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Two members of the Smithfield U.K. team suited up for the company's charity of the year.

The Smithfield U.K. team at the triathlon finish line.

Members of the Smithfield U.K. team during the charity triathlon.

Smithfield Foods UK raised £12,000 (about $24,500) for the Clare School in Norwich, Norfolk by participating in the Norwich Triathlon on July 1.

The team of 12 consisted of Smithfield employees and staff from the school. The majority of the team were novice tri-athletes and had spent several months training for the event in their spare time. The event took place at Whitlingham Broad, a newly created nature reserve on the outskirts of Norwich and involved a 1500m swim, 39k bike ride and a 10k run.

The Clare School is Smithfield UK’s charity of the year. It is a mixed, day Community Special School for pupils from 3 to 19 years with special needs, including physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The school’s mission is to “Celebrate Success” by helping its students to achieve certain key objectives – to be healthy, to stay safe, to enjoy and achieve, to make a positive contribution, and to achieve economic well-being.

The £12,000 will go a long way toward the company’s target amount of £15,000 for the year. The money will be used to equip the school with an Environmental Controls Room. The room will be a mock up of a domestic environment with all equipment operated by computer and remote control. It will give the children a degree of independence and allows those with limited mobility to undertake basic tasks, such as opening a door.

Two Smithfield employees, Laura Stead and Karen Murton, finished the race well under the four hour mark – 3 hours 17 minutes and 3 hours 40 minutes respectively. Congratulations to them and all who participated!

Smithfield Foods UK is the UK subsidiary of Smithfield Foods. The company offers a full range of European meats, from Italian Parma hams to Polish sausages. Under the Pek brand, Smithfield supplies Pek Chopped Pork, the number two brand in canned ham and pork, as well as the UK’s longest established Polish meat range for the independent deli customer. The recent acquisition of the Sara Lee meats business, and incorporation of the Inter Foods Service UK sales and marketing platform, further cements the company’s position with the addition of Aoste brand continental meats and Pate products. Complementing these products, Smithfield UK also supplies a full range of retail, wholesale and manufacturer-ready raw pork, poultry and red meats.

Smithfield Packing Co. donated 70,000 pounds of pork in August to two food banks that serve the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, which is in Raleigh, and the Second Harvest Food Bank, in Fayetteville, provide food to those in need in Cumberland, Bladen, Harnett, Hoke, Robeson, Sampson and Lee counties.

The donations were made through America’s Second Harvest – the nation’s largest charitable-hunger relief organization. Through its network of more than 200 member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, A2H secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually.

For many years, a number of Smithfield Foods subsidiaries have had active relationships with food banks in their regions, donating wholesome foods to help those in need. In 2005, Smithfield Foods designated America’s Second Harvest as the company’s charity of choice for product donations. This relationship has encouraged a number of new food donation programs through our subsidiaries, including Smithfield Packing Company’s partnership with the Food Bank of the Virginia Peninsula and the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia to support 48 Kids Cafe locations in the Hampton Roads area.