Tyson steps up

SO MANY people are home these days, and so many businesses have shut down. The federal government is opening the checkbook in an attempt to make this “just” a recession, and not something worse.

But there are those outfits that see upticks in times like these, including food producers. And food banks.

With people scrambling to the grocery stores to stock up on items, another Arkansas-based business, Tyson Foods, has had to increase hours to keep up with demand. Unfortunately, another thing in demand is help, from food banks.

Already this month, Tyson Foods Inc., the nation’s largest meat company, has donated more than 2½ million pounds of food to pantries, schools and food banks—and not just in Arkansas. And not just this week. Our sources, and archives, tell us that Tyson Foods has a habit of donating tons of food every year, all year. Not just during crisis. But this year its generosity is needed more than ever.

And it isn’t through. Millions more pounds of food are in the pipeline, according to officials with the company.

“In this unprecedented environment, every day, more of our friends are depending on local food banks and community pantries to provide for their families,” said Debra Vernon, Tyson’s senior director of corporate social responsibility. “Tyson Foods is committed to addressing this need.”

We are proud of Arkansans, and of several companies based here, in all these efforts to help the most vulnerable among us. During the darkest part of the Blitz, the people in Britain were told to carry on and keep a stiff upper lip. Here in Arkansas, during this unprecedented crisis, we carry on—and return smiles.