Flexible Packaging to the Rescue!

Relief efforts following earthquakes and massive storms get all the media attention. Aid workers flock to provide impressive levels of services and support for water, food and shelter. Yet after the immediate needs have been met, persistent ones still exist in many places, especially with respect to children. Moreover, many of these needs existed long before disaster struck and, in many cases, are ongoing disasters in themselves. According to Doctors Without Borders, nutrition for children is a critical concern in many parts of the third world.

For aid workers, part of the challenge is providing appropriate nutrition in containers that can stand up to the rigors of third-world environments. Glenroy Inc., a Menomonee Falls, WI-based manufacturer of flexible packaging, provides packaging material for HopeGel, a nutrient and calorie-dense protein gel developed to aid children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Working with GlenRoy, the nonprofit HopeGel Project distributes HopeGel to children in Haiti, where malnutrition is the number one cause of death among children under five.

The HopeGel Project was started by Daniel Schapiro and Dr. Nathan Feldman of EB Performance. Partnering with Dr. Jeffrey Miller and the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation, EB Performance worked with food scientists and nutritionists to develop an orange-flavored gel rich with proteins, fats and amino acids that can be sipped directly from a squeezable pouch or administered through feeding tubes. Easily digestible and tailored for locales where refrigeration is non-existent, HopeGel is shelf-stable for up to one year. Flexible packaging makes HopeGel transportable, and the shape of the squeezable package makes it easy for children to consume the product directly from the pouch.

"It has been an honor to provide packaging material for this life-saving product," offers Ken Murtagh, regional manager for Glenroy Inc. "What these folks are doing is incredible. We hope to see the HopeGel Project continue to prevent children from being lost to starvation."

The HopeGel Project flies shipments directly from South Florida to northern Haiti, where they are taken directly to children at Hospital Sacré Côeur. Results come quickly. "We see malnourished children begin to think more clearly and become more active and playful after only a few weeks of nutritional supplementation with HopeGel," says Sister Ann Crawley, director of the nutrition center at Sacré Côeur Hospital in Milot, Haiti.

So far, the nonprofit HopeGel Project has been funded entirely through donations to the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation in Boca Raton, FL, with all donations going directly toward manufacturing the product and flying it to Haiti. "Unlike a traditional business, we are dependent on continued donations to make this product," says Schapiro. "Although there is plenty of work to do in Haiti, we would eventually like to expand to other areas of the world where we can make an impact as well," adds Dr. Feldman. For further details on the project, please visit www.hopegel.com.