Malnourished children are missing key nutrients in their diets, which can hinder brain, bone, and immune system development. Most humanitarian food consists mainly of grain, such as corn, but may lack other essential nutrients necessary for healthy development.
As part of the overall development of VitaMeal, Nu Skin’s nutritional scientists determined the
ingredients and ratios that are well suited for a malnourished child. The result is a product that
includes highly effective levels of essential vitamins and minerals. Key ingredients of VitaMeal include:
- A balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat and fiber
- Essential fatty acids required for normal brain development, skin health and immune defense
- Electrolytes necessary for maintaining normal fluid balance and muscle function
- Vitamin A, which is essential for normal sight and immune functions
- Bone nutrients for normal growth and skeletal development
VitaMeal is vegetarian and non-dairy and allows for the easy addition of ingredients to fit every taste and culture. Our two VitaMeal options contain either 10 or 30 child-sized meals, or enough food to provide a child with one nutritious meal each day for 10 days or an entire month.
Maximizing Your Impact
While the VitaMeal itself is very important in impacting the lives of children, the donations go beyond just the meal to impact the lives of many others. These meal donations create opportunities to improve lives through education, jobs, and teaching self-sufficiency.
Drawing Children to School
VitaMeal donations are generally distributed through school programs because parents living in poverty will often send their children to school for a free meal, rather than keep them home to work. This is especially true of girls: the World Bank has recognized that “there is no investment more effective for achieving development goals than educating girls.”
Ensuring a Consistent Flow of Donations
As a social business initiative, Nourish the Children facilitates consistent and increasing food donations by offering an incentive to buy, donate, and promote VitaMeal. This commission is included in the price of the food and allows distributors to invest their time and resources to encourage others to join the cause against malnutrition. Your VitaMeal donation is increased with a corporate match program from Nu Skin.
Building Economic Opportunity
Contracted manufacturing plants for VitaMeal in Malawi and China provide jobs and economic development opportunities.
Contributing to Self-Sufficiency
Some of the proceeds from VitaMeal purchases are donated to the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation to fund agricultural education at Mtalimanja Village in Malawi. Increased farm production could someday alleviate the need for food assistance in Malawi.
Nu Skin is a for-profit distributor of nutritional and skin care products and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NUS). Nourish the Children is an initiative of Nu Skin and is registered in some states as a commercial co-venture. The initiative enables Nu Skin’s brand affiliates and customers to purchase VitaMeal from Nu Skin and donate it to charitable organizations to help solve the complex world problem of feeding malnourished children. The price of VitaMeal includes the cost of manufacturing, general overhead, distribution and sales. As is the case with other Nu Skin products, brand affiliates are paid commissions and Nu Skin earns a profit margin from each sale of VitaMeal.
