Feeding America's Hunger Action Month® is making an even bigger impact this year thanks to help from Smithfield Foods. The meat provider’s employee network collected over 32,000 lbs of food and grocery items during its company-wide food drive this year, resulting in a 28 percent increase in donations from the year prior.
"Smithfield Foods employees rise to the challenge every year during Hunger Action Month," said Jonathan Toms, Smithfield’s Senior Community Development Manager. "Smithfield is proud to do our part to help alleviate hunger in local communities where our employees live, work, and raise their families."
The donated items are equivalent to more than 27,000 meals. Along with the food items collected by its employees, Smithfield also donated more than 600,000 lbs of protein to food banks across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia during September, equivalent to more than 2.4 million servings donated.
Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month is a nationwide effort to raise awareness about hunger in America and inspire action, a press release explained.
"For people facing hunger, donations of protein are valuable during Hunger Action Month and all throughout the year," said Erika Thiem, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Feeding America. "The unwavering commitment and generous support from Smithfield and their team members is vital to our mission to help end hunger."
In addition to its efforts during the month of September, Smithfield supports the Feeding America network of local food banks throughout the year with its signature hunger-relief initiative program, Helping Hungry Homes®.
DMN applauds Smithfield Foods on its continuous efforts to support those facing food insecurity.
