By Co-founder Dr. Polly Sheffield

This is an exciting time for the Bountiful Children’s Foundation. Thanks to generous donors, we have continued to expand our outreach and are now helping approximately 11,500 young children in countries around the globe. This year we will be working hard to consolidate and standardize our programs in all the countries where we operate. We are so blessed to have incredible coordinators who serve the children tirelessly with grace and love and so many volunteers who are dedicated to this effort.

This year we will be collaborating with professors from BYU in a randomized trial to study the effects of our programs on the growth of children over a two year period. We will also study the effects of the program on children’s ability to learn over a five-year period. As part of this study, professors at BYU have developed a new educational component for the training of coordinators and for the teaching of participant families and community members the importance of healthy behaviors. We are also working with BYU professors to develop a nutritionally dense supplement that can be produced locally by participants in our programs. In addition, we are beginning collaborative projects with professors at the University of Utah and at BYU Idaho. Such projects will lead to improvement in our programs and the ability to serve more children and their families.

We invite you to join us in the mission of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation to help children lead healthy and productive lives. We appreciate all those who have contributed to this effort through monetary donations and through volunteer work. Onward, onward in this work to bless the lives of infants and young children living in poverty. We can lift them up and help them become able as they mature to care for themselves and their families and to enjoy the richness of life!