Martin Histand ’05 reflects on his experiences at EMU and with Mennonite Central Committee and how they informed working with Project Peanut Butter – a program addressing global malnutrition in children. Histand is being honored as Young Alum of the Year.

During his time as a student and upon graduation from EMU in 2005, Martin Histand has been a champion of the marginalized and voiceless. He has an inherent gift to connect with people across cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic divides in a genuine way that is vitally needed in our world today. Graduating as a licensed teacher, Martin chose to spend the year following his graduation working for Mennonite Central Committee in Ethiopia where he was able to use both his cross-cultural gifts and teaching abilities. Over the years, Martin has worked at Project Peanut Butter, a non-profit organization based out of St. Louis that works to address the global problem of malnutrition in children. Beginning as a worker for Project Peanut Butter through Mennonite Voluntary Service, Martin excelled in his role and continued in full-time employment as Project Manager and now Operations Manager. His work has been focused in Malawi and Sierra Leone and more recently getting Project Peanut Butter’s new factory in Ghana running from the ground up. He oversaw the project from obtaining the facility, to getting all necessary machinery and equipment ready, to ensuring the local staff had proper training and support.

While stateside, Martin resides in St. Louis biking to work daily and attending St. Louis Mennonite Church. Late in 2014 he participated in several of the peaceful rallies around St. Louis promoting racial equality and social justice after the Michael Brown shooting and the Ferguson grand jury decision.