A donation of 369,000 servings of poultry-based protein products from seven companies in Mississippi will be delivered to a pair of charities in anticipation of the holiday season.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday that 59,500 pounds of chicken meat and 129,000 eggs will go to the Mississippi Food Network and the Salvation Army. Per a release from Reeves’ office, these products raised on Mississippi farms come from Amick Farms, Cal Maine Foods, Koch Foods, Mar-Jac Poultry MS, Peco Foods, Tyson Foods, and Wayne-Sanderson Farms.
Each company comes together through the Mississippi Poultry Association once a year to make this donation, which is intended to help feed hungry Mississippians during a season centered around joy and cheer.
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“I’m grateful to the Mississippi Poultry Association for always stepping up to help ensure no Mississippi family goes hungry during the holiday season,” Reeves said. “The Mississippi Food Network and the Salvation Army do a tremendous job serving Mississippians, and I thank them for accepting this donation to help end hunger in our state.”
Since the program began in 2011, Mississippi Poultry Association members have donated 862,352 pounds of chicken and 1,882,600 eggs — totaling more than five million servings of protein.
“This has been a difficult year for many across the country, and the 32,000 employees of the state’s poultry industry want to help their fellow Mississippians this Christmas season,” Mississippi Poultry Association Board Chairman Mack Walker of Tyson Foods said. “We appreciate Gov. Reeves coordinating this effort.”
In addition to the tens of thousands of people who work in the poultry sector and the 1,700 farm families that raise these chickens and eggs, another 66,400 jobs are generated because of the industry. Poultry is Mississippi’s largest agricultural industry with a total economic impact of $27.8 billion.
