SMITHFIELD, VA. — During the holiday season, Smithfield Foods donated and distributed 7,300 spiral quarter hams to individuals and families in the St. Charles, Ill., area.

On Dec. 21, Smithfield volunteers handed out over 6,200 hams on a first-come, first-served basis at Smithfield’s St. Charles facility. The remainder of hams were donated to the St. Charles Fire Department, the St. Charles Police Department, Dekalb Fire and Rescue and Lazarus House — a homeless shelter in St. Charles — for distribution over the weekend.

“The holiday season is a time of giving, so this was the perfect time for Smithfield to give back to our local community,” said Ashton Williams, plant manager of Smithfield’s St. Charles food-processing facility. “On behalf of our 2,000 employees in Illinois, we are honored to have the opportunity to share the spirit of the season with our neighbors in St. Charles.”

Smithfield has pledged to donate 200 million servings of protein by 2025 as part of its commitment to fight food insecurity.

Since 2008, the company’s hunger relief program, Helping Hungry Homes, has provided hundreds of millions of servings of protein to all 50 US states as well as in Poland, Romania and Mexico.