POOLER, Ga. () – Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock spent Monday morning touring MANA Nutrition, a Georgia non-profit organization fighting child malnutrition worldwide.

Warnock applauded the work of MANA nutrition as he toured their warehouse. The company employs over 120 Georgians between their Fitzgerald and Pooler operations.

They purchase two-million pounds of Georgia grown peanuts each month. It’s a move that they say supports local farmers.

“I think it’s important to stress this because very often people have this false dichotomy where they’re saying either, we’re supporting America or we’re supporting those people over there somewhere else,” Warnock said. “No, MANA is a great example of the ways in which when we invest in this, we are investing in the Georgia economy.”

The federal government cut funding for a number of U.S. foreign aid programs. The contracts were restored in March, but MANA was still owed $18.6 million.

“I was happy to support their efforts in April by directly appealing to Secretary [Marco] Rubio,” Warnock said. “They had not got paid for work they’d already done. And so, I was able to leverage my relationship with the secretary, with the former senator, to talk to him directly on the phone about that. We were able to get that money released.”

MANA Nutrition CEO Mark Moore said business is overall good. He said hopes to add 100 more jobs at the Pooler facility.

“Some of this is still sitting here because of government bureaucracy,” Warnock said. “We’ve seen through DOGE, huge cuts. As I’ve seen over and over again in the work that I do in the senate, because these cuts have been across the board and they have not been thoughtful. They’ve had to go back and rehire people that they fired. And so, this takes compassion, but it also takes competence and commitment.”

Following the Pooler visit, Warnock toured Irwin County’s Evans Memorial Hospital, meeting with staff to discuss the risks to rural health care access following steep cuts to Medicaid in the recent GOP tax law.

The hospital had to close its labor and delivery unit because it was no longer financially viable.