Total Nutrition Technology (TNT) Founder, Angela Wilkinson has been on multiple international mission trips with the goal of nourishing food insecure children over the last 6 years. While TNT participates in a variety of local volunteer work, Angela knew that TNT was capable of helping in even more ways. In 2020 when the TNT team learned of The Hope Project, they knew they needed to step in and help fund a kitchen for one of their nutrition centers.
In July of 2022 the TNT team returned back to the region of Matagalpa, Nicaragua with The Hope Project, to help continue building what has now officially been named The TNT Kitchen; a space dedicated to feeding the local families and helping them become more self-sustainable. The Hope Project offers education, supplies and food to children in Nicaragua, and now they have a 3rd kitchen built by TNT, which also receives monthly donations from them. Not only did they simply need food, they needed nutritious food that allowed them to grow and remain healthy. Founder of The Hope Project Farrell Burton needed help providing a kitchen, and TNT was ready for the job.
Angela Wilkinson pictured with a young boy named Levi
After the kitchen was originally built, Angela Wilkinson went back to her business partners Troy Wilkinson and Rick Belden to find a way to budget food for the kitchen. Aside from their own donations, they decided that a portion of TNT’s sales would also go towards funding the kitchen. Upon returning in 2022, the goal was to add raised garden beds so the community could grow their own food, as well as donating enough so the kids had protein to eat. The goal was not simply just food, but rather nutrition and a way of self-sufficiency.
Rick Belden and Angela Wilkinson pictured passing out refreshments
“One of the hardest parts was keeping our emotions in check; these people don’t want pity, even though conditions aren’t optimal,” says Rick Belden. The TNT team was touched by the opportunity to help this community. Angela recalls a time where they visited a family’s home to handout food, and upon visiting they learned the family had just been robbed and also had no roof. The father asked the TNT team to pray for the means to have a roof over their head to provide protection and safety. “It was an incredible moment- having all 3 owners of the company there at once- hearing this request – we all looked at one another and without having to even discuss we once again knew what we were being called to do – provide this family a roof!” says Angela. Only 3 days later, their prayer had been answered. Farrell hadn’t brought them there as “wealthy Americans,” that wasn’t the intent; the original goal was just to help add onto the kitchen. Suddenly, though, the TNT team had dedicated themselves another new goal.
TNT Team and locals gathered in the home in need of a roof
Living space in a local home
What had started as a place to provide education and supplies has grown into a space that will help feed a community in years to come. The Hope Project’s mission statement is “to meet the spiritual and physical needs of impoverished people, with the purpose of sharing Hope,” which is what the TNT team strives to do. The TNT kitchen feeds 1,200 children and provides 15,166 meals to families monthly. TNT quotes that “nutrition is not just related to our business, it is our business.” The purpose of being health educators and dietitians is strengthened in leaving our world less hungry and more sustainable for future generations. To read more about how TNT gives back, check out our page.
Three young boys pictured before eating
Recent Comments