A lot of people don’t know this, but chickens are beautiful creatures.  Think about it.  What other animal has a soft, golden brown coat of feathers, large talons, exceptional speed, a beak that can pierce your skin, a monstrous cluck and beady little eyes that won’t hold a stare for longer than .25 seconds? If that isn’t beauty then I’m going to have to raise my bar a little bit higher!  

The Cleveland Indians teamed up with Tyson Foods, Inc. and Lift Up America to once again provide 30,000 pounds of protein (various types of meat) to local food agencies in the city of Cleveland.  The Cleveland Foodbank assists in making sure each food agency gets a certain poundage of protein based on their size and their reach.  This is the fifth year that the Indians have hosted the event and each year the need grows more and more.

Eddy, the Tyson truck driver, parked his tractor-trailer right on the Gateway Plaza outside of Progressive Field as the backdrop of the distribution.  Over the past decade, Tyson has donated more than 88 million pounds of food–roughly 352 million meals.  With the help of 70 volunteers including employees from Insurance Partners Agency, the Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Foodbank and Lift Up America the 30,000 pounds of food was distributed to 30 agencies in about 20 minutes! 

“There are millions of hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are faced with the realities of hunger,” said Donnie Smith, president and CEO of Tyson Foods, Inc. “We want to make a difference in these people’s lives by helping them provide nutritious food for themselves and their families.”

So while we may not know which came first, the chicken or the egg, I think we finally have an answer as to why the chicken crossed the road.  Obviously, it was to get into the Tyson Foods truck so that it can be brought to Progressive Field and passed out to local food agencies.  It’s not the best punch line for a joke, but like the food distribution, it’s all about the delivery!