SUFFOLK, Va. — There is no shortage of peanuts at the Birdsong Peanuts factory in Suffolk, and no shortage of ways in which Birdsongs' total peanut supply is used.
“Birdsong had this expertise in the business of peanuts. They realize the power of what it could do," Melissa DiBona said, an associate vice president for Operation Smile, a Virginia Beach-based nonprofit that performs cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries in developing countries.
About five years ago, George Birdsong found one new use for the peanut stockpile.
"Started in about 2017, we started realizing that [Operation Smile] had children coming for cleft lip operations, but they were not healthy enough to be operated on. I read that on a bulletin, and I thought, 'We've got a product in the peanut business that maybe that can solve that,'" Birdsong said.
Birdsong Peanuts began supplying peanut inventory to the manufacturing company "MANA" that would create peanut butter and add powdered milk, vitamins and minerals to create a "Ready-to-Use Thereauputic Food" peanut paste-like substance, also known as RUTF.
“We became familiar with this Ready-to-Use Thereauputic Food as a nutritional therapy for malnourished children. We realized the niche and tool it was offering us as a solution for cleft patients, who are malnourished and too underweight," DiBona said.
DiBona estimates they’ve since introduced the RUTF peanut paste to more than one dozen countries, and roughly 5,000 Operation Smile surgery recipients.
"There is a malnutrition problem. We estimate 20 to 30% of our patients in certain countries have some form of malnutrition," she said.
So, if you ever need a reminder of how small things can go a long way, Birdsong said look no further than the power of the peanut.
As part of their 40-year anniversary, leaders with Operation Smile reached out to 13News Now to help them give thanks to the Hampton Roads community. You can catch more stories like this in the coming months.