Company providing lunch meat, bacon and ham to serve free hot
meals to hurricane victims, volunteers and first responders in
partnership with Mercy Chefs
SMITHFIELD, Va., Oct. 3, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods is sending more than 37,000 pounds
of food – the equivalent of 150,000 servings – to Fort Myers, Florida, through its Helping
Hungry Homes® program in response to the devastation caused by
Hurricane Ian.
The protein will be delivered to Mercy Chefs, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based nonprofit that
deploys to disaster zones across America, to serve free,
chef-prepared, restaurant-quality hot meals to victims, volunteers
and first responders in Fort
Myers.
"Our hearts go out to everyone in the path of this catastrophic
hurricane," said Jonathan Toms,
senior community affairs manager for Smithfield Foods. "We hope
this food assistance brings some relief to the people of
Fort Myers as they start down the
difficult road to recovery."
Chef Gary LeBlanc, founder and
chief executive officer of Mercy Chefs, said, "Our continued
partnership with Smithfield Foods is critical to feeding those who
have lost everything. We're honored to have the opportunity to
serve those facing extreme devastation in Hurricane Ian's
wake."
Helping Communities is a featured pillar
of Smithfield's industry leading sustainability
program. Since 2008, the company has donated hundreds of
millions of protein servings across the U.S. through its signature
hunger-relief initiative Helping Hungry
Homes® and recently pledged to donate an
additional 200 million servings by 2025.
More information on Smithfield's ongoing work to
strengthen and feed our communities is
available here.
About Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since
1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food
company with agricultural roots and a global reach. With more than
60,000 jobs globally, we are dedicated to producing "Good food.
Responsibly.®" and serve as one of the world's leading
vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered
sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our
industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S.
company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our
entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein
to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of
food servings to our communities. Smithfield boasts a
portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such
as Smithfield®, Eckrich® and
Nathan's Famous®, among many others. For more
information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect
with us
on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
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SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.