By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

PEORIA, Ill. — A recent gift of 42,000 pounds of ground pork from the Pork Power: Partnering to Fight Hunger in Illinois campaign to Feeding Illinois - including nearly 5,500 pounds directed to the Peoria Area Food Bank - will help ensure that struggling families in central Illinois won’t have to go hungry this holiday season.

The Illinois Pork Producers Assoc. (IPPA) founded the Pork Power program in 2008 with the goal of helping fight hunger in Illinois by establishing the means for farmers to donate pigs for processing and distribution to the state’s food banks. After partnering with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB), Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA) and Illinois Assoc. of Meat Processors (IAMP), Pork Power has gone on to provide more than 200,000 pounds of pork— enough for more than 800,000 meals - to families throughout the state who are struggling to make ends meet.

The program began during a time when pork producers were struggling for profitability due to higher costs for feed and a depressed domestic and overseas market, explained Tim Maiers, director of public relations for the Springfield-based IPPA.

“Back in 2008 when we were seeing really low prices for hogs, particularly sows, many pork producers felt like they were giving away their sows at markets.” said Maiers. Around the same time, the Central Illinois Food Bank of Springfield contacted the IPPA about the lack of protein contained in many food pantry items that are donated. After IPPA officials reached out to the ICMB and ISA, Pork Power was initiated due to those two factors.

“We decided we’d try to utilize some of these animals to help feed people in need. Pork Power started as a way to utilize some under-valued hogs, but now that the hog market has (improved), pork producers across the state are continuing to donate,” Maiers said.
The Pork Power campaign also serves as a way for producers to get their message to consumers who are battered with anti-animal agriculture propaganda by sources ranging from mainstream print media to the Humane Society of the United States to CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

From pen to plate

Establishing the infrastructure and logistics for the Pork Power program required the collaboration of not only the state’s pork producers, the IPPA, ICMB and the ISA, but many of the state’s meat processing facilities, as well.

“We approached the (IAMP) and they graciously worked with their (member processing) plants to participate in the program. We now have 26 processors involved,” Maiers said. “Getting a pig from farm to processor can require a lot of steps, and two years ago we added marketing groups such as Weichman, Heinold Marketing, UPI-Parks and Lynch Livestock to serve as collection points for the donated pigs. Producers are already taking their animals to those locations anyway, so they serve as a perfect drop-off point for donations.
From there, the pigs go to local processors.” A “charter” member of the Pork Power program, Gridley Meats, located in Gridley, Illinois, acts as one of the processors for donated hogs.

The Ringger family, owners of Gridley Meats, had an established pork donation program in place to help central Illinois food banks stock their pantries before Pork Power was founded. “We talked to (the Ringgers) to see what we could do to emulate them on a statewide level,” Maiers admitted. “We have to give credit to them. We were able to pattern our program after work they had already been doing.”

The Ringgers’ idea for the pork donation program that served as the template for the IPPA’s Pork Power initiative has now spread to other states, Maiers said, with similar programs having been established by commodity groups and processors in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and other Hog Belt states.

End users grateful

The final logistic problem Pork Power organizers had to tackle was how to get the prepared pork from processor to the state’s food pantries. A partnership soon was forged between Pork Power and Feeding Illinois, which provides food to nearly 2,000 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters that feed nearly 900,000 Illinoisans each year. Feeding Illinois provides refrigerated trucks to transport the processed pork to its member pantries.

Eight food banks, including the Peoria Area Food Bank, were the beneficiaries of Pork Power’s latest donation of 42,000 pounds of ground pork. (Pork Power) is a wonderful program that provides great protein for all of our families,” said Barb Shreve, Peoria Area Food Bank director, who oversees the distribution of donated food items to over 100 pantries in eight central Illinois counties. “We rely on donations, and have been very blessed this year. I’m always impressed by the giving of the central Illinois community.”

Tracy Smith, state director for Feeding Illinois, said the recent donation from Pork Power comes at a time when food bank reserves are low due to an increased demand for services. “Food banks have seen on average a 30 percent increase in the number of people seeking food assistance in the past year,” said Smith. “Because of (Pork Power), we will be able to put food on the table for thousands of Illinois families.”

Other food banks associated with Feeding Illinois receiving a share of the donated pork are located in Chicago, St. Charles, Moline, Springfield, Urbana, the St. Louis area and Evansville.