Jones Sends 15,000 Pounds of Meat for Hurricane Ian Relief

Jones Dairy Farm sent a truckload of their best known meat products to Southwest Florida to help the communities still struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a destructive category 4 hurricane west of Fort Myers, Florida, on September 28, 2022.  

The donated food includes all natural sausage, dry-aged bacon, uncured turkey bacon, and naturally smoked Canadian bacon and ham. In total, 18 pallets of food weighing more than 15,000 pounds were provided.

The food was donated to the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, an organization that already fed a quarter of a million people each month in a five-county area that includes Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties prior to Hurricane Ian. Unfortunately, the food bank’s coverage area comprises a number of the hardest hit Florida cities impacted by the storm including Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral.   

According to the food bank’s website, the organization has received more than 6.1 million pounds of food, already distributed nearly 4.3 million pounds of food and is working with more than 115 partner agencies in response to Hurricane Ian relief efforts. The food bank is named for the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, who gave the proceeds from every other concert he performed to the cause of fighting hunger.

“Donating food to people in need, no matter where they are located, is nothing new for our family or our company,” said Jones Dairy Farm Marketing Manager Lisa Caras, a 7th generation Jones family member. “Jones already donates meat on an ongoing basis to local Wisconsin food banks throughout Wisconsin, and has donated food, when possible, in the aftermath of notable storms such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and more recently Hurricane Harvey in Texas. The Florida market has always been supportive of our business and this was an easy way we could give back to show our appreciation during this extremely difficult time.”

In addition to the food donation, W&A Distribution Services, Inc., a custom transportation and warehousing services company also based in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, provided the semi-trailer and coordinated the shipment of food at no charge.