Seaboard Foods Honored with ‘Best Placemaking Project’ Award
Main Street Guymon, a community-led organization, awarded Seaboard Foods with the “Best Placemaking Project” for the construction of pickleball courts at Fowler Park in Guymon, Okla., at the Main Street Guymon Awards Banquet on Feb. 20. Main Street Guymon recognized the company with the award for creating a public space that engages the community while promoting health, happiness and well-being, the company shared in a release.
“The Main Street Guymon Board of Directors is proud of the work the City and Seaboard Foods’ employees have done to improve the recreation opportunities and our city parks,” Ronni Wilson, Main Street Guymon director, said in a release. “We applaud Seaboard Foods for partnering with the city and making this happen in Guymon.”
Seaboard Foods and the City of Guymon celebrated the grand opening of the city’s first pickleball courts with a Pork N’ Pickle opening party on July 13, 2023, after Seaboard Foods paid for and converted Fowler Park tennis courts to provide the community access to America’s fastest-growing sport.
Hormel Foods Hosts Student Winners of its 13th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest
Three winners of the 13th annual Hormel Foods MLK essay contest visited the company’s World Headquarters on Feb. 28, to read their winning essays to Hormel Foods team members. Three students – Yvanna Lopez from Austin, Minn.; Madison Blair from Minneapolis, Minn.; and Aisha Mohamed from Barron, Wis. – claimed the top honors among hundreds of entries from 15 schools this year.
The Hormel Foods Black Leaders & Allies Advancing Cultural Knowledge (BLAACK) business resource group sponsors the annual essay competition for elementary and middle school students across the United States. Contestants are asked to write an essay with the theme, “What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Means to Me.”
The nationwide competition promotes the value and importance of cultural differences and provides a platform for celebrating diversity. The goals of the program are to promote Dr. King’s legacy, encourage children to aim high, give them exposure to minority professionals in business and create a lasting partnership between Hormel Foods and local schools.
Smithfield Foods Employees Donate More than $700,000 to Local United Way Campaigns
Smithfield Foods employees in South Dakota, North Carolina, Illinois and Virginia have raised more than $700,000 through employee-driven campaigns to support their local United Way organizations, the company said in a release.
- Smithfield’s Sioux Falls, S.D., employees led the way with the company’s contributions, raising more than $521,000 for the Sioux Empire United Way, their partner of more than 30 years.
- Monmouth, Ill., employees’ contributions to the United Way of Greater Warren County totaled more than $135,000, a 30% increase from last year.
- Employees in Clinton, N.C., raised more than $45,000 for the United Way of Sampson County this year. United Way of Sampson County works to advance the common good by focusing on education, income and health to create long-lasting changes for everyone in the community.
- Smithfield’s Wilson, North Carolina, employees raised $10,000 for the United Way of Wilson County, which provides support to 24 nonprofit agencies in the county.
- Smithfield’s employees in Smithfield, Virginia, financially support both the United Way of South Hampton Roads and the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula.
