Paula Deen Cooks Up Support for Food Bank
By Amy Lyons, 3/04/2010
She’s everybody’s favorite Southern cook, and this week she was lending a hand locally, giving a whole new meaning to the term “comfort food”. Deen doled out 150,000 servings of protein – including bologna, ham and other products produced by Smithfield Foods – at the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank on Wednesday, flanked by scores of volunteers and representatives from Smithfield, the leading processor and marketer of fresh pork and packaged meats in the United States; and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than 1.3 million workers in the food processing industry.
The donation is a part of the “Feeding The Hungry” coast-to-coast tour, during which 20 million servings of protein will be delivered and unloaded to food banks around the country over the next three years.
Vons also got in on the feast, presenting a check to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank for more than $19,000, money gathered via donations during the Vons Season of Giving campaign at stores throughout greater Los Angeles from mid-November through December. In 2009, Vons donated over 620,000 pounds of food to the organization to help provide hunger relief to Los Angeles families in need.
“I’m so proud to help Smithfield and the UFCW donate and deliver 150,000 servings of pork today to the L.A. Regional Food Bank,” Deen said. “ No one should go to bed hungry.”
Michael Flood, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, said the donation would feed scores of hungry people.
“With demand for food assistance increasing 40 percent over just the last twelve months, this donation of high quality protein items from Smithfield Foods couldn’t come at a better time,” Flood said. “We hope that high profile donations like this bring about more awareness about the growing hunger problem in Los Angeles County.”
Foodbanks nationwide are reporting a 25 percent increase in the number of people coming to them for help, according to statistics provided by the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. They report that 38 million Americans do not have enough to eat and that 40-50 percent of all food produced by, or imported into the U.S. for the purpose of feeding people, is ultimately wasted, totaling approximately 180 billion pounds per year. The USDA has estimated that at least 32 billion pounds of that food waste is recoverable.
