Smithfield Foods is sending more than 37,000 pounds of food – the equivalent of 150,000 servings – to Fort Myers, Florida, through its Helping Hungry Homes program in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.

The protein will be delivered to Mercy Chefs, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based nonprofit that deploys to disaster zones across America, to serve free, chef-prepared, restaurant-quality hot meals to victims, volunteers and first responders in Fort Myers.

"Our hearts go out to everyone in the path of this catastrophic hurricane," said Jonathan Toms, senior community affairs manager for Smithfield Foods. "We hope this food assistance brings some relief to the people of Fort Myers as they start down the difficult road to recovery."

Chef Gary LeBlanc, founder and chief executive officer of Mercy Chefs, said, "Our continued partnership with Smithfield Foods is critical to feeding those who have lost everything. We're honored to have the opportunity to serve those facing extreme devastation in Hurricane Ian's wake."

Helping communities is a featured pillar of Smithfield's industry leading sustainability program. Since 2008, the company has donated hundreds of millions of protein servings across the U.S. through its signature hunger-relief initiative Helping Hungry Homes and recently pledged to donate an additional 200 million servings by 2025.