Company partners with Mercy Chefs to supply hot meals for
flooding victims, first responders and volunteers
SMITHFIELD, Va., July 1, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods delivered 34,000 pounds of protein
to Rock Valley, Iowa, to provide
free, restaurant-quality hot meals to victims, first responders and
volunteers impacted by severe flooding across Northwest Iowa.
As a local employer with more than 600 employees in nearby
Sioux Center and Orange City, Iowa, Smithfield delivered the protein donation
today to Mercy Chefs, a Portsmouth,
Virginia-based nonprofit that deploys to disaster zones
across America. Donated food items included loins, ribs and pork
chops, and will provide over 140,000 servings of protein.
"Recent catastrophic flooding has left many of our Northwest Iowa neighbors without basic
necessities like electricity, drinking water and food," said
Jonathan Toms, senior community
development manager for Smithfield Foods. "By partnering with Mercy
Chefs, we're able to provide support and hope for our neighbors in
critical times of need as the community continues to recover from
storm damage."
Beginning today, Mercy Chefs' mobile kitchen and smoker will be
serving restaurant-quality meals in Rock
Valley, Iowa, to anyone in the community in need. The team
will also distribute meals to those unable to make it to the base
of operations. To donate or find out how to volunteer locally,
visit mercychefs.com/donate-iowa-flooding-response.
"As we respond to the heartbreaking disaster in Iowa, we are incredibly grateful to Smithfield
Foods for standing with us," said Chef Gary
LeBlanc, founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs. "Their support
enables us to provide thousands of high-quality, chef-prepared
meals to those suffering through this crisis."
Smithfield's hunger relief
program, Helping Hungry Homes®, has provided hundreds of millions
of servings of protein all 50 U.S. states, as well as in
Poland, Romania and Mexico, since 2008. Smithfield donated nearly 28 million servings
of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community
outreach programs across the U.S. in 2023 and has pledged to donate
200 million servings of protein by 2025.
For more information about Smithfield's programs to support local
communities, please visit
smithfieldfoods.com/helping-communities.
About Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since
1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a U.S. food company that
employs more than 54,000 people in seven countries and partners
with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world's leading
vertically integrated protein companies, we are dedicated to
producing "Good food. Responsibly.®" to feed a growing
world population. We believe in the power of protein to end food
insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings
to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach
programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield boasts a portfolio
of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield®,
Eckrich®, Gwaltney® and Nathan's
Famous®, among many others. For more information,
visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and connect with us
on Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn,
Instagram and Threads.
About Mercy Chefs
Mercy Chefs is a 501c3 founded in 2006 in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. The organization exists to provide
professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals to victims,
volunteers, and first responders in natural disasters and national
emergencies and partners with existing ministries with food service
in underserved communities around the country. Since its founding,
Mercy Chefs has served 26 million meals. In 2020, Mercy Chefs
founder Gary LeBlanc was recognized
by Southern Living Magazine as a "Hometown Hero," and Mercy Chefs
was named the 2020 Small Business of the Year in the nonprofit
category by Inside Business and the Hampton Roads Chamber. In 2015,
it received both the Virginia
Governor's Volunteerism Award and the Hampton Roads Volunteer
Achievement Award for its service. For more information, visit
MercyChefs.com.
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