On Monday at 8 p.m. in Elkins, 2010 Seaver alumnus Alex Cox will revisit campus to lead a convo event as the representative of the non-profit organization MANA, a group that utilizes ready-to-use therapeutic food to help reduce the harmful effects of severe acute malnutrition around the world.
After spending the last year teaching in China, Cox was contacted by the individuals for whom he had previously interned at MANA and was offered the position to drive a 1971 Winnebago bus around the U.S. to raise awareness of the effects of malnutrition as well as to sell the therapeutic food for distribution in developing countries.
Cox explained that MANA, while still a non-profit organization, is constructed using a business model because of the multiple contracts with larger organizations like UNICEF and WorldVision that buy the therapeutic food to distribute in malnourished areas. But the idea to drive the Winnebago bus came about to help transition from selling the product to only large corporations that can only cover around 10 percent of the world need, to a larger awareness that could hopefully conquer the full 100 percent of hunger needs.
“MANA started out very professional, but the ‘Mannabago’ is much more grassroots and is a really great way to reach out to people and make it fun,” Cox said.
He explained that instead of throwing fax at people they wanted to take a more inviting and educational approach.
The therapeutic food is designed especially for the malnourished, especially children up to the age of 6 whose malnutrition can be especially damaging during those critical years of brain development. The product is a unique blend of peanut butter and fortified milk to provide an important and portable protein source for the kids.
“If we can get children’s brains to develop as a result of good nutrition, then we believe it will play a part in the development of countries,” Cox said. The countries that MANA’s product is being sent to include Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Guatemala and North Korea.
Cox himself never imagined working for a nonprofit, but he recognizes and respects the tangible effects of this organization’s work.
“I never really had a dream to work for a nonprofit, because they have always seemed so vague. I’m all about causes and social justice, but especially at Pepperdine, we were just so saturated with those vague causes,” Cox said. “MANA was the first time that I really believed in something. It’s an actual product that really works. It takes six weeks. A child takes it hours from death, and then six weeks later, that child is totally healthy.”
Cox and fellow Mannabago driver and Harding University graduate Mark Slagle will be presenting the organization as well as showing a 15-minute film about the MANA organization for convocation credit Monday at 8 p.m. in Elkins. Cox expressed their down-to-earth qualities as representatives of the well-structured organization.
“We’re not the brains, we’re not smart enough for this very technical product. Part of our excitement is that we’re working with very smart people that have been appointed by the U.N. Therapeutic food is not just some young guys that went to some country who saw a need and started something that’s all passion and no business behind it. It’s a very developed organization.”
