STLCC-Meramec holds benefit for Meds and Food for Kids OrganizationMegan Roth-Roffy
– Staff Writer –
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit the Caribbean nation of Haiti in January and volunteers throughout the world responded by organizing fundraisers to send aid, money and medical supplies to help in the recovery effort. At STLCC-Meramec, members of the Pre-Med Club, founded by Emi Gardner and faulty advisor Ginny McDonald, discovered a way to raise money for those still in need.
“The Pre-Med Club hosted a fundraiser for the Meds and Food for Kids Organization which raises money for a Haitian-run business producing peanut butter-based nutrition supplements which are then distributed throughout the country to malnourished children,” Gardner said.
The event took place in the student center during the International Festival on April 21 and 22. Meds and Foods for Kids (MFK) is a locally based organization that was created by Executive Director Dr. Patricia Wolff, M.D., a Washington University pediatrician who divides her time between St. Louis and Haiti.
MFK was founded in 2003 in efforts to help malnourished children by distributing highly nutritious ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), also known as Medika Mamba, a peanut butter supplement containing micronutrients and antioxidants that does not need cooking preparation or refrigeration.
McDonald said that $65 will save the life of one malnourished child using the RUTF. The Pre-Med Club was able to raise a total of $1,442, exceeding their goal of $1,000, and McDonald said the funds raised were enough to give a full course of the nutritional supplement to 22 children.
“We were impressed by the fact that Meds and Food for Kids is working to develop new strains of peanuts that will grow in Haiti’s depleted soil and that they have funding to build a factory so that Medika Mamba can be locally produced. Not only will their efforts feed children, they will improve agriculture and will employ a lot of local people,” McDonald said.
The fundraiser meant a lot to Steven Julmus, a Meramec student who moved to the United States from Haiti just four days before the devastating earthquake and suffered losses in his family. Julmus said he thought the fundraiser was pretty great and knew what a great impact it would have.
Students who volunteered for the fundraiser dressed up in peanut costumes made from brown paper lawn bags and sold candy with peanuts in them. Anyone who bought a piece of candy was entered into a raffle to win gift certificates from a variety of local restaurants including Kaldi’s Coffee House, O’Leary’s Restaurant and Bar, Dewey’s Pizza and La Salsa.
“Students and staff who stopped at our tables were very interested in learning about the organization that we were working for and were amazingly generous,” McDonald said. “I was so impressed by Meramec’s generosity.”
