Special Delivery: Hormel “Hams for Hunger”
Hundreds of people served by The Salvation Army will have to loosen their belts an extra notch this Thanksgiving, thanks to Minn.-based Hormel Foods. On Tuesday, the company donated 200 of its Cure 81® hams to four Twin Cities Salvation Army locations (see photos) as part of the company’s Hams for Hunger ™ program.
“Hormel® Cure 81® ham is a premium product and we are proud to partner with The Salvation Army to help provide meals for those in need,” said Pat Lipinski, Hormel Foods meat products manager.
Dennis Appleberry, cook supervisor at The Salvation Army Harbor Light Shelter in Minneapolis, was busy prepping Thanksgiving dishes when Harbor Light’s share of hams arrived He knows just what to do with them.
“We’ll put them in the oven 10 at a time,” said Appleberry, who will help serve Thanksgiving meals for 2,500 people at Harbor Light this Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “We’ll cook them about an hour and a half to get them real juicy, then put a glaze on.”
The Hams for Hunger™ deliveries in the Twin Cites are among many Hormel will make across the country this holiday season to crisis intervention programs nationwide. Since 1986, Hams for Hunger has provided more than $12 million worth of hams to tens of thousands of people and families.
“Each year it seems that more and more families are looking to us for help in providing basic necessities like food,” said Major Jeff Strickler, Twin Cities Salvation Army commander. “Because of amazing corporate donations like this from Hormel, we are more able to meet that escalating need.”
The Twin Cities Salvation Army serves 2,000 meals each day and gives away nearly 3 million pounds of food each year from its eight food shelves. Several special meals are being offered during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
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