The Central Illinois Food Bank got a 53-hundred pound pork donation today.  Executive Director Pam Molitorus [[ Moe-lit-or-us ]] says the timing of the donation couldn't have been better.

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Phillip Borgic, with the Illinois Pork Producers Association, says the meat is a great alternative to ground beef.

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The 53-hundred pound donation is just part of what the Illinois Pork Producers is donating to eight regional food banks across the state.  In all, they're giving 38-thousand pounds of ground pork this year.  That should feed about 900-thousand people.  The IPPA has partnered with Illinois corn and soybean producers since 2008 to make it all possible.  In just four years, they've given away enough pork to feed one point two million people.