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Smithfield Foods' launch of the 10-city Helping Hungry Homes™ Across America tour started in Paula Deen's hometown of Savannah, Ga. on January 14. Helping to unload donated Smithfield Foods products are (left to right): Mary Jane Crouch, executive director of America's Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, Dennis Treacy, vice president of environmental and corporate affairs for Smithfield Foods, and Buck Phippins, director of transportation for Smithfield.

A Savannah, Ga., high school cheerleading squad joined the Paula Deen family in the launch of Smithfield Foods' 10-city Helping Hungry Homes™ Across America tour. Paula Deen, her husband Michael Groover (center) and sons Jamie (far left) and Bobby (far right) helped distribute the donated meat during the tour.

Celebrity cook Paula Deen and her husband Michael Groover helped unload more than 30,000 pounds of meat products donated by Smithfield Foods to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, which distributes millions of pounds of food to the hungry in Los Angeles County every year.

Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless of Atlanta received more than 13,000 pounds of meat products from Smithfield Foods to feed hungry families in the Atlanta area.

Not even the "Queen of Southern Cuisine" could envision providing one million servings of meat to the nation's hungry. But with the help of Smithfield Foods and America's Second Harvest, Paula Deen will deliver enough food to do just that. Deen, one of the Food Network's top celebrity cooks, today launched the Smithfield Foods "Helping Hungry Homes Across America" tour, the first of many Smithfield Foods hunger initiatives for 2008.

The tour kicked off on January 14 in Deen's hometown of Savannah. Deen and her family, along with volunteers from the America's Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia food bank, unloaded 500 spiral hams for food insecure families in Savannah. The Smithfield Crunchy Glazed Honey Spiral Sliced Hams are formulated with Deen's personal recipe.

The tour has made stops in Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Kansas City and Los Angeles and in the coming weeks will hit Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and Detroit. At each stop, the tour is partnering with regional food banks to distribute meat to help feed local families.

"Our goal was to get as much food to as many needy families as possible," said Deen. "When I learned about all the working hungry in this country, I realized that I had to do something."

"I feel so grateful that my partners at Smithfield are helping me deliver enough food to serve one million people across the country."

The 10-city tour is a part of Smithfield Foods' Helping Hungry Homes initiative, which was established to help ensure that American families in need do not go hungry. Smithfield Foods and its independent operating companies have a long history of stocking food banks, supporting after-school nutrition programs and providing food relief in the wake of natural disasters. This tour alone will distribute 250,000 pounds of meat products with an estimated retail value of over $1 million. Additional Helping Hungry Homes programs will be announced in 2008 to reach millions more of the nation's hungry.

"Although Smithfield Foods has long been a supporter of hunger relief initiatives, we felt the need to help shine a spotlight on an ever-increasing problem for American families," said Dennis Treacy, vice president of environmental and corporate affairs for Smithfield Foods. "Partnering with Paula Deen, who holds the value of family in such high regard, is a gratifying experience for a very worthwhile cause."

America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization with 205 food bank members nationwide, will assist with the coordination of food distribution at each of the tour stops.

Emmy-award winning celebrity cook Paula Deen hosts two Food Network cooking shows, "Paula's Home Cooking" and "Paula's Party." She is also a best-selling author of seven cookbooks and publishes a lifestyle magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen. Deen and her sons Jamie and Bobby own and operate the highly popular The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Ga., and she and her brother run the equally successful Uncle Bubba's Oyster House nearby. Known for her "down-home" personality and traditional Southern cooking, Deen partners with Smithfield Foods on a number of joint ventures, including her personal recipe Smithfield Crackle Glazed Spiral-sliced Ham and her signature line of Southern-style dressings, marinades, and glazing and grilling sauces.