Needy get the beef

Washington Ag Today December 9, 2011 Beef Bottom Round Roasts provided by donation’s from Washington’s beef industry have been going to needy families around the state this week. It’s the industry’s Beef Counts program. www.beefcounts.org

For example, 572 families were served in Yakima and 408 families in Pasco through Second Harvest mobile distribution. More distributions were made in Ellensburg yesterday and today the needy in Spokane will receive beef roasts. The distributions this week add to over 15-thousand roasts that have been provided to hungry families and seniors across eastern Washington this year. In a recent interview Second Harvest President Jason Clark expressed his appreciation for the beef.

Clark: "Often the more valuable the commodity the less likely it is that it can be provided as just a straight donation. I think that is the genius of the Beef Counts program. It makes it possible for people to help and then we get one of the highest quality proteins you can find out there."

Without the beef donation, only four percent of the food Second Harvest distributes is protein, which equates to only 0.7 servings of protein per person, far below the USDA recommendation.

Anyone can donate to Beef Counts. It’s tax deductible. Go to

Donations are matched by Agri Beef Co., which also processes and packages the beef roasts at their facility in Toppenish.