bottles of Abendezol were administered.
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.