Two long-time FFA sponsors will donate more than 60,000 pounds of food to one of Indiana’s largest and busiest community food banks Thursday.
Austin, MN-based Hormel is giving 35,640 pounds of chili with beans and Springdale, AR,-headquartered Tyson Foods is giving more than 30,000 pounds of fresh chicken to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. Both companies will deliver their donations to the food bank at 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
Gleaners is located at 3737 Waldemere Ave. in Indianapolis.
The food is being given in support of the National FFA Organization’s Feeding the World-Starting at Home campaign, which launched Wednesday to open the 2012 National FFA Convention & Expo. Since, FFA members from throughout the nation have been working in shifts to pack one million meals that will be distributed locally and overseas.
“This donation is in alignment with our company’s commitment to nourish the hungry in the United States one community at a time,” says Julie H. Craven, vice president of corporate communications at Hormel Foods. “We are proud to be making a difference with FFA.” Hormel Foods has been a sponsor for 39 years.
Tyson Foods has backed FFA for 37 years. “One in six Americans are at risk of hunger — that’s too many,” says Sara Lilygren, senior vice president of external relations at Tyson Foods. “People at Tyson have been working with others on this problem for over a decade, but we know we’ll not be able to solve it without a new generation of leadership. That’s why we’re inspired to see these students get involved in the fight against hunger.”
The National FFA Organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to 557,318 student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of 7,498 local FFA chapters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.