Home Industries Food & Agriculture Edesia launches donation drive after end of USAID funding

Edesia launches donation drive after end of USAID funding

Updated on May 8, 10:41 a.m.

By

Matthew McNulty

-

05/07/2025

EDESIA INC. is launching a Mother's Day donation drive to help feed starving children worldwide in response to the end of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

NORTH KINGSTOWN – Edesia Inc. on Wednesday launched a donation drive so the nonprofit manufacturer can continue providing food for malnourished people worldwide in the wake of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Edesia is aiming to raise enough funding through a Mother’s Day initiative to create more boxes of

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NORTH KINGSTOWN – Edesia Inc. on Wednesday launched a donation drive so the nonprofit manufacturer can continue providing food for malnourished people worldwide in the wake of the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Edesia is aiming to raise enough funding through a Mother's Day initiative to create more boxes of Plumpy’Nut, its ready-to-use therapeutic food that aid malnourished children around the world. "We are not waiting for the government,” said Edesia Chief Development and Global Sales Officer Ron Dalgliesh. “We are not waiting for U.N. aid agencies. Children are the victims of all this disruption, and they can’t wait.” The Mother's Day drive is part of the nonprofit’s larger "Children Can't Wait" campaign to raise $3.5 million over the next 60 days. Donations for the Mother’s Day campaign will be accepted through May 13. Donations up to $2.4 million will be matched by the Bezos Foundation. President Donald Trump ended USAID funding after his inauguration in January. Edesia President and Founder Navyn Salem said she has seen life-saving food products pile up at the nonprofit's warehouse; and in March, she was forced to lay off 16 employees due to the federal funding cuts. In April, Edesia did eventually receive federal payments for the work it completed and the products it shipped out in 2024. However, pallets of food have still gone unshipped because the necessary transportation documentation from the federal government has not been provided, causing funding for new orders in 2025 to not be approved. Currently 123,188 boxes of Plumpy’Nut, which is USAID has already ordered, are awaiting shipment in its warehouse. USAID still needs to pay for those boxes in order to be shipped. Salem said that $200 million in federal funds had been allocated for Edesia in May 2024. Last year alone, USAID accounted for 85% of Edesia’s revenue. "Malnutrition and undernutrition are 100% preventable," Salem said. "As a mother myself, it's unconscionable that children are starving to death. We have the solution; we just need the funding to get our life-saving Plumpy’Nut to them. My team is determined to continue our lifesaving efforts and, with Mother’s Day on Sunday, we’re urging people to make a donation in honor of their mom." Dalgliesh said that so far, 1,071 donors have contributed to the "Children Can’t Wait" campaign in the past five weeks. By comparison, Edesia had a total of 1,500 contributors for the whole year of 2024. Exact amounts of funds raised were not immediately made available. Edesia says its peanut-based paste has saved more than 25 million lives in 65 countries over the past 15 years. "The termination of USAID is putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of malnourished children at risk around the world,” Salem said. “Children can't wait for the government or other international agencies to figure out a solution. We have to act now." Those interested in donating to Edesia's Mother's Day campaign can do so here. (UPDATE: Clarifies goal of Mother's Day initiative is to create more boxes of product) Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.