Oklahoma 13-Year-Old Recognized as Tyson Foods’ First “Hunger All-Star”; As a result of Jonathan Crider’s worthy deeds more than 35,000 pounds of protein will be delivered to Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma

Two years have passed since Jonathan Crider first heard the public service announcement saying kids his age living nearby were going hungry. Now at age 13, he has rallied his hometown community of Lawton to raise more than $20,000 for Food 4 Kids to help feed more than 100 children in Lawton public schools for an entire school year.

Jonathan can also add earning a truckload of much needed protein from Tyson Foods for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to his list of accomplishments. “Jonathan Crider is teaching all of us a lesson in serving and giving,” said Ed Nicholson, director of community relations for Tyson Foods. “We’re making this donation in honor of his great work in the community and his online nomination made on our company’s new hunger relief website,” added Nicholson. The website, hungerrelief.tyson.com, is dedicated to those who work tirelessly in the fight against hunger, especially around the holidays and after times of natural disaster, like Oklahoma has experienced during the past week. Tyson Foods plans to select monthly winners from nominations for Hunger All-Stars submitted on the website. Jonathan was nominated by the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

The donation is part of Tyson’s ongoing commitment to lead and support hunger-relief initiatives. Since 2000, the company has donated $3 million and 49.1 million pounds of chicken, beef and pork products to more than 600 hunger-relief agencies nationwide.

Hunger in Oklahoma
The need for hunger relief in Oklahoma is significant. The American Dietetic Association defines hunger insecurity as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.”
America’s Second Harvest Almanac of Hunger and Poverty in America 2006 published in June 2006, reported an estimated 13.1 percent of Oklahomans lived below the poverty level and an average of 14.6 percent of Oklahoma households were food insecure between 2003 and 2005. The figure is based on a three-year average on the years studied from 2002 to 2004.

“The new Tyson Foods hunger relief website has proven to be a great resource for learning about others committed to ending hunger as well as a new social medium for hunger relief initiatives. We are grateful for Tyson’s innovative thinking in hunger relief and for the donation to our food bank,” said Rodney W. Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. “Donations of poultry and other high protein foods are especially valuable as they help us provide our clients with healthy, nutritious foods.”

Last year alone, Tyson and its team members held more than 60 food donation events. Protein is one of the most needed and least donated products at food banks. The company works closely with two leading organizations in the fight against hunger: America’s Second Harvest¬¬ - The Nation’s Food Bank Network; and Share Our Strength.

For more information on how to get involved in the fight against hunger, go to http://hungerrelief.tyson.com, http://www.secondharvest.org/ or www.strength.org

Food Bank Facts:
• The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is the largest private hunger relief organization in the state.
• One-half million Oklahomans are at risk of hunger on a daily basis – including one-in-five of all Oklahoma children whose capacity to learn and grow is threatened by hunger.
• For every $1 donated, the Food Bank can provide 7 meals.
• $11,440 is the average annual income for households served by the Food Bank.
• The Food Bank’s Food 4 Kids program (program that Jonathan Crider raises money to support in his community) provides chronically hungry elementary school children with a backpack filled with kid-friendly food to sustain them over weekends and school holidays. Many of these children are getting very little to eat between Friday’s lunch and Monday morning’s breakfast at school.
• The Food Bank is currently serving more than 7,000 children in 207 schools in 34 Oklahoma counties.
• Food 4 Kids has made a huge difference in these children’s lives – allowing them to focus on learning, rather than focusing on where their next meal will come from. $135 provides one backpack for one child for an entire school year.
• The Food Bank provides enough food to feed 48,000 Oklahomans each week – and yet, it is still not enough.

The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that acts as a link through which the food industry and community may donate food and other goods. The products are then distributed to more than 500 charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. In the last fiscal year, the Food Bank distributed 24 million pounds of food, enough to feed 44,000 people each week, including 20,000 children. Since its inception in 1980, the Food Bank has distributed 268 million pounds of food to feed Oklahoma’s hungry.

America’s Second Harvest–The Nation’s Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the country with a Network of more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The America’s Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually; and supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America’s Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. For more on the America’s Second Harvest Network, please visit www.secondharvest.org.

Tyson Foods, Inc. [NYSE: TSN], founded in 1935 with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves. Tyson provides products and service to customers throughout the United States and more than 80 countries. The company has approximately 104,000 Team Members employed at more than 300 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, la