Get ready to be inspired by a special organization that is profoundly changing the lives of children around the world. Discover the passion behind Vitamin Angels and how easy it is to get involved. Howard Schiffer, founder of Vitamin Angels, was honored with the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance’s Hero Award in 2003 for his work in “making a difference in the lives of so many children throughout our country and around the world.”

Your next vitamin purchase can make a difference for under-nourished children. Find out how and tell us what you think. We’ll donate $1 to Vitamin Angels for each of the first 5,000 comments posted on one of our Vitamin Angels blog posts by November 30, 2010.

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Expert: Howard Schiffer
Vitamin Angels was founded through the vision and passion of natural products industry veteran, Howard Schiffer.

• Vitamin Angels began in 1994 when Howard Schiffer realized that his supplement knowledge and industry experience could be teamed with the logistics and relationships of relief agencies to make a big impact in the developing world.
• Howard developed a mantra, “what you don’t know can be your greatest ally”, after he learned that vitamin A could help prevent a child from going blind and that 1/3 of all child and maternal deaths were due to chronic malnutrition.
• The children who benefit the most from Vitamin Angels’ work are the ones who are most vulnerable: children under 5, who are living in rural areas in extreme poverty and who no one else is reaching.
• In 2010, Vitamin Angels is reaching 20 million children in 40 countries (including the US) and is literally saving children’s lives every day.

The work of Vitamin Angels helps children thrive, not just survive and includes two powerful programs:

• Most of the children who are born in the developing world today will never reach their full intellectual or structural capacity from the day they are born, due to the chronic malnutrition of their mothers before they were even conceived.
• The damage that gets done before a child is 2 years old is often irreversible. Conversely, getting to the children early enough can have a profound impact on the rest of their lives.
• Thrive to Five is a domestic and international program to get children’s multivitamins to children under 5, and prenatal vitamins to pregnant women as early in their pregnancy as possible.
• Operation 20/20 focuses on getting vitamin A to children under 5 around the world. Two high dose vitamin A per child per year (at a total cost of 25 cents per child) will increase survival rates by 23%!

There are a variety of ways to provide support to Vitamin Angels:

• Choose supplements from brands at Whole Foods Market that donate a portion of sales and/or nutrients to the programs.
• Visit www.vitaminangels.org to learn more about the children, sign up for the monthly newsletter, check out personal fundraising pages, or join the marathon team.

Vitamin Angels strives for strong growth to reach as many children as possible:

• In the next three years, Vitamin Angels will reach 50 million children.
• In the next 5-10 years, they will reach 100 million children, which will be the majority of children who no one else is reaching and are the most in need.