A nonprofit run by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife is winding down its primary operations.
A spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that Balanced Nutrition Inc. notified the agency Tuesday that it will no longer be a sponsoring organization in the Child and Adult Care Food Program as of April 30.
That’s a federally funded program that provides funding to child care facilities to help pay for healthy meals. Balanced Nutrition was founded and led by Robinson’s wife, Yolanda Hill, to serve as an intermediary that helps child care center operators file the necessary paperwork to receive the funding.
Robinson himself worked for the nonprofit in 2018 before he launched his campaign for lieutenant governor. He wrote in his autobiography that Hill’s success with the nonprofit allowed him to quit his job at a furniture company in 2018 and move toward becoming a candidate.
“By the time I was ready to run for office, Yolanda’s nonprofit was providing a salary for her that was enough to support us,” he wrote. “After I left Davis (Furniture), I either was making speeches or was downtown at my wife’s office, helping her with her work. This is something that my son does now.”
No one answered a phone number listed for Balanced Nutrition this week. A spokesman for Lt. Gov. Robinson’s campaign for governor referred questions about the nonprofit to an attorney with the Brooks law firm. The attorney had not responded to an inquiry as of late Thursday morning.
On Thursday, The Assembly published an email Yolanda Hill sent to Balanced Nutrition’s clients, in which she said her husband’s campaign has left her “extremely busy” and “those obligations no longer allow me the time to be a sponsoring organization.”
Balanced Nutrition was a source of criticism during Robinson’s primary campaign. A conservative blogger said the organization’s work was part of the “welfare state.”
Financial paperwork for the nonprofit also faced scrutiny. For example, some of its IRS filings listed no salary for Hill and the Robinsons’ son Dayson, while others showed them being paid by Balanced Nutrition. The Robinsons’ daughter also worked for Balanced Nutrition at one point.
A DHHS spokesperson said the department “will work to ensure a smooth transition for the (childcare) facilities sponsored by the institution.”
It’s unclear if Balanced Nutrition will continue to operate in another form. Its website says that “the food program is our only business.”