Pete Nebhut

By Ed Nicholson

I monitor social media for what gets said about Tyson Foods. Yesterday there was a tweet from someone who said "Can't wait to be done with this bag of [Tyson] chicken so I can move on to something from a company that isn't so evil." 

I don't know what prompted the comment (at least it appeared she was going to eat the chicken).    But I wish she could have been with me the last three days.

You see, "Tyson Foods" isn't a cloistered few who control the puppet strings of shadowy empire.  It's 117,000 people all around the world.  And since Sunday, I've been with some of the best in the world.  People from Tyson operations in Nebraska and Iowa who've volunteered their time to come out in the Iowa July heat to cook and sell food to riders in the annual RAGBRAI event. And donate the proceeds to hunger relief. Some were up 'til midnight in Storm Lake last night.  Others setting up in Varina at 4:00 a.m. today. In the past three days, more than six thousand meals have been fed to RAGBRAI riders. 

It's a big healthy dose of Heartland heart and a work ethic that will wear you to the ground if you try to keep pace with it.  We try not to make this blog too self-centered, but every once in a while I have to brag on these folks. I'm proud of 'em.  

Thanks to the people who've worked the past three days and the ones who''ll work the next five.

You can see their photos below or on Flickr.  We'd also be honored if you'd follow Tyson Hunger Relief on Facebook. 

 

Dakota City/ Dakota Dunes

 

Storm Lake

 

 

 

Storm Lake

 

 

 

Dakota City/ Dakota Dunes

 

Cherokee

 

By Ed Nicholson

If you've followed this blog for more than a year, you know that this time each year, we have the distinct honor to join team members from our plants in Iowa (and one in Joslin, Illinois) in preparing and selling food along the route of the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Proceeds from the sale go to hunger relief efforts in the towns along the way, and to Share Our Strength, our great longtime partners who help administer the grants. 

With 15,000 registered riders (and many who don't register) from across the country, RAGBRAI is truly a unique event; a study in diversity.

For those of you who subscribe by email, please indulge us just this week.  We'll be posting every day, mainly because we believe the more than 200 team members who come out and cheerfully work in the heat deserve the recognition the postings provide. 

You can also see photos at our Flickr site and postings on our Facebook page. 

We kicked off yesterday  at the ride's Expo in Sioux City, with the great help of Team Members from the Tyson Dakota City plant and the Dakota Dunes.

Today we're in Storm Lake.  If you happen to be on the ride, stop by and eat a sandwich with us.  It goes to a worthy cause.

Want to know about child hunger? Ask someone who sees it up close: a teacher or school foodservice director. Michael Rosenberger is the foodservice director of the Irving (TX) Independent School District.

Here he speaks passionately and articulately about the kids at risk of hunger he sees every day he goes to work.

 

 

 

LULAC National President Rosa Rosales; Bob Jilbert, Roadrunner Food Bank; Tyson Team Members; LULAC Board Members

 

Four years ago, Tyson Foods and Feeding America formed an innovative partnership with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), in which we committed to collaboratively donating one million pounds of food into communities with significant Hispanic populations and strong LULAC Councils.  That milestone has long been surpassed.  To see some of the communities into which this food has gone, see this Google map.

Yesterday, we began our fifth year of this partnership by donating a truckload of Tyson products (31K lbs.) at the National LULAC Conference to Roadrunner Food Bank of Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

We plan on keeping going.  As important as the food donated, bringing more people into the fight against hunger is what is going to create long-term impact from partnerships like this.

It's a great honor to have great partners.  Working together, we know we make a difference.

The Food Research and Action Center  (FRAC) has a very informative piece of research in Food Hardship: A Closer Look at Hunger--Data for the Nation, States, 100 MSAs, and Every Congressional District.

Here in order are the metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) with the highest rates of food hardship in 2008-2009

1. Memphis; Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas
2. Bakersfield, California
3. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania
4. Fresno, California
5. Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida
6. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California
7. Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama
8. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, Louisiana
9. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada
10. Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina
11. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida
12. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
13. Toledo, Ohio
13.  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
15. Charleston-N Charleston-Summerville, South Carolina
15. Columbia, South Carolina
15. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, California
18. Little Rock-N Little Rock-Conway, Arkansas
19. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, North Carolina, South Carolina
19. Jacksonville, Florida
21. Baton Rouge, Florida
21. Knoxville, Tennessee
21. Tulsa, Oklahoma
24. Columbus, Ohio
24. Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana