Celebrity Cook Paula Deen and Husband Michael Groover Bring Smithfield Foods' Helping Hungry Homes(TM) Tour To Feed New Orlean...( NEW ORLEANS Feb. 27 /- The Second...),Health

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana today received more than 39,000 pounds of meat to help feed local families, thanks to Smithfield Foods' 10-city Helping Hungry Homes(TM) Across America tour, a hunger relief initiative led by celebrity cook Paula Deen.

The tour's goal is to provide one million servings of meat to the nation's hungry families, including those in metropolitan New Orleans, where 43 percent of children ages 0 to 5 and 19.3 percent of adults ages 65 and older live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

Paula Deen and her husband Michael Groover, who regularly appears on her Food Network shows, today helped Second Harvest Food Bank staff unload a Smithfield Foods truck carrying more than 39,000 pounds of Smithfield Foods meat products, including 84 boxes of Paula Deen's Smithfield Crunchy Glazed Spiral Sliced Hams.

Deen and Groover were joined by rising star Chef Jeff Henderson, who spent nearly ten years in prison, turned his life around and became a star chef whose memoir, Cooked, was on the New York Times bestseller list. The group took time to help employees and volunteers sort and repack various food products that have been donated by different sources and are destined for Second Harvest's member agencies.

"Smithfield Foods and I felt strongly that New Orleans had to be a part of this tour, given the growing needs of the working poor in this area and the need to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina," Deen said. "Seeing the perseverance of this city's residents and the hard work of the food bank is a true inspiration and I feel fortunate to have been able to help."

"Working poor families, parents of young children, and the elderly are among those who need our assistance to make ends meet, particularly as they struggle to rebuild their lives after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina," said Natalie Jayroe, president and CEO of the S
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