Congregation B’nai Amoona will welcome Dr. Patricia B. Wolff, founder of a nonprofit relief organization fighting malnutrition in Haiti, to an Awareness Shabbat program during morning services on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 324 S. Mason Road.

B’nai Amoona’s Social Action Committee is presenting the speaker as part of Jewish Social Action Month (during the Jewish calendar month of Cheshvan – Oct. 29 through Nov. 26).

Dr. Wolff is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and President of Forest Park Pediatrics. She founded Meds & Food for Kids in 2003, and as its Executive Director she divides her time equally between St. Louis and Haiti. Using Haitian labor where possible and Haitian ingredients, the organization makes a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the global gold standard for treating childhood malnutrition. She founded Meds & Food for Kids in response to her frustration of watching malnourished Haitian children needlessly die. After visiting RUTF pioneer and Wash. U colleague Dr. Mark Manary in Malawi, Dr. Wolff was inspired to utilize RUTF in Haiti.

The Meds & Food for Kids website states RUTF, called Medika Mamba (Creole for “peanut butter medicine”) by Haitians, has saved the lives of 15,000 children. By basing the facility in Haiti, the organization aims to address some of the root causes of malnutrition, unemployment and poverty. The group works with more than 500 farmers to increase output and quality of yield, while promoting local markets. In 2009 the organization launched a capital campaign to build a new factory in Haiti, which would increase the number of children and adults it can treat annually from 8,000 to 80,000.

For more information about the Awareness Shabbat at B’nai Amoona, call 314-576-9990.

For more information about Meds & Foods for Kids, visit www.mfkhaiti.org.