On February 6, 2008, celebrity cook Paula Deen and Husband Michael Groover visited the Foodbank as part of Smithfield Foods’ Helping Hungry Homes Tour.

The tour’s goal is to provide one million servings of meat to the nation’s hungry families, including those in Los Angeles and surrounding communities.

Deen and her husband Michael Groover, who regularly appears on her Food Network shows, helped employees and volunteers from the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank unload a Smithfield Foods truck carrying more than 30,000 pounds of Paula Deen’s Smithfield Crunchy Glazed Spiral Sliced Hams and Gwaltney Smoked Skinless Shankless Hams.  The hams will be distributed to food pantries, soup kitchens and community centers throughout Los Angeles County.

“I was shocked to learn how many working hungry there are in America and Michael and I decided that we had to do something about it,” Deen said.  “I feel so grateful that my partners at Smithfield Foods are helping me deliver enough food to serve one million people across the country.”

The Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes tour began in Deen’s hometown, Savannah, on January 14, 2008 and has now reached Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta and Los Angeles.  Additional scheduled stops include Kansas City, Chicago, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., before concluding in Detroit.  Donations are being distributed through local members of America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.

Click here to see the video of Paula Deen unloading hams at the Foodbank.