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A nonprofit run by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife is scaling back its major operations.
A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that Balanced Nutrition notified the agency on Tuesday that it will no longer be a sponsoring organization for the Child and Adult Care Food Program, effective April 30.
This is a federally funded program that provides funding to children’s homes to help with the cost of healthy meals. Balanced Nutrition was founded and led by Ms. Robinson’s wife, Yolanda Hill, to act as an intermediary to help daycare operators submit the necessary documentation to receive funding.
Robinson himself worked for the nonprofit in 2018, before starting his campaign for lieutenant governor. He wrote in his autobiography that Hill’s success with the nonprofit led him to quit his job at his furniture company in 2018 and move toward becoming a candidate.
“By the time I was ready to run, Yolanda’s nonprofit was providing her with a salary sufficient to support us,” he wrote. “After I left Davis (Her Furniture), I was either giving speeches or helping my wife with her work in her office downtown, which my son is now doing. That’s what I’m doing.”
No one answered the phone number listed on Balanced Nutrition this week. A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign referred questions about the nonprofit to an attorney at Brooks Pierce. An attorney had not responded to an inquiry as of late Thursday morning.
On Thursday, The Assembly published an email Yolanda Hill sent to Balance Nutrition customers in which she said she was “extremely busy” with her husband’s campaign and that “due to obligation, she was unable to sponsor… “We no longer have time to form a group.”
Balanced nutrition was a source of criticism during Robinson’s primary campaign. One conservative blogger said the group’s activities were part of the “welfare state.”
The nonprofit’s financial procedures also came under scrutiny. For example, some IRS filings do not list Hill and Robinson’s son Dayson’s salary, while others list his salary as being paid by Balanced Nutrition. Ta. Robinson’s daughter also worked at Balanced Nutrition at one time.
A DHHS spokesperson said the department “works to ensure a smooth transition for agency-sponsored (child care) facilities.”
It is unclear whether Balanced Nutrition will continue to operate in another form. The company’s website states that “food programs are our sole business.”
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