Robinson appeal FAILS: Mark & Yolanda STILL owe NC DHHS > $100K

The saga of Balanced Nutrition — which we’ve chronicled extensively HERE — appears to be winding itself toward a rather ugly conclusion.

If you haven’t been following along, you have a lot of reading to do in order to catch up.

Basically, former Second Lady Yolanda Hill founded a non-profit called Balanced Nutrition. It appeared to be basically a pass-thru entity — distributing funds originating with the US Department of Agriculture and passed along to the NC Department of Health & Human Services (NC DHHS).  These funds were meant to go primarily toward reimbursement of daycare centers for lunches they provided to qualifying children. 

A review by NC DHHS of a handful or Balanced Nutrition clients for first quarter 2024 led to Hill and Balanced Nutrition being hit with an invoice in excess of $132,000. This was not a fine, but a demand for repayment of funds the state believed Balanced Nutrition was not entitled to receive.

NC DHHS later worked out a settlement that revised the demand for repayment down to $101,142.05.  Yolanda and Balanced Nutrition had the option of appealing this decision to the state Office of Administrative Hearings. So, they DID.

In February, when the appeal was heard, the case file for Balanced Nutrition was inexplicably sealed.   As the end of March approached — with still no word on the case — the smell of coverup began to waft through the air.  

But this week, we got some news from a spokesperson at NC DHHS:

[…] Pursuant to an Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”) Final Decision issued on March 24, 2025, the disallowances in the amount of $101,142.05 assessed to Balanced Nutrition, Inc. were affirmed. Balanced Nutrition, Inc. has the right to appeal this OAH Final Decision. […]

So, does this mean DHHS is closing its books on the whole Balanced Nutrition matter? Let’s see:

[…] There are several next steps that are taking place in keeping with the regulations governing the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).  A demand letter for the amount of $101,142.05 will be issued as well as a Notice of Proposed Termination and Disqualification. […]

Remember, this amount is based on a review of a handful of Balanced Nutrition clients over a handful of months. Balanced Nutrition had roughly 100 clients and operated in this particular program for six to seven years.

Just imagine what the repayment amount might look like if every Balanced Nutrition client for the duration of Balanced Nutrition’s relationship with NC DHHS got reviewed.

Here is the full  final decision the OAH judge issued regarding Balanced Nutrition’s appeal.

I can almost hear the Mark Robinson Alleluia Chorus warming up.  Before you folks get started, make an effort to read the Balanced Nutrition archive linked at the top of this site’s homepage.  In that archive, we have dozens and dozens of official documents and financial statements compiled and signed by Mark Robinson and / or Yolanda Hill.  In many cases, the numbers don’t add up and don’t make sense.  Information filed with the state conflicts with what was sent to the feds.  Most folks who have even a basic understanding of business finance and accounting would be troubled by the information supplied therein.

(Before the chorus starts tearing into the Office of Administrative Hearings, they should realize the OAH has had a GOP-leaning makeover.  The OAH is currently run by Donald van der Vaart — a member of Gov. Pat McCrory‘s cabinet and former scholar at The John Locke Foundation.  The judge assigned to the Balanced Nutrition case is a GOP-leaning attorney who made a name for himself suing government bureaucracies.  Not much evidence of a Josh Stein-led conspiracy here.) 

We had hoped that Hill and Robinson, or their representatives, would review what we found and either (1) help us clear up our misunderstandings, or (2) thank us for calling attention to some errors and quickly fix them.  Neither of those happened.  Even as we kept finding new  troubling, error-ridden documents produced by Balanced Nutrition.

We believe that this is an even bigger mess than what’s been reported in the media or reviewed by the bureaucracy or courts.  Granted, this is not nearly as *sexy* as — say — “Nude Africa.”  But it seriously looks like the family business of the NCGOP’s 2024 champion was seriously mishandling taxpayer funds.

I so want to believe that this has all been about folks being in too far over their heads — instead of something just plain nefarious.

Right now, “Nude Africa” is Mark Robinson‘s legacy.  Sitting down and attempting to make everything right with Balanced Nutrition and the taxpayer funds that ran through it would be a great way to restore some luster to the Robinson legacy.

Continuing to point fingers and suggest “It’s everybody else’s fault but ours” ain’t gonna get us there.