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“We’re shocked and saddened by the impact of these powerful spring storms and are pitching in to help those whose lives have been turned upside down by the devastation,” said Donnie Smith, president and CEO.
Currently, six Tyson cooking teams are stationed in northern Alabama to help feed disaster relief workers as well as employees, contract poultry growers and local residents who have been affected by the storms. In addition to delivering four truckloads of meat, poultry and tortillas, the company has also delivered ice and 27,000 bottles of water.
Tyson Foods employs approximately 2,000 people in Alabama and the company depends on more than 340 contract poultry growers in the state. Tyson’s Blountsville and Albertville chicken processing plants were not damaged by the recent, but they both lost power –and the Albertville facility didn’t have electricity as of last Friday.
Several northern Alabama chicken farms raising birds for Tyson had chicken houses that were destroyed or damaged. The company is helping the affected contract chicken growers with clean up efforts.
Last week, Tyson also donated a truckload of chicken and a truckload of tortillas in central North Carolina to the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Christian United Outreach Center to help with relief efforts. Thousands of North Carolina residents were recently affected by tornados, including people in Sanford, where Tyson operates a tortilla plant. Tyson’s Sanford facility was not damaged; but a tornado touched down nearby. Plant employees raised $1,750 and donated clothing and household items to help a co-worker whose home was destroyed in the storm.
Tyson also shipped a truckload of food last week to the Arkansas Food Bank Network of Little Rock to help in the aftermath of tornadoes that hit the central region of the state.
Iowa also recently experienced tornado damage. Employees of Tyson Fresh Meats in Dakota Dunes, SD, and in Storm Lake, Iowa, collected and donated more than $2,000 to help with disaster relief. Most of the money was donated to the Siouxland Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, some was used to support employees who experienced storm damage and other funds went to help feed relief workers who were removing debris from farm fields. Ground beef donations were made to two local food pantries.
