Smithfield Foods Inc., the Utah Pork Producers Association (UPPA) and the Fredette Family Foundation delivered 35,000 pounds of protein, or 140,000 servings, to Utah Food Bank to push the organizations' joint "Points for Protein" campaign over the goal line.

Smithfield and UPPA, in cooperation with the Fredette Family Foundation, committed to donate 50 pounds of protein to Utah Food Bank for each point scored by BYU and Utah State during the 2022-23 football season. The teams scored a combined 696 points, resulting in a donation of 35,000 pounds of protein. The donated products, which include ham, bacon, lunch meat and hot dogs, will be distributed throughout the state via Utah Food Bank's network of partner agencies such as the Beaver County Food Share.

"Smithfield is committed to fighting food insecurity in our communities, and this donation will go a long way toward helping the food bank serve people who are facing hunger throughout Utah," said Jonathan Toms, senior community development manager for Smithfield Foods. "We're honored to work with these great partners to make this donation a reality, and we'd like to sincerely thank everyone who was a part of our "Points for Protein" campaign this year."

"Utah pork producers across the state are committed to serving our local communities," said Jim Webb, president of the Utah Pork Producers Association. "We are grateful to the BYU and Utah State football teams and hope that this year's sizable protein donation helps ease the burden and stress that hunger causes far too many Utah families."

"Utah Food Bank is so grateful to Smithfield Foods for this important donation of protein, which is something always requested but rarely donated," said Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank president and chief executive officer. "We, and especially our clients, appreciate the support of UPPA and Smithfield, along with the Utah State and BYU football teams, for working so hard this season to help us fight hunger."

"Utah scores in the fight against food insecurity every time BYU and Utah State football score. For me, that's a win every time," said  Jimmer Fredette, founder of the Fredette Family Foundation. "I could not be more proud of the continued success of the "Points for Protein" program, and I'm grateful for our partnership with Smithfield and UPPA."

This year's donation brings the total donated since 2019 through the "Points for Protein" partnership to 198,000 pounds, or 792,000 servings, of protein. Smithfield Foods has donated nearly 500,000 pounds of protein, or nearly 2 million servings, to Utah Food Bank since 2010.

Nationally, Smithfield has donated hundreds of millions of protein servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states since 2008 through its Helping Hungry Homes program, and has pledged to donate an additional 200 million servings of protein by 2025.

The company donated more than 240,000 servings of food to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Feeding Southwest Virginia in January 2023 and 120,000 servings of food to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore in December 2022. Smithfield also delivered 140,000 food servings to support winter disaster relief in Kentucky, 150,000 food servings to victims of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, last October, and contributed $2 million to Ukraine crisis relief efforts in March 2022. Smithfield donated a total of more than 6 million pounds of protein, or 24 million servings, in 2022.

More information about Smithfield's ongoing work to strengthen our communities and fight food insecurity is available here.

Source: Smithfield Foods