Many fine relief organizations combat the root causes of poverty and starvation, improving access to food, clean water, and micro loans, but one stands out to me, and that’s a nonprofit organization called Vitamin Angels. Talk about Angels heard on high.

Vitamin Angels, based in Santa Barbara, California, has been fighting malnutrition in developing countries all over the world since 1994. Founded by Howard Schiffer, a veteran of the natural products industry, Vitamin Angels expects to distribute 100 million vitamins and other supplements to more than 7 million children as well as lactating mothers and their babies in 40 countries worldwide this year.

Vitamin Angels’ most visible project is Operation 20/20, which has an ambitious goal of eradicating childhood blindness from vitamin A deficiency by the year 2020. Each year, 500,000 children worldwide lose their sight because of vitamin A deficiency. The main reason: many consume only two bowls of rice a day, which provide just 400-500 calories.

“Once a child goes blind, the damage is irreversible,” said Schiffer. “The child’s life is forever changed, as are the lives of the parents and community. If you can get to the children early enough, though, like when they start experiencing night blindness, you can reverse their blindness by getting them two high-dose vitamin A tablets a year.” The total cost to reach a child with vitamin A supplements is just 25 cents.

“The Copenhagen Consensus, which evaluated all of the strategies to improve global health, put vitamin A as the most effective strategy, noting that no other technology offered as large an opportunity to improve lives at such a low cost and in such a short time,” Schiffer noted. Global humanitarian experts add that providing basic childhood nutrition is the best weapon we have to break the downward cycle of poverty.

Micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron and iodine are now viewed as just as important as the macronutrients found in food, such as carbohydrates, fats and protein. After hearing about the awesome work of Vitamin Angels, my management team and I decided that for every bottle of Vitamin Code multivitamins sold, a donation would be made to Operation 20/20.

This was a slam dunk, as far I was concerned. To support an organization distributing nutritional supplements that better the lives of kids facing a lifetime of blindness is just awesome for us. I love Vitamin Angels’ mission to provide vital nutrition to children in need, and we want to be a part of that. I’m particularly impressed that 95 percent of donations go straight to the program and just 5 percent to overhead.

Vitamin Angels has several other noteworthy projects besides Operation 20/20. Whenever a large-scale natural disaster hits—like the tsunami that struck Thailand four years ago or earthquakes in Asia—Vitamin Angels is there with a planeload of nutritional supplements.

Prenatal nutrition is another focus since providing nutrition for expecting mothers in Asia, Africa, and Central America results in bigger and healthier babies being born as well as fewer women hemorrhaging during childbirth.

In addition, Vitamin Angels works in the United States to support nutrition programs for low-income families, seniors and Native Americans. This year Vitamin Angels is launching a nationwide effort through the Free Clinics of America and America’s Second Harvest, offering low-income women and children free prenatal vitamins and children’s multiple vitamins.

If you’re looking for a worthwhile organization to support with a year-end donation, Vitamin Angels accepts both financial and in-kind product contributions. To learn more please visit www.VitaminAngels.com, phone (805) 564-8400, or mail inquiries or donations to:

Vitamin Angels
P.O. Box 4490
Santa Barbara, CA 93140