Tony and Dolly Ellis

By Ed Nicholson     

A cornerstone of our hunger relief strategy at Tyson Foods is engaging our employees (we call each other team members).  We figure if we can get 10% of our 100,000+  people invovled in the fight against hunger, that could have a significant and noticable impact.  It makes people feel good about the company for which they work. 

One of the biggest benefits of engagement, is it helps people come to a better understanding this very complex issue of hunger. 

We saw this come into play in the past couple of weeks as 40 summer interns working at the Tyson Corporate Headquarters volunteered to spend a day working at the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. 

We sent a Flip cameral along with them, with which they shot the video attached. 

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.

 

By Ed Nicholson

We all compete for something.  For those of us in the corporate world, the competition is open and visible. For those in the non-profit world, it's often for donors, grants, resources and share of mind.

What would happen if those of us involved in hunger dropped our guards and supported what our "competitors" are doing to help end hunger?  Do you think we would compromise our own competitive postions?  In this case, I don't.

Let me try.

ConAgra Foods and Tyson Foods can be fierce competitors in some categories in the marketplace.  But there's one thing on which we agree:  No child should ever go hungry.  The ConAgra Foods Foundation does some outstanding work to alleviate hunger in the U.S.  In particular, the foundation deserves enormous kudos for their ongoing support of Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline.  This program brings together extremely talented chefs, nutritionists, food banks, feeding programs, and other caring folks to teach nutrition, food budgeting, and cooking skills to adults and kids.

It's a fabulous program.  It needs and deserves more awareness. So go tell someone about it.

To whom would you tip your hat if organizational barriers didn't exist?  You can comment here (anonymously, if you prefer).