Smithfield's Helping Hungry Homes tour made the 12th stop on its 2016 nationwide hunger-relief tour on June 16 to donate more than 70,000 pounds of protein to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (CENC). Food Lion joined Smithfield at the event to make an additional donation of fresh produce and different sources of protein as part of its "Food Lion Feeds" hunger relief initiative.
Representatives from Smithfield and Food Lion presented the donations to the Food Bank of CENC during a recent event. Speakers discussed the importance of donations like this in the Raleigh area, where 67.9 percent of children receive free or reduced school meals. The donation will also support the food bank's Stop Summer Hunger Campaign, which seeks to provide 3.3 million meals to more than 300,000 children who depend on school-provided lunches throughout the year.
"We are very thankful to Smithfield Foods for their continued support," said Peter Werbicki, president and CEO of the Food Bank of CENC. "This donation comes at a critical time when nearly 300,000 children are missing out on free or reduced-cost school meals when cafeterias close for the summer. Smithfield truly understands that these families will have a further strain on their food budget during the summer months."
"As a proud partner of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, Food Lion was pleased to join with Smithfield to make this considerable contribution to the Raleigh community," said Christy Phillips Brown, director of media and community relations for Food Lion. "As we enter the summer months, when students are out of school for the summer, donations such as these are critically important in Raleigh and the surrounding communities. Through our Food Lion Feeds initiative, Food Lion has committed to donate 500 million meals by the year 2020, and through wonderful events such as this, we are well on our way toward meeting that goal."