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Mountaire staff, volunteers pack meal boxes

Thanksgiving food drive expands to include Easter and Christmas events
Volunteers staff an assembly line early on March 30, packing boxes for Mountaire Farms’ Easter for Thousands food drive. Some 3,000 boxes were packed at the Selbyville plant with a spring-menu dinner and distributed to more than 50 nonprofit agencies from all over Delmarva. RON MACARTHUR PHOTOS
Ron MacArthur
April 2, 2021

First there was Thanksgiving for Thousands, and now Christmas for Thousands and Easter for Thousands have been added to the Mountaire Farms food outreach program.

Volunteers and staff packed 3,000 meal boxes March 30 at the Selbyville plant warehouse for distribution to more than 50 nonprofit agencies and churches throughout the Delmarva area. The groups picked up the meal boxes as soon as they were finished on the assembly line.

The boxes include corn, peas and carrots, yams, applesauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, a brownie mix and a Mountaire roaster.

Over the past 26 years, Mountaire has distributed more than 1 million meals on Delmarva and at events in North Carolina. From the three local events over the past five months, the poultry company has distributed more than 15,000 meals, while adapting to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roger Marino, events founder, who retired from Mountaire last summer after 30 years, made a surprise visit to the Selbyville packing event.

Volunteers and Mountaire staff members load a trailer with more than 50 food boxes after packing them at the Selbyville plant.
It takes a village – of volunteers, that is – to pack and stack the food boxes in vehicles that will distribute the meals in area communities.
At the start of the packing line, a team of volunteers assembles cardboard boxes to keep the system moving.
Roger Marino, who retired from Mountaire last summer after 30 years, stops by the March 30 packing event to greet former workers. Marino founded the food drives, starting with Thanksgiving for Thousands 26 years ago. More than 1 million meals have been delivered to those in need.
The food boxes go from the assembly line directly to nonprofit groups distributing the meals throughout Delmarva.

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