Six thousand pounds of ground pork donated to food bank

Six thousand pounds of ground pork were donated to the St. Louis Area Foodbank last week at the Cohen Recreation Complex in Chester.

The food was a gift from Illinois Pork Producers Association, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and the Illinois Soybean Association Checkoff Program. It is among the 55,000 pounds of ground pork that is being donated to nine regional food banks in Illinois in November and December, all part of the Pork Power: Partnering to Fight Hunger in Illinois campaign.

In 2008, the state's pork producers launched Pork Power to help fight hunger in Illinois. It provides a system for farmers to donate pork to food banks throughout Illinois.

Since its inception nine years ago, Pork Power has generated over 625,000 pounds of pork - enough for nearly 2.4 million meals - for families throughout Illinois.

The donation made in Chester last week is expected to provide more than 45,000 servings of protein to people living in the 12 Illinois counties served by the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

Officials said Chester was chosen as the donation spot because it is home to one of the St. Louis Area Foodbank's agencies.