STORY: This 80,000 square-foot factory in Fitzgerald, Georgia, makes ready-to-use food packets to help fight malnutrition overseas.
MANA Nutrition, a non-profit that says it has fed 10 million children across the globe, churns out peanut butter paste that is packed with milk and multivitamins.
But the Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal programs targeting international aid have threatened to choke off the financial lifeline that keeps this plant running.
Former evangelical missionary Mark Moore is MANA’s co-founder.
“If this plant goes away, then you’re talking about a lot of death, a lot of kids losing their lives.”
USAID – which accounted for about 90 percent of MANA’s budget – has been all but dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump’s cost-cutting entity led until recently by billionaire Elon Musk.
In letters sent to MANA and reviewed by Reuters, the government offered no specific reasons for terminating its contracts, other than to say the work “was not in the national interest.”
“If we lose USAID as a funder, they’re the…they’re the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Without them, global food aid will grind to a halt.”
Moore says he’s holding onto hope, faith, and seeking partnerships with other aid groups to keep the mission alive.
“If I were a normal person, I would say we’re in trouble. We’re in trouble already. But we haven’t laid anybody off yet. We haven’t shut down yet. We’re running right now as we stand here. And for that regard, we’re good through August with no more orders. At that point, we have to figure out, what are we going to do?”
Despite having just enough cash to keep the southern Georgia plant running through August, Moore has vowed to keep it running AND his 130 workers employed.
Latranda Williams, who has worked at MANA for eight years, is still optimistic about the future of MANA’s life-saving mission.
“When you’re doing good work, the Lord always makes sure you can continue to do it. // If you’re doing his work, and which I believe we are, then he’s gonna make sure that maybe a little rough spot’s going on. But I think we’re gonna be fine.”
