Our Story
The story of Peanut Better started in the summer of 2006. While working on my MPH (Masters in Public Health), ​I had the opportunity to travel to Kingston, Jamaica to conduct research on mosquito-borne disease like malaria and dengue. It was on that faithful trip that my eyes were opened to the world around me. I saw real poverty up close for the first time and it changed me. It was also on this trip that I read "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. It tells the story of the late Dr. Paul Farmer's early work in Haiti. I completed the book while in Jamaica and vowed I would travel to Haiti the next summer. I didn't know where in Haiti I would go, what I would do once I got there or even how I would get there. All I knew was that I was going!
During the winter of 2006 and spring of 2007 I decided that I would conduct a research project using this recently developed fortified peanut butter product that was used to treat malnutrition in Africa. I began working on my own modified formulation that same spring. I sent out several emails to organizations that were currently working in Haiti and I got only one response. This single email would dramatically alter the entire direction of my life. The organization was Lifeline Christian Mission and the respondent was Gretchen DeVoe. She and her husband (Bob) had been missionaries working in Haiti for over 20 years and were already running a feeding program. After a few emails back and forth, we set up the project for later that summer. I would spend 4 weeks that summer in rural Haiti, setting up my research project. After only 8 weeks, the results for unmistakable, my peanut butter concoction worked. The children in the experimental group showed significant weight and height gain compared to the control group.
Like some many great ideas and dreams, life gets in the way. While working on my project in Haiti, I also had the opportunity to work in clinic operated by Lifeline. It was there that I decided to reapply to medical school the next year. By the grace of God I was accepted to medical school in 2008. This meant that the peanut butter project would have to be put on hold. It would remain on hold for various reasons until 2019. For the past several years I had been fortunate to work with Church Mission Network and its founder Phil Johnsey. He is a pastor committed to church planting in East Africa and I had been on several mission trips with him to rural Kenya. As part of his ministry he began feeding children at the churches he helped to plant. I was so moved by his stories of how his feeding program was meeting both physical and spiritual needs of so many. I knew that God was calling me to do the same with Peanut Better.
Alan Medley, M.D., M.P.H.
Founder and CEO Peanut Better
Haitian little one enjoying RUFF.
One of the first batches of my RUFF, Haiti 2007.
Meet this little girl on a hike in rural Haiti in 2007. She and her family lived in thatch hut with a dirt floor. She and her siblings were sleeping on empty rice sacks on the ground.
Making friends wherever possible.
Mission Statement
To meet the immediate nutritional and spiritual needs of impoverished people around the world.
Grand Grave, Haiti 2018
Executive Summary
Peanut Better is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to alleviating the harmful effects of childhood malnutrition and undernutrition that are endemic in the developing world. By meeting the nutritional needs of impoverished children, we ultimately desire to show these children and their families the love of Christ.
Worldwide, nearly 670 million people are malnourished or undernourished and children are disproportionally affected. Children that are malnourished or undernourished, are more likely to die from childhood illnesses. Malnourished children are also more likely to suffer from impaired physical and mental development. Thus malnutrition and undernutrition can have devastating long term effects on families and communities.
Peanut Better aims to reduce malnutrition in the developing world by implementing Ready-To-Use Fortified Food (RUFF) into new or existing traditional feeding programs that are mainly a rice and bean based. Peanut Better will seek to partner with individuals, NGO's and other nonprofits that share our passion for providing for the immediate nutritional needs of impoverished children, while demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ.
Life in the developing world is always a challenge.
Church plant in rural Kenya by Church Mission Network.
Sunset Kenya.