Smithfield Foods Donates 35,000 Pounds of Food to Support Winter Disaster Relief in Kentucky

Company partnering with Mercy Chefs to provide restaurant-quality meals for disaster victims, volunteers and first responders

SMITHFIELD, Va., Jan. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. is has donated 35,000 pounds of food, equal to 140,000 servings, to help feed victims of the severe winter weather that recently engulfed Eastern Kentucky.

Smithfield delivered the food products to Mercy Chefs, which is currently stationed in Hazel Green, Kentucky, to provide disaster relief for local residents. The Portsmouth, Virginia-based nonprofit travels to disaster zones across the U.S. to serve free chef-prepared, restaurant-quality hot meals to local residents, volunteers and first responders. Smithfield products donated to this relief effort include lunch meat, bacon, fully cooked boneless ham, hickory smoked ham and smoked spiral sliced ham.

"The extreme winter weather in Eastern Kentucky left many residents with frozen pipes and entire towns without potable water," said Jonathan Toms, senior community development manager for Smithfield Foods. "We are grateful for our partnership with Mercy Chefs, which enables us to provide delicious, hot meals to help families get through this dire situation and get back on their feet."

Chef Gary LeBlanc, founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs, said, "Whenever and wherever we find people facing great need, Smithfield Foods is always there to stand with us as we set out to provide high-quality, chef-prepared meals in disaster zones across the country."

Mercy Chefs expects to cook 2,000-3,000 hot meals per day for residents in the area. To make a donation or find out how to volunteer locally, visit MercyChefs.com/easternky. 

Smithfield has donated hundreds of millions of protein servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states since 2008 through its Helping Hungry Homes^® program, and has pledged to donate an additional 200 million servings of protein by 2025.

The company recently donated 30,000 pounds of food, or 120,000 servings, to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore in December 2022, delivered 150,000 food servings to victims of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, last October, and contributed $2 million to Ukraine crisis relief efforts in March. Smithfield donated over 5 million pounds of protein, or 20 million servings, in 2022.

More information about Smithfield's ongoing work to strengthen our communities and fight food insecurity 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. 

About Mercy Chefs
Mercy Chefs is a 501(c)(3) 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 over 17 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. For more information, visit MercyChefs.com.

SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.