Vitamin Angels Provides Nutrients to 10,000 Oklahoma Women
Aug. 9, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – Thanks to a donation from Vitamin Angels, the Regional Food Bank will be able to distribute pre and postnatal multivitamins to its network of more than 450 partner agencies in central and western Oklahoma.
“Implementation partners, like the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, are the last critical step of our mission, of connecting the newborns, infants, children and mothers we serve with essential nutrients,” said Howard Schiffer, President of Vitamin Angels. “We are working together to help Oklahomans become healthier.”
Vitamin Angels, provides multivitamins to mothers and children under five in order to support physical and cognitive growth through their Thrive to Five Program, active in 20 countries around the world. The donated pre and postnatal multivitamins contain essential daily micronutrients that will improve the health of both mother and infant.
“Vitamins are not something we normally get donated,” said Rodney Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. “These prenatal vitamins will be especially helpful for expectant mothers who might not be getting the nutrients they need from their diet.”
Vitamin Angels, a non -profit, 501.c.3 charitable organization, donated more than 21,000 bottles of daily multivitamins, which will nourish 10,000 women for a year. This year, Vitamin Angels will reach 20 million children and mothers in the U.S. and around the world. Last year, the organization helped more than 10 million women and children receive essential nutrients for a healthy life.
Oklahoma ranks as the sixth hungriest state in the nation, where one in seven people wonder where their next meal will come from. Thanks to the community, the Regional Food Bank is able to provide enough food to feed more than 77,000 hungry Oklahomans each week. The majority of those served by the Regional Food Bank are children, seniors living on fixed incomes, and working families who cannot make ends meet.
Connect online with the Regional Food Bank at twitter.com/rfbo or facebook.com/regionalfoodbank.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is a private, 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that acts as a link through which the food industry and community may donate food and other goods. The products are then distributed to nearly 700 schools and charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. In the last fiscal year, the Food Bank distributed 36.5 million pounds of food and product to help the charitable community effectively feed people in need. Since its inception in 1980, the Regional Food Bank has distributed more than 354 million pounds of food to feed Oklahoma’s hungry. Visit regionalfoodbank.org to see the real-time counter that tracks the pounds and meals distributed every second.
Vitamin Angels is dedicated to reducing child mortality worldwide by advancing availability, access and use of essential micronutrients, especially Vitamin A, to newborns, infants and children under five. In 2010, Vitamin Angels will connect over 20,000,000 children in 40 countries, including the US, with the vital nutrients they need as a foundation for good health. To learn more about global malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and Vitamin Angels' solution for change, visit www.vitaminangels.org.
###
