It is an initiative by two food service giants, and a stock car racing team, to alleviate hunger and it means a huge donation for a local food bank.

  • Second Harvest receives thousands of pounds of meat
  • Food bank serves 6 counties in Central Florida
  • 2nd delivery will be made to Volusia branch Thursday

Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando will be receiving a donation of thousands of pounds of food: 30,000 pounds of protein — ham, chicken or steak. The food will be dropped off at its Orlando location along Mercy Drive on Tuesday and another 30,000 pounds this Thursday at its Volusia County branch.

“All this food is going to families, seniors, anybody who might need food assistance in our community," said Sasha Hausman, with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. "These are hard-working folks that really can’t afford to go to the grocery store and maybe pick out chicken or ham or steak for themselves.”

Smithfield, Winn-Dixie and Richard Petty Motor Sports partnered up for a nationwide Helping Hungry Homes drive.

Aric Almirola with Richard Petty Motorsports will make the second delivery of food at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Volusia County branch of Second Harvest.

“We don’t always get protein donated to us at the food bank for some reason or another. So this resource now will be readily available in the next coming weeks because of this generous donation," she said.

Hausman said that the donation will serve 240,000 servings of meat to people in need. Additionally, the food bank reported that one in six neighbors in Central Florida reached out for food assistance last year.

Second Harvest serves six counties, working with a network of non-profits to distribute meals. Last year, they distributed enough food for 52 million meals.

Hausman said that Second Harvest is always in need of volunteers, money or food donations.

If you are in need of assistance, you can visit Second Harvest Food Bank's website here.

UPDATE: A previous version of this story said former NASCAR driver Richard Petty would deliver food Thursday in Volusia County. News 13 was later notified that those plans had changed. The story has been updated to reflect this.