SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Hundreds of vehicles formed a line nearly a quarter-mile long Thursday, April 7, afternoon at the Charlie and Willie George Park in Springdale to receive meals from Tyson Foods.
From 11 a.m. until shortly after 1 p.m. Tyson Foods, partnered with the NWA Food Bank, and dozens of volunteers helped hand out over 300,000 meals for Springdale residents.
"We've got two lines going today. One line is 40,000 pounds for the pantries in Northwest Arkansas and then another 40,000 pounds just for members of the community," said Tyson Foods spokesperson, Derek Burleson.
Two semi-truck trailers filled with boxes of frozen food took up a section of the parking lot allowing drivers to pull up and take home food for their families or for others impacted by the EF-3 tornado that struck Springdale on March 30, 2022.
Karen Patterson, a Springdale resident who took home a box for herself and a neighbor was moved by Tyson Foods' generosity.
"The support is just amazing how people give like this," Patterson said. "It's always nice to have help yourself, but it's always a better feeling to help someone else."
Another Springdale resident, Sandra Castillo expressed her thanks to the volunteers and Tyson Foods saying, "for Springdale, this means a lot."
Thursday's giveaway was the initial response to helping the community of Springdale as part of Tyson Foods One Million Meal pledge to give back to the community they call home.
"We just want to make sure that our resources are directed where the need is the greatest," Burleson said. "We're going to continue to assess that need in the week of last week's tornado and just figure out where we can create the most value and help our community the most."
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