A Tyson/LULAC donation in San Antonio

By Ed Nicholson     

For the next few days, northwest Arkansas will be hosting the national board of directors of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) for their quarterly meeting.  They'll spend some of their time at Tyson headquarters tomorrow, part  of which will be devoted to a truckload food donation to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

Tyson and LULAC have had a partnership with Feeding America (formerly named America's Second Harvest) for two years, in which food donations are made to Feeding America food banks that serve Hispanic communities. 

For many people, their idea of "food bank" is where a hungry person goes to get a meal.  Those in hunger relief know that's not how the system works.  True food banks typically serve as distribution warehouses for a network that more than often includes hundreds of agencies--food pantries, feeding operations, child and senior care facilities--that in turn work on the ground to meet the needs of those at risk of hunger.

One of the goals of the partnership is to allow local LULAC councils to become catalysts in creating relationships between agencies serving those at risk of hunger in local communities and the Feeding America food banks.  Most of the time the LULAC councils are closely connected with agencies serving Hispanic communities. However--for a variety of reasons--many of these agenices aren't yet aware of the great potential in a relationship with their local food bank.

Tomorrow morning, the LULAC national leadership will join Tyson senior managers in making a joint donation of a truckload of food to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. In turn a part of that donation will be specifically targeted to agencies that serve Hispanic communities in northwest Arkansas.  The local LULAC council, which is already helping introduce agencies to the food bank, will be on hand as a critical part of that donation.

We believe this is another example of how groups working together can make the emergency food distribution system stronger, to serve those who are truly in need.