Foodbanks Across Iowa Will Receive Enough Protein for One Million Meals; Feeding Events and Fundraisers Will Help Hunger Relief Agencies Along the RAGBRAI Route

Note: The RAGBRAI involvement was the work of many remarkable Tyson Iowa Team Members.  Hunger Champions--Iowa is a blog detailing their involvement in RAGBRAI, in addition to some other inspiring hunger relief efforts.

July 20, 2007-- The 35th Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) begins this weekend, and Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), which operates eight facilities and employs 9,000 Team Members in the state, will be involved in activities throughout the ride to create awareness for the fight against hunger across Iowa.

The company will donate approximately 500 pounds of protein products for each mile of the 477-mile biking event, in what is believed to be the largest protein donation ever made in the state of Iowa. Seven truckloads of protein products totaling more than 240,000 pounds, enough for one million meals, will be distributed among all Iowa foodbanks in the America's Second Harvest network.

In addition to the product donations, Tyson Foods' Iowa Team Members will host feeding events in communities near the RAGBRAI route, and the funds raised will be given to organizations in those communities that provide feeding programs for children.

The money raised by the Tyson sponsored events will help local agencies target childhood hunger, which worsens in the summer months when children do not have access to school feeding programs for their meals. The funds raised at these events will be channeled directly back to agencies in the communities that host them.

"Iowa is such an incredibly important state for Tyson Foods, with Team Members, plant communities and livestock producers throughout the state," said Dick Bond, Tyson Foods president and CEO. "We are proud of our Team Members here in Iowa, who have come together in a great way for this effort."