Humanitarian nonprofit MANA Nutrition breaks ground on 315,000-square-foot warehouse in Pooler

Local and state officials joined MANA Nutrition , a nonprofit organization based in Georgia that produces ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), for the grand opening of a 315,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Pooler.

What started as a small facility in Fitzgerald, Georgia, MANA Nutrition seeks to combat childhood malnutrition across the globe with the RUTFs, a fortified peanut paste, with peanuts sourced from Georgia. On average, three packets of Mana per day for six weeks can save the life of a starving child, and has been used in humanitarian missions in Gaza and Africa, according to a press release.

The facility, located minutes from the Georgia Port Authority's Garden City Terminal, features 35,000 pallet positions and has already created 50 new jobs. According to GPA Chief Communications Officer Tom Boyd, the ports handle about 1,000 containers for MANA to be shipped around the world. Boyd also spoke about the investment in the infrastructure and the growth of the ports, with 35 ships coming in weekly, making it the second largest port in the U.S. behind New York-New Jersey.

“Since 2012, we’ve invested $3.27 billion building new port and inland infrastructure," Boyd said. "And right now we’re in the midst of a planned $4.2 billion expansion.”

More leaders such as Representative Buddy Carter, Pooler Mayor Karen Williams and Savannah Economic Development Authority President and CEO Trip Tollison gathered in the warehouse Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the occasion and economic boost.

"There's been a lot of growth, a lot of companies coming in," Tollison said. "In 2004, 20 years ago, our region had 15 million square feet of industrial space, today, we have about 132 million. There's no other company in our region right now that's going to make as much of an impact in the world as this, and it's just as important, if not more, than telling the stories of Hyundai, Gulfstream and others."

MANA Co-founder and CEO Mark Moore expects the company to one day be capable of producing enough food to feed 10 million children per year, leading them to purchase the space in Pooler to build a state-of-the-art food processing facility.

"This warehouse is going to bring employment here, that's important," Carter said. "But also, this mission of what this company is inspires me so much. We have a product, that's more than just a product, the fastest growing nonprofit in the U.S., and the largest humanitarian warehouse in the world, right here in Georgia."

Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Humanitarian nonprofit MANA Nutrition breaks ground on 315,000-square-foot warehouse in Pooler