Mountaire Farms is donating more than 44,000 pounds of chicken to employees at Delaware's Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, and Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury this week. Employees will each get a 10-pound bag of fresh chicken to take home to their families.

“We are so grateful for what our health care professionals are doing to serve the community, and we wanted to thank them,” said Catherine M. Bassett, Director of Community Relations for Mountaire Farms. “We’re still seeing shortages in stores and we know that the hospital staff is working day and night and might not get to the stores in time to restock for their own families. We are blessed to be able to give back to those who are helping fight this disease.”

In the past two weeks, Mountaire Farms has donated more than 120,000 pounds of chicken to food banks, churches, community groups, Boys and Girls Clubs, and more in almost every county of Delmarva and beyond. They have partnered with the Indian River School District to provide chicken with school lunches delivered to families in neighborhoods thanks to the Schell Brothers, and with the City of Crisfield to give out chicken along with seafood from Handy’s Seafood.

“We’ve redoubled our efforts to make sure that our community groups are stocked with chicken to help those in need,” Bassett said. “Our regular food pantry distribution program, that delivers chicken to more than 40 groups each month, made a special delivery last week. We know the need is growing, and we are doing everything we can to help.”

In North Carolina, donations have also been made to various community groups, churches and government agencies to help feed families.

Click here for more COVID-19 coverage and how it is affecting the refrigerated and frozen foods industry.