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Tyson Foods hands out meals, chicken to people without power in Cordele

Half the county is still without power, so Tyson Foods wanted to make sure people had a hot meal

Days after Hurricane Michael ripped through Central Georgia, people in Crisp County were still dealing with the aftermath.

Crisp County Emergency Management reports that about 50 percent of the county is still without power.

As more and more people in the area wait to get theirs turned back on, Tyson Chicken's senior Social Responsibility Specialist Pat Bourke wanted to make food the least of their worries.

"The idea is to try and put a little bit of food back in the pipeline, so as power comes back on, folks that have lost their food, refrigerators and freezers, hopefully this will be just a little step forward to restore some of that food," Bourke said.

Tyson ran the same operation in Albany and Cuthbert, Georgia. The Tyson Chicken Plant in Vienna donated all the chicken for the people in Cordele.

"We've got about three truckloads of product that we have from the local plant in Vienna. We've got volunteers from the Vienna plant and our Meals That Matter team, so we're out here just giving back to the community," Bourke said.

One of Tyson's employees, Esmeralda Adan, said some of the volunteers were also affected.

"A lot of the team members you see here do not have lights now, like here in Cordele or the surrounding area. I'm very, very pleased to see that they responded and that they're here regardless of what their situation is," Adan said.

Those in the community were grateful.

"People have power out, they ain't got no food, and I know they hungry, and they can't cook," one woman said.

Gloria Blanks picked up some chicken was grateful to have food to bring home.

"A lot of us don't have it, and I thank Tyson and everybody else for doing this for everybody because a lot of people do need it," Blanks said.

Tyson Chicken is headed down to help people in the Panama City Beach, Florida area where Hurricane Michael hit the hardest.

General manager of Crisp County Power Commission Steve Rentfrow said power is still out around the Blackshear area, but expects it to be back up and running during the week.

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