Hormel Foods Hunger Initiatives

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. As a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger, I received information from Hormel for this post, as well as product samples.
Over the past couple of days, as we have been out doing shopping, we have noticed many opportunities to give back to the community through adopt a child, angel trees, share a meal and other giving programs that encourage those that can, to help those that are in need. I am always willing to help out where I can, but what worries me is that whereas there is a lot of attention given to helping this time of year, the reality is that those that are in need can use help year round. Fortunately, there are programs that help to provide food to families year round and companies, like Hormel that have a commitment to helping to fight hunger.

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Hormel Foods is a company with expertise in food manufacturing, distribution and protein, which are all important components in helping to feed the hungry around the world! Hormel Foods’ ‘On Our Way to Ending Hunger’ program includes hunger relief efforts in the United States and abroad and comprises three pillars:

1. Collaborate: Collaborate with retailers, nonprofits and government agencies on hunger relief efforts.

- Hormel Foods partners with Hunger-Free Minnesota, a statewide coalition of community and corporate organizations aimed at closing the “missing meals” gap in Minnesota. Its goal is to provide 100 million additional meals, annually and sustainably, by 2014 for Minnesotans in need. Jeffrey M. Ettinger, Hormel Foods chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, serves on the steering committee of Hunger-Free Minnesota.
- Hormel Foods has supported Feeding America (formerly called America’s Second Harvest), the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the nation, through cash and donations of millions of pounds of product since the organization was founded in the 1970s.

2. Nourish: Nourish the hungry domestically and internationally.

- Hormel Foods has donated millions of individual meals throughout the years through our On Our Way to Ending Hunger program.
- As part of the On Our Way to Ending Hunger program at Hormel Foods, the company has developed Spammy™ shelf-stable poultry product fortified with vitamins and minerals to help prevent malnutrition in children in Guatemala through a partnership with Food for the Poor and Caritas Arquidiocesana.

3. Motivate: Motivate individuals and corporate partners to take action to fight hunger.

- In 2012, more than 20 Hormel Foods plant locations donated to local non-profits committed to ending hunger in their communities.

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How do you help support those in need?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. As a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger, I received information from Hormel for this post, as well as product samples.

National Night Out

Tonight (unless you live in Texas who celebrates in October) is National Night Out - ‘America’s Night Out Against Crime'.

According to the website, this is the 29th Annual National Night Out, "a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch". Each participating community may hold a variety of events. Some events are neighborhood or block-wide, others are full community events.

Locally, our community brings out the public safety vehicles for exploration and holds a hot dog cook-out. The kids have a blast climbing aboard the big fire trucks and checking them out. We have been able to watch them take apart a demo car to see how they would rescue a trapped accident victim. We have had the chance to see the inside of a police car and an ambulance. We have had the chance to check out SWAT vehicles and more. Last year, we got to watch a medical helicopter land, explore it and then watch it take off again - I know that my daughter found that experience to be pretty neat. It was the first time we had seen a helicopter anywhere other than in the sky.

As a mom, I like the opportunity to capture their pictures next to the large tire of the big fire trucks. It is fun to look back over past years and see how they have grown (or is that tire shrinking?).

You can see a list of registered communities on the National Night Out website or search National Night Out and your community name.

National Night Out

Every year, since 1984, on the first Tuesday of August, communities nationwide celebrate National Night Out (learn more here and here).

From the website:

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is designed to:

Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Locally, our National Night Out event is sponsored by Target (they are a primary sponsor - just not sure that sponsor it everywhere). They provide food and drinks, as well as goodie bags for the kids. The local police, fire, emergency response, and swat teams bring out their vehicles for the kids to explore. They even offer tours of the holding cells at the jail (assuming that they are empty!).

My kids always get such a thrill out of seeing all of the trucks and checking out the equipment in the police car. We take an annual picture of them next to the big tires on the ladder truck - a sort of bench mark of their growth.

Look for events near your community here.