The nonprofit organization has begun to receive vitamin donations in Los Angeles that will be air freighted along with other relief supplies to Indonesia.
A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck Indonesia on May 27 near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta, on the island of Java. The official death toll stands at 5,732, according to international humanitarian organization CARE, which estimates more than 8,000 survivors were injured and some 130,000 are homeless in the aftermath of the disaster.
"We have been in contact with our partners in Indonesia who have noted the situation is grim," said Vitamin Angel president Howard Schiffer. "We hope the natural products and pharmaceutical industries will reach out and generously donate children's and adult multi-vitamins, as well as first aid supplies to our relief effort."
Vitamin Angels, founded in 1994, is a non-profit consortium of nutritional supplement manufacturers, distributors and retailers who donate products to charitable health care programs.
For the current relief effort, Vitamin Angels is working in partnership with other relief organizations, as well as with a network of companies in the natural products and pharmaceutical industries, to bring the emergency nutritional supplies to survivors in the Yogyakarta region.
"Logistics are in place," added Schiffer. "Right now it is only a question of collecting as many children's and adult multiples as we can."
Recently, the non-profit group's disaster response program organized similar aid campaigns for the earthquake in Pakistan, Hurricane Stan in Guatamala, Hurricane Katrina in the US and the famine in Niger.
Throughout the year Vitamin Angel's ongoing projects involve donating dietary supplements to charitable grassroots health care facilities and programs around the world. Last year the alliance shipped over 100 million supplements to and organizations in over 40 countries.