Tony and Dolly Ellis

By Ed Nicholson

The name of the music clip (courtesy of Flipshare) I've been using on my little video vignettes all week is "A Perfect Saturday."  While nothing is perfect, today was darned close. Good weather, good people, and a good tired to end a great week. Again we had Tyson team members from the nearby Louisa County plant, working hard to make the day a success. 
It's been an honor and a privelege to work around these folks all week. We'll be tying up some loose ends from RAGBRAI here in the next few days, but for now, I'd like to extend humble thanks to all who came out and worked; to all who stopped by and bought a sandwich or an omelet; to all the communities who hosted our traveling troupe; to our group's senior management who supported us all the way in this effort; and to everyone who played a role in feeding a few more hungry mouths in Iowa.
See you next year!

To see a collection of photos from this year's Tyson RAGBRAI efforts, go to our Flickr pages. 

Today, team members from the Tyson Columbus Junction, Iowa plant came to Brighton to help raise money for local hunger relief agencies.

 

To view photos from this year's Tyson RAGBRAI activities, go here.

Here's our team from Perry and Waterloo, at work in Lacona on Wednesday and at the Sunny Slope Church near Bethlehem on Thursday. 

To view photos from this year's Tyson RAGBRAI activities, go here.

 

Here in the heart of the breadbasket of the world--an area that feeds people all over the planet--there's hunger.

More than 340,000 people in Iowa at risk of hunger.  Do you know the statistics for your state?  They'd probably surprise you.  You can find them on Feeding America's website.

Today the team from Perry, Iowa worked very hard in Indianola on a day that went from rain to shine.

To view photos from this year's Tyson RAGBRAI activities, go here.

 

By Ed Nicholson

The day began early today, as the core RAGBRAI team headed out for Villisca at 4:30 A.M. to meet folks from Council Bluffs and Omaha at 6:00.  The profits from today's food sales went to the Churches Intercouncil Food Bank of Villasca. 

I got started a little bit later, staying back to post some stuff here.  As I was driving into the Iowa sunrise, I was reminded by NPR that 40 years ago today, man first set foot on the moon.

I'm old enough to remember it well, having been in front of the TV with the family as Walter Cronkite (RIP, Walter) exclaimed, "Man on the moon! Oh boy!" It was an event surrounded by wonder and hope: If we could accomplish this, it was going to be a marvelous future.

And there have indeed been some wonderous advancements. The fact that you're reading this on a communications channel that didn't exist back then is evidence. 

But the sad fact is, there are still a billion people on this planet, many of whom are dying, without adequate nourishment.  If we can figure out how to put a man on the moon, surely we can figure out how to feed the world's population.

I'm awfully proud of the team I worked with today, who at least made one small step in that direction. 

For a complete collection of photos from our week at RAGBRAI, go here.

By Ed Nicholson

Day two of the 2009 Tyson RAGBRAI efforts.  Day two that team members from our Council Bluffs and Omaha plants came out to prepare and sell food.

I'll be making the point all week: If you want to see into the heart of a company, don't look in the boardroom.  Look at the people who make it happen every day.  There are a few in the video above.  Again, I'm humbled to be among their company.

We're catching people as they're in line (or on line, if you're not from the South) and asking them to take a short survey about hunger.  So far, we have about 500 surveys completed, and hope to get to 1000 by the end of the week.  We'll fill you in once we have time to catch our breath, but a preliminary look indicates we all have some work to do in creating awareness.  We all need to be talking a little bit more.

By Ed Nicholson

This is the third consecutive year we've had the opportunity to be part of a team that includes people from the Tyson Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois plants, preparing and selling food at RAGBRAI to benefit childhood hunger organizations in Iowa communities. 

I'm incredibly proud to be associated with these fine people.  They work very, very hard every day making food for our company to sell for people who can afford it. Then they come out on their own time and work very, very hard, making and selling food, so we can help people who can't afford it.

The video above includes team members from the Tyson Omaha and Council Bluffs plants, cooking at the opening day of RAGBRAI in Council Bluffs. 

 

By Ed Nicholson

For the third consecutive year, Team Members from the Tyson Iowa plants will be preparing and selling food along the route of the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  75% of the profits will go to childhood hunger programs in or near the towns in which the food is being sold.  25% will go to our national hunger relief partner, Share Our Strength, who will be administering the grants to the local non-profit organizations.

This is an annual event that's been incredibly successful for the past two years, It's always fun. Great to see people from all over the United States on the week-long event that hosts a crowd about as diverse as any you'll ever see in your entire lifetime.

Today, teams from our Omaha and Council Bluffs plants worked as fast as they could, turning out  hot dogs, and ribeye and chicken sandwiches to feed a hungry throng.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we'll be set up in Henderson selling omelettes for breakfast and chicken sandwiches for lunch For a complete list of towns, along with the menus, see the RAGBRAI blog.

It's going to be fun! Stay tuned.  We'll be posting every day.

We can never say enough good things about the efforts of the Tyson Transportation Group and their vital role in the company's hunger relief efforts. They're amazing. They're always there with a great attitude, ready to deliver the food to the food banks or whereever it's needed. They generally pick some of the coolest folks in the world to drive those hunger relief deliveries. And this year's RAGBRAI was no exception. Bob Oliver drove a 52-foot Tyson 18-wheeler from the Missouri to the Mississipi, supplying the teams with meat and omelet ingredients along the way, so they could cook for hunger relief. He had to snake that big rig into and out of some really tight spots in those little Iowa towns, always being on the lookout to not run over someone on two wheels. Even though his job description didn't call for him to do any more than get the load there, Bob was a full-fledged team member, helping with setup and teardown, manning the grills, and many times, being the Tyson goodwill ambassador with the folks in the towns where we were setting up to cook. Bob, who lives in Council Bluffs, married his new wife, Stephanie on July 4 of this year. She also came along and pitched in herself for a couple of days along the route. A big thanks to Bob on behalf of all of the Tyson traveling crew. Hope to see you down the road again soon!

 

 

It's been a long haul across the state for those who have done every mile of it:  LOTS of omelets, ribeye sandwiches, chicken sandwiches and pulled pork sandwiches have been sold.  LOTS of bottles of cold water.  And lots of money was raised for hunger relief efforts in those towns along the way. 
 

The Ryder bob truck reefer has bounced its way from Missouri Valley to Le Claire.  And a road-weary ground crew will get some well-deserved rest:  Dave Hinojosa from the Tyson Joslin plant, whom you read about earlier.  Elena Reader, from Waterloo, who was along and invaluable the first five days of the ride.  Thomas Nicholson, the Prairie  Grove, Arkansas high school senior who has thrown in like a guy twice his age (and worked as hard as he has his entire life). Raul Lagos joined us for two _very critical_ days, as did Crystal Dyer. Andrea Sherwood, who masterminded the whole affair, and literally ran herself into the ground (and bounced back again) putting it all together.  Sue Brockway, who's worked harder than any of us, and is an inspiration to us all througout the year.   And Sherri Austin, calm, collected, and steady as a rock, who worked more shifts than any of the rest of us, seldom without a positive attitude and a smile on her face.   

And we couldn't have made it happen without the Tyson Transportation Group and driver Bob Oliver, who took the Tyson 18-wheeler into tight spots the entire route, from the Missouri the the Mississippi.
 

Thanks to Tyson operations management, especially Jim Schmitz, Dan Brooks and Bruce Pautsch for their support.  Special thanks to Joslin complex manager, Todd Reed for, among other things,  loaning us the trailer and Dave Hinojosa for a week.  Thanks to the other Iowa complex managers for letting their teams be part of this marvelous event.
 

And most especially, thanks to all of the Tyson Team Members who came early, stayed late, worked in the heat, endured the traffic, the lines, the hectic pace.  What you do every day makes sure our families are fed each night.  What you did this week will see to it that a lot of other families are also one step farther away from being hungry.  It's an honor and a privelege to work with you.   

Hope to see you all next July!