"Powering the Spirit" with Wartburg College

Tyson Fresh Meats, Waterloo partnered with Wartburg College in “Powering the Spirit” to end childhood hunger. Tyson Team Members grilled pork chops and shredded BBQ pork sandwiches for the Wartburg home football game vs. Central. This event was planned as a wrap up to college’s participation in hunger and homelessness awareness week and way to raise awareness of the issue of hunger here in the Cedar Valley. Wartburg Students created awareness of the issue and Tyson’s commitment to being part of the solution. In addition, students drummed up sales by carrying signs and offering photo opportunities with a pig picture board. Together the event raised over $1778.00to end childhood hunger in the Cedar Valley.

"Powering the Spirit" Sack Lunch Events

Over 2,000 sack lunches were prepared, packaged and delivered by volunteers from Cedar Valley Community Support Services, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. to offices throughout the Cedar Valley in April, July and September. These lunches were preordered and purchased by groups to raise funds to end childhood hunger in the Cedar Valley. Each lunch ($6.00) included: a shredded pork sandwich (precooked meat ready to reheat in the microwave), a piece of fruit, a pasta salad, a cookie and a bottle of water. Over $12,000 was raised with these events.

If you are interested in being on the order mailing distribution list please e-mail andrea.sherwood@tyson.com to receive the next order form.

A special thank you to our sack lunch sponsors:
Hy-Vee
Local 431 UFCW
UPS
Cedar Valley Community Support Services

2nd Annual "Tuggin' for Kids"

The 2nd annual tug of war over a mud pit was held September 11, 2007. It brought out over 200 people to watch the action and pull to end childhood hunger in the Cedar Valley. The competition between the 11 participating teams was fierce while tuggin’ on the rope for the win. The Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department dug in their heels and out tugged all the teams to take the event win and 2007 braggin’ rights. However, the real winners are the children in the Cedar Valley who are hungry because the funds (over $13,000) raised at this event go toward ending childhood hunger in the Cedar Valley. A special thanks to the following sponsors who helped make this event a success.

Event Sponsors:
Craft Cochran
RSC Rental
The Radio Group (Cool 105.7, Rock 108, News Talk 1540, Starr 1330)
Team Sponsorships ($500):
Ace Refrigeration
A’Hearn
A-Line
All Temp Refrigeration
APC Company
Applied Industrial Technologies
Banner Roofing
Cedar Valley Mechanical
Darling International
Micro-Lube
Midwest Provisions
MW Maintenance
Nelco
Northeast Iowa Food Bank Board of Directors
Packer’s Chemical
Selesky
Stainless Plus, Inc.
Swagelok
Tasler
UFCW Local 431
Waterloo Boiler
WBC Mechanical
Team Pullers for Sponsored Teams:
Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department
Cedar Valley United Way

Cedar Valley Vikings
Evansdale Fire Department
West High School High School Students

The Tug in Waterloo

On Tuesday, September 4, people from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls community came together for the second annual Tuggin' For Kids tug-of-war to raise money for childhood hunger relief.

All together, more than $13,000 was raised for a great cause as part of the Tyson Foods Powering the Spirit program. Seventy-five percent of the funds will remain in the Waterloo Area to benefit programs offered by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Twenty-five percent benefits national hunger and poverty relief organization Share Our Strength.

Some got wet, some got muddy. All had a good time for a great cause.

Photos along RAGBRAI route

dido! Everything was fantastic and funtastic! Thank you Sue for your example of dedication and commitment.

Judy

It Goes Without Saying

I think it goes without saying that everyone did a wonderful job to make RAGBRAI such a success. I want to first start with the over 120 team members from Siouxland, Cherokee, Storm Lake, Perry, Waterloo and Joslin who came out and did whatever they were asked in early morning and late evening hours only to be asked to clean up, set up, cook and clean up more. It was truly an act of working together and was more fun than we had ever expected. If ever there was a way to measure the success of an event, one only needed to listen to the thousands of RAGBRAI riders we served and their support of our efforts to end childhood hunger. We gathered groupies along the route, and they have promised to come back next year.
A special thank you to the volunteers from all of the communities who also came out to help us. They told our story, introduced us to their neighbors and invited us into their communities like we were old friends.

Next, a special thanks to Jim Schmitz who let us try this crazy event, even though it continued to grow over the 4 months of planning. We appreciate the support of all of the plant/complex managers and their continued smiling when we asked for more people and resources as the days grew closer. None of our requests were turned down, and a few were able to come out and grill a little! Working with each and every one of you was a wonderful experience. We learned a few things, including how to cook omelets on the grill!

A very special thanks to the traveling gypsies; Steve and Nancy Louthan, Steve Youngblut and Sherri Austin who slept on floors, ate terrible food, slept in the house of a stranger and a camper with no electricity (all for the experience) and drove across the State of Iowa with thousands of people on bikes and moved equipment from sun up until sun down with not a single complaint. This core group held everything together, fixed equipment, problem solved, loaded and unloaded trucks and slept about 4 hours every day.

No one tells a story like the Mitchell group, and they did not disappoint us as we received excellent media coverage throughout the State of Iowa for 8 days. We were able to post photos on the blog and thousands of Iowans were able to learn more about Tyson Foods and the team members who make a difference every day. Between media releases and advisories, Share Our Strength and A2H, this team was busy every single day!

The fabulous food banks in Iowa let us tell our story and helped us deliver the message of 1 millions meals across the RAGBRAI route. Transportation and dispatch made this possible by having every truck in place and on time for 7 truckloads of protein!. A special thank you to the drivers who attended the events and helped whenever asked. A special thanks for helping us keep product fresh and ready to serve the over 20,000 people we saw everyday! Nothing moves without our friends in transportation!
To Communications who helped us design shirts, banners and signs....ads and whatever else we asked on the fly! Our banners were terrific, and the Tyson logo was displayed everywhere.
And to our newest intern, Thomas Nicholson.....whom we have recruited for next year.
And last but not least, to our leader of this event, Andrea Sherwood from Waterloo who showed leadership throughout. It started out as a little event and became the event across Iowa. When we all wanted to quit, she put us in the cooler truck to have a rest, brought us snacks, made us laugh, gave up her bed for the floor and kept up in good spirits with only one mission........feeding kids. Congrats to everyone......... Looking forward to seeing all of you next year! Thanks so much for help feeding kids in Iowa.

A Hillbilly Perspective

Yesterday, I worked in Aplington with a group of volunteers from Tyson’s Waterloo plant, feeding hungry bikers ribeye sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches and hot dogs. This is the bunch that raised $50,000 for last year’s Powering the Spirit campaign to raise money for childhood hunger relief in their community. They’re joining fellow Iowa Tyson Team Members in raising what will no doubt be an even larger sum for agencies in the RAGBRAI towns across the state.

Corn. More corn than an Ozark guy can even think about. Remember the first time you saw the ocean and were awestruck by water as far as the eye could see? Same thing with corn out here in central Iowa. It becomes easier to understand how the U.S. has been feeding the world. And harder to understand how we let people go hungry in this country.

Bicycles. This RAGBRAI thing is something else one has to see to fully comprehend its scope. Yesterday in Aplington, the bikers started coming in at around eight in the morning, and were still rolling through when we closed our food booth at 3pm. Road bikes, mountain bikes, cruisers, recumbents, tandems, trios, quads, bikers in costume, bikes with trailers, sound systems; if you can imagine it, someone’s probably riding it in RAGBRAI. Nobody can accurately describe the experience of seeing ten to fifteen thousand bicyclists.

Heart. I figure geography had something to do with naming it “America’s Heartland.” But I might submit that the spirit of the people I’ve met out here fully validates the moniker. These are great folks. Hard-working. Friendly. Caring. Productive. I’ve run into a bunch of big-hearted people out here. More about that later. All week long a lot of them, our fellow Tyson Team Members, have been volunteering their own time, doing hot, hard, physically demanding work to help feed hungry children they’ll probably never meet. I can’t tell you how proud I am to be associated with them.

Ed

Wednesday-July 25th

Today was an incredible day in Iowa. The Food Bank of Iowa in Des Moines received over 70,000 pounds of protein. This means over 280,000 meals for families in Iowa. http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/07/26/news/metro/1b99be410e4a0c1786257323004376a6.txt

Then it was on to Stout, Aplington and ending in Cedar Falls to cook for hungry riders as they ended their day. Cedar Falls saw one of the largest crowds ever, over 25,000 people all ready to celebrate the ride and see Blues Traveler and Lance Armstrong.

Both were worth the heat and crowds. Today, team members from Waterloo cooked their hearts out for children in the Cedar Valley with the NE Iowa Food Bank, Salvation Army and Kid Quest benefiting from thousands of riders and visitors to the Unidome! The highlight of the evening.....an inspirational Lance Armstrong and the great singer/harmonica player John Popper from Blues Traveler. We have quite a following now, so repeat customers are welcome. Tomorrow morning....on to Independence.

Tuesday, July 24th. On to Clarion, Iowa for steak sandwiches and more great protein to fuel the riders. The beneficiaries for today's proceeds are the children of Kids Korner. Team members from Perry were quick to get the grill fired up so riders could have their favorite sandwich! In addition, another food donation was made to help feed hungry Iowans. The NE Iowa Food Bank was the recipient of two truckloads of protein to help agencies in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo and surrounding areas. Food bank employees and volunteers, our drivers and complex manager Mike Grothe were all on hand for the donation celebration. Tomorrow.....on to the Unidome.......has anyone seen Lance?

Monday, July 23rd.....We were up with the chickens and team members from Storm Lake provided support in the small town of Webb. What started out very slow turned into a giant party of bikes and riders standing in line for their daily dose of protein. Jorge Sandoval and his grilling team did not disappoint with egg and cheese omelets and sausage wrapped in flour tortillas. Then on to hot dogs for the late breakfast crowd! Riders were standing in line 200 deep to get their daily Tyson fix of protein. We definitely have a loyal following and look forward to seeing our new friends as they ride across Iowa.

Team Phat Kids posed for a photo opportunity. They all met at a ranch and worked together and now ride together from all over the country.

Day 2 - Moneta , Iowa

The town of Moneta has four houses and a heart the size of Chicago.

Today Team Tyson made friends with neighbors in Moneta. After spending the night with Spencer, Iowa resident Cathy Wright, we were ready to cook and serve thousands of riders. Team members from Cherokee did not disappoint and showed us how much fun we could have, flagging down riders as they peddled down the highway looking for a cold drink and something to give them energy. By 2:00 p.m., all you could see was a sea of riders and team Cherokee cooked and served making sure everyone had something to eat. This picture was taken in the middle of our set up behind the Everly Bull. In the red t-shirt, our local hostess for the evening, Cathy Wright who let three of us stay in her home and enjoy the true RAGBRAI experience.Cherokee team members and community relations manager Judy McElroy got our hunger message out to the masses as riders pulled into Moneta.Cherokee team members cooking steak sandwiches, hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches. Today's sales will benefit children in Cherokee, Iowa! Friends and fellow volunteers stop by for some protein and a rest along the route.

Tyson Team Images from Day One - Rock Rapids

Foodbanks across Iowa will receive enough protein for one million meals; feeding events and fundraisers will help hunger relief agencies along the RAGBRAI route. Team Tyson is geared up in Rock Rapids to get off to a great start.

Team Tyson starts out in Rock Rapids cooking up dogs and pork sandwiches to get riders who are participating in RAGBRAI "Powered Up" before the race.

Day One brought out The National Guard to help the Tyson Team when our grill would not cooperate.

A happy family enjoying a hot dog before the big event

Hefty Donation

Food Bank of Siouxland Receives Hefty Donation
The Food Bank of Siouxland’s meat locker is well stocked now thanks to a big donation.

http://www.kpth.com/news/8632862.html

Tyson Foods Team Update - Day One - Rock Rapids

Rock Rapids is a great town. With the help of our military friends we got started at noon serving free hot dogs and pork sandwiches. Our favorite customer is a black lab named Abbey. So far we have powered over 3,000 riders with protein for the ride. We have met three folks from CANADA. Hundreds continue to pour in as the great ride gets closer.

On The Road

Today, bikers participating in RAGBRAI began their week long journey across Iowa. Tyson Foods is going along for the ride, working to alleviate hunger across the state by donating protein to foodbanks and holding feeding events to raise money for local hunger relief programs in communities along the RAGBRAI route.