Tyson Foods Meals that Matter disaster relief teams deployed yesterday to serve hot meals and donate free products to those impacted by recent storms in Arkansas.
Meals that Matter teams are operating from Wynne, Ark., which suffered massive damage from the recent tornados. The company is donating 500,000 pounds of protein in total, the equivalent of 2 million servings, to the Little Rock and Wynne communities.
Partnering with Walmart, teams will set up cooking operations in the parking lot of the Wynne Walmart, 800 U.S. Highway 64, to serve and distribute hot meals, along with bulk donations of protein. The meals and bulk donations will be distributed in a drive-thru system.
The partnership with Walmart allows Tyson Foods team members to provide and cook thousands of pounds of protein, while Walmart cooks prepare vegetable sides, bread, and dessert. Part of the protein donation will go to the Arkansas Food bank in Little Rock and the Northeast Arkansas Food bank in Jonesboro.
The deployment to Wynne comes after more than 30 Tyson team members with the Meals that Matter disaster relief effort spent five days in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, following a deadly tornado March 24.
The company served more than 13,000 hot meals and donated 500,000 pounds of frozen protein to residents, a hospital and several food banks and pantries. The company is working with the Mississippi Food Network, a Feeding America partner, to provide grant money for ongoing needs such as freezers and storage space.
Extreme weather has devastated communities in the Mid-South with at least six tornadoes hitting multiple states left behind catastrophic damage, hundreds of thousands without power, and recovery efforts underway according to the National Weather Service.
Friday’s storms in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi left a trail of destruction killing at least five and injuring more. Tornadoes in Mississippi last week killed at least 20 according to ACB24 Memphis, and recovery efforts are underway in the affected states.
