“The U.S. government hasn’t actually paid us since the end of December. We have about $12 million that we’ve delivered. We wonder if that’s — is the U.S. government still good? Is their word still good?” Just weeks after he took office, President Trump took aim at U.S.A.I.D. “The whole thing is a fraud. Very little, very little being put to good use.” But his mission to cut foreign aid spending could cost thousands of jobs at home. “Here we have sugar coming out of Florida, sometimes from Tennessee. We have peanuts from Georgia, obviously. We have canola oil from North Dakota. We have milk powder from Texas right now.” This factory in Fitzgerald, Ga., makes peanut paste, which goes around the world to save the lives of starving children. “Kids who are literally starving, severely, acutely malnourished. 1.2 million kids a year.” Only two U.S. companies make it, and MANA Nutrition is one of them. Now, their nonprofit business, and the 112 jobs it provides here in Fitzgerald, are at risk. For more than a decade, the operation relied heavily on U.S.A.I.D. funding. “So last year, 90 percent of our funding came from U.S.A.I.D.” It’s unclear just how much money DOGE has saved from the federal budget. But in this very Republican county, workers could pay the price. “I was born here in Fitzgerald, raised here all my life. I was just looking for more money, better pay. But when I got here and found out what we do — the mission is to feed the kids. This place here is needed.” In the early 2000s, Fitzgerald lost a large car battery manufacturer and railroad jobs, and was reeling economically. “Really kind of got punched in the mouth. Unemployment went from probably 4 percent to about 15, 16 percent.” Then in 2011, MANA opened its first factory here. Two years ago, they announced plans to quadruple production. “We hoped to become the hunger solution capital of the world.” “This is not about getting rid of foreign aid. There are things that we do through U.S.A.I.D. that we should continue to do.” But in late February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a third of MANA’s contracts, saying they weren’t in the national interest. A week later, they were reinstated. The back-and-forth has left shipments stranded and MANA’s business partners on edge. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty. We’ve received a lot of calls. Peanut shellers, suppliers saying, ‘Are you still in business? Are you good for these contracts?’ Talking to our banks, ‘Is our line of credit still good to us if our one customer isn’t paying?’” It’s still unclear what the long-term effects might be for this community. “Well, even some of our employees, they voted with this administration. You can tell who did vote that way because they can’t hold it in now. They’re worried.” “I can’t help but think the president has a strategy, and we feel like we’re going to be taken care of. I surely hope so.” “My hope is that the administration will have the moral imagination to preserve the interests and the budget of the American people, but also continue to feed the world’s poorest.” “Are we worried? Somewhat. But we’re praying.”
