Tony and Dolly Ellis

 

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!

This is it. The last day.  We're told there are a lot of tired and sore butts from seven days in the saddle.   I can tell you there are a lot of tired butts on our team.   The healthy crew from the Tyson Joslin plant came out to serve one last meal in sight of riders dipping their tires in the Mississippi.   They worked hard and earned their rightful spot as Tyson Hunger All-Stars.  As always, they were rockstars. 

Time to pull everything out of the Ryder truck then off our separate ways. 

Thursday night took the crew into the overnight town of North Liberty, just outside Iowa City.  This town had the theme thing down, with a pirate at every turn.  William Sanders, Bob Purvis and Barb Larsen, who had worked the morning shift in Belle Plaine, were joined by fellow Columbus Junction teammates, Wade Bruns, Peggy Hobach, Aaylan Wheeler and Mark Coleman for the last of the "two-a-day" events, a three-day marathon that just about put the traveling crew under. 

 

CMT and Tyson will Make a “Country Fried” Donation
For Every Click on CMTONECOUNTRY.com

NASHVILLE – July 17, 2008 – CMT One Country and Tyson have teamed up to donate a heapin’ helping of fried chicken to America’s Second Harvest to celebrate an all-new season of the popular CMT series, COUNTRY FRIED HOME VIDEOS.  Beginning in July, CMT One Country and Tyson will donate one pound of fried chicken to America’s Second Harvest for every person that visits www.CMTONECOUNTRY.com and clicks on the “donation box” over the course of the 12-week series.  COUNTRY FRIED HOME VIDEOS, hosted by Bill Engvall, airs Fridays at 9:00-9:30 p.m., ET/PT, on CMT.
 

Read more here.

Here's the team from the Tyson Waterloo plant cooking and selling food for hunger relief in Toledo during RAGBRAI '08.

Here's the team from the Tyson plant in Storm Lake, Iowa, cooking and selling food for hunger relief in Grand Junction during RAGBRAI '08.

 

The Waterloo crew in Toledo

The days are starting to run together a bit for the traveling crew, trying to work two sites in a day.  Days begin at 4 to 5 in the morning and run to midnight or so.  On top of that, with sparse coverage, the ATT&T aircard that allows me to upload to this site is pretty much useless in central rural Iowa.

Fortunately, much of the hard work is being done by fantastic crews from our Iowa plants.

Wednesday morning started out in Green Mountain, where a great bunch from Waterloo came in and served riders more omelets. This is treat that last year's RAGBRAI team put together, consisting of all Tyson products-- a pre-made omelet from the Chicago plant, wrapped in a Mexican Original tortilla.  Customers can get it with or without a patty of good Tyson sausage wrapped in the middle.  They sell like hotcakes, er, well, you know.  We've been selling 400-700 of them a day, and have our "regulars" who stop by often.

Wednesday evening found us at the "overnight town" (where the bikers camp) of Toledo, where a group from Tyson Waterloo served all of the "real" proteins, chicken beef and pork sandwiches.  We were a bit concerned early in the day, when it appeared we wouldn't be selling much, but a dinnertime onslaught of people, made for one of our best events of the week. A  big special thanks to Steve and Nancy Louthan who came in after the photos and videos were shot and worked like crazy 'til the last item was packed into the Ryder at quitting time.

Again, we just can't say enough about the Tyson team members we've been working with. They just add special meaning to the phrase "Powering the Spirit."

by: Erin Wilgenbusch, APR, Senior Lecturer and ISU PRSSA Faculty Advisor

Today I joined Sue Brockway in Waterloo at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.  It was a personal experience for me since so many people I know have benefitted from the Northeast Iowa Food Bank recently.  You see, I grew up in Parkersburg, Iowa (about 30 miles west of Waterloo and in the 16-county service area of the Food Bank).  On May 25, nearly half of my hometown was lost to an EF5 tornado. I've been back several times since that fateful day and on numerous visits, I've seen the Northeast Iowa Food Bank truck making deliveries to the many, many affected citizens in Parkersburg.  Today, speaking with Barb and some of the other Food Bank employees I learned more about their operation and, sadly, the large number of people in need of food.  One program that really struck a chord with me (the mother of three children) was the Backpack Program.  On Fridays, school children are sent home with a non-descript backpack full of food to last them through the weekend.  I can not imagine what it must be like to be a child and to be hungry.  To look forward to going to school, because you get a meal there.  It was surely a personal lesson for me (and my oldest son who was with me) about being grateful for what you have.  The employees, too, struck me.  They clearly are passionate about what they do, from the executive director to the program directors to the man who unloads the trucks of food.  They all value the important role they play in hunger relief in northeast Iowa.  They're pretty impressive people.  Thanks, Tyson, for your efforts on behalf of all Iowans; and personally, thanks for opening my eyes to the scope of hunger in my own home state.

Here's an interview Erin did with Barb Prather, executive director of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.

Today, the Tyson crew worked early at Belle Plaine,  It was a "meeting point" town, where support vehicles could meet bikers mid-way into the route.  A well-planned town with live music and other entertainment.  The Tyson Columbus Junction plant provided much needed support to this extremely busy town.  The crew was selling omelets as fast as they could be made. As best we can figure, more than 800 omelets were sold to benefit hunger relief organizations in Belle Plaine.