Meds & Foods for Kids Forum Spotlights St. Louis’ Leadership in Fight Against World Hunger on September 18th
ST. LOUIS (AUGUST 26, 2025) – International leaders in the fight against world hunger will gather in St. Louis on September 18 to amplify solutions for building a sustainable food system. Meds & Food for Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood malnutrition in Haiti with its U.S. bureau in St. Louis, will host Zero Hunger: Doing What Works with keynote speaker Ambassador Ertharin Cousin. Now in its third year, Zero Hunger highlights the role St. Louis plays in combating hunger and malnutrition worldwide. The event is on Thursday, September 18, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at The Courses at Forest Park,6141 Lagoon Dr, St. Louis. Tickets are available at mfkhaiti.org.
Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) produces and delivers lifesaving therapeutic food and delivers it to starving children, even in Haiti’s most isolated communities. Missouri-based leaders in the fight against hunger will join passionate supporters of MFK for the evening of insight and inspiration.
The keynote speaker, Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, is a globally recognized champion for food security. She served as executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture. She now leads the Food Systems for the Future Institute as managing director and CEO, advancing equitable access to affordable, nutritious food for all.
Ambassador Cousin will speak on the topic of Exploring the Future of Aid: Local Leadership, Public-Private Collaboration, and Sustainable Change. She will discuss solutions for building a sustainable food system, including those that bridge the gap from relief to resilience as Meds & Food for Kids does. The Ambassador will also emphasize the value of investment and public-private partnerships to build the capacity of local communities and break the cycle of dependency.
Despite the challenges in Haiti, Meds & Food for Kids’ innovative, locally driven approach has treated more than one million malnourished children, trained thousands of Haitian farmers, and built a model for sustainable food systems that empower communities to thrive.
“Every child deserves the chance to grow up healthy and strong,” remarked Chris Greene, Chief Executive Officer of Meds & Food for Kids. “Zero Hunger 2025 spotlights how people and organizations in St. Louis lead the way in addressing the root causes of hunger and creating a future where every child is nourished. Ambassador Cousin will bring her extraordinary insight about the private sector’s unique and powerful role in bringing solutions to scale, mobilizing resources, and ensuring that investments reach where they are needed most.”
In 2003, Patricia Wolff, MD, a pediatrician and clinical professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, founded MFK to address the needless suffering and deaths of children from severe, acute malnutrition that she witnessed during her medical mission trips to Haiti. Over more than 20 years, the MFK team has developed an internationally recognized model of sustainable, locally led economic development that incorporates agricultural innovation, local manufacturing, and nutrition science.