News & Events

Monsanto Fund, INMED Improve Child Health, Nutrition Through School and Community Gardens in Brazil

Expanded Partnership Showcases Innovative Healthy Children, Healthy Futures Program

Ashburn, Virginia, June 13, 2008—The Monsanto Fund today announced the award of a three-year grant of $315,250 to INMED Partnerships for Children (INMED) that will expand INMED’s successful Healthy Children, Healthy Futures program, into new eight new sites in the states of São Paulo and Santa Caterina, Brazil.

The Monsanto Fund has been a leading supporter of the Healthy Children, Healthy Futures program since 2000. With this new grant from the Fund, INMED will add nearly 10,000 children to the program, which is already improving the health and nutritional status of more than 80,000 children across Brazil. Through this innovative initiative, schools cultivate vegetable gardens and use the harvests to improve the nutritional quality of school lunches—which for many students may be their only meal of the day.
The Healthy Children, Healthy Futures program project also creates long-lasting impact through health, nutrition and sanitation education for children, parents and cafeteria workers; development of clean water systems; and deworming treatment to combat intestinal parasites that sap nutrients from children whose bodies are already weakened by poor nutrition.

“Improving nutrition has such a profound impact on these vulnerable children,” said INMED President Dr. Linda Pfeiffer. “Children who are hungry cannot concentrate on their schoolwork, but more importantly, poor nutrition in childhood can compromise their ability to learn and succeed over their lifetimes.

“Still, as important as it is, a nutritious daily meal is not enough—that’s why the Healthy Children, Healthy Futures program focuses on the multiplier effect through which our health, nutrition and gardening education is shared with students’ family members, teachers and cafeteria workers in other schools, and with the community as a whole through civic engagement and volunteer service,” Dr. Pfeiffer said.

About the Monsanto Fund

The Monsanto Fund, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company. Established in 1964, the Monsanto Fund works to substantially and meaningfully improve people’s lives by bridging the gap between their needs and their resources. Each of the Fund’s funding priorities adds another piece of the “bridge” that leads people, communities and countries to increased educational opportunities, improved nutrition, a healthier environment and stronger communities.

About INMED Partnerships for Children

INMED Partnerships for Children (www.inmed.org) is an international non-profit humanitarian development organization dedicated to strengthening the ability of families and communities to support the development of healthy, educated children who have increased opportunities for the future. Since 1986, INMED has built partnerships in more than 100 countries to carry out a wide range of health, nutrition, education, environmental and social development projects that create a continuum of care from the prenatal period through adulthood.

Contact Info:

INMED Partnerships for Children
Mary-Lynne Lasco, Director of Development
281-465-4693, or contact@inmed.org