Ravens, Perdue Farms launch partnership to fight hunger tied to team’s performance
BALTIMORE —
The Baltimore Ravens and Perdue Farms have announced a multi-year partnership to engage fans, fuel players and staff, and help address food insecurity in Maryland through initiatives like “Rushing to Fight Hunger.”
“The way it’s going to work is, for every 100 yards that the Ravens rush, we are going to do 1,300 meals that we will donate,” said Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms.
The partnership could be impactful for the Maryland Food Bank.
“When you think about some of the running that our running backs do, we could have some powerful donations through this program, and we are going to be feeding a lot of people in need,” said Kelly Tallant, director of community relations for the Baltimore Ravens.
Perdue Farms and Ravens staff, cheerleaders, and mascot Poe volunteered at the Maryland Food Bank Monday to kick off the collaboration, which included a donation of nearly 43,000 pounds of Perdue chicken.
“With the food bank, we’ve had a relationship for over 20 years,” Perdue Farms said. “In fact, we just surpassed $1 million of food that we provide to the Maryland Food Bank.”
The Maryland Food Bank welcomed the support, as they continue to deal with high need when it comes to food insecurity.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we hit historic highs with food insecurity in Maryland, and those numbers have not come down for different reasons,” said Meg Kimmel, president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank. “This is creating a durable path forward for us to address food insecurity and, ultimately, build a food-secure Maryland.”
As part of the partnership, Perdue will become the official chicken of the Baltimore Ravens and their chicken will be served at M&T Bank Stadium and the Under Armour Performance Center.
The team will feature a Perdue logo patch on their practice jerseys.
“I don’t think they know about it yet, but we are going to be drilling it into their heads next week at training camp, that’s for sure,” Tallant said.
“We are probably going to be paying a lot of food out with Derrick Henry,” Jim Perdue added. “If he stays healthy, we are going to be in trouble because he’s quite the rusher.”
Ravens leaders plan to track the number of meals donated based on rushing yards throughout the season to measure the program’s impact on the community.
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