Company providing lunch meat, bacon and ham to serve free hot meals to hurricane victims, volunteers and first responders in partnership with Mercy Chefs

SMITHFIELD, Va., Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods is sending more than 37,000 pounds of food – the equivalent of 150,000 servings – to Fort Myers, Florida, through its Helping Hungry Homes® program in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.

The protein will be delivered to Mercy Chefs, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based nonprofit that deploys to disaster zones across America, to serve free, chef-prepared, restaurant-quality hot meals to victims, volunteers and first responders in Fort Myers.

"Our hearts go out to everyone in the path of this catastrophic hurricane," said Jonathan Toms, senior community affairs manager for Smithfield Foods. "We hope this food assistance brings some relief to the people of Fort Myers as they start down the difficult road to recovery."

Chef Gary LeBlanc, founder and chief executive officer of Mercy Chefs, said, "Our continued partnership with Smithfield Foods is critical to feeding those who have lost everything. We're honored to have the opportunity to serve those facing extreme devastation in Hurricane Ian's wake."

Helping Communities is a featured pillar of Smithfield's industry leading sustainability program. Since 2008, the company has donated hundreds of millions of protein servings across the U.S. through its signature hunger-relief initiative Helping Hungry Homes^® and recently pledged to donate an additional 200 million servings by 2025.

More information on Smithfield's ongoing work to strengthen and feed our communities is available here.

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. With more than 60,000 jobs globally, we are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly.^®" and serve as one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to our communities. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield^®, Eckrich^® and Nathan's Famous^®, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. 

SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.