(Video repurposed from cnn.com. The full story can be found here.)

Dr. Mark Manary, founder of the non-profit organization, Project Peanut Butter is trying to deliver peanut based Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to refugee camps in Somalia that are housing thousands of starving families during the unprecedented drought covering the Horn of Africa. Project Peanut Butter has RUTF available for the acutely malnourished children, but lacks funds to hire trucks and drivers to transport the food through dangerous areas surrounding the refugee camps.  Dr. Manary has a donor to match funds we can add to this project.

You can help Dr. Manary meet his goal by clicking on the Donate button on the left, and making whatever contribution you can. 

Peanut Butter for the Hungry is a humanitarian initiative of the peanut industry in the United States to help malnourished children around the world.  In the United States, that means getting more peanut butter to people who need it.  It’s not surprising that peanut butter is one of the most requested foods by food banks – it’s shelf stable, requires no cooking, no refrigeration, is nutrient dense and kids love it.

Internationally, peanut butter is a critical ingredient in a ready-to-use therapeutic food that is the accepted protocol for treating severe acute malnutrition.  (See the UN recommendation). Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF’s) made with peanut butter offer some of the same advantages that regular peanut butter does. They are shelf stable, require no preparation or refrigeration, are nutrient dense and – most importantly, kids love them. The peanut industry has committed financial and intellectual resources to the development of ready-to-use therapeutic foods internationally, especially in the case when these products are made in the regions where they are used. To learn more about the industry’s international initiatives, see our six goals, or for an introduction to RUTF’s see the video on the news show 60 minutes.

Peanut-based Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Foods Procured from Three U.S. Firms Will Help Feed Hungry Children in the Horn of Africa

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 -- The American Peanut Council, the non-profit trade association that represents all segments of the U.S. peanut industry, welcomes today's announcement that $4.4 million of Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) have been procured from three American firms. Peanut paste is a critical ingredient in RUTF, now the protocol for treating severe acute malnutrition. The food will help feed and treat hungry children in the Horn of Africa, a region suffering from severe drought and malnutrition.