As the meat packing industry continues to expand to meet the demands of the U.S. domestic market along with an increasing international presence, several national companies are turning to Marketplace Chaplains to meet the needs of their employees and family members.

The unique strategic initiative of America’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization, Marketplace Chaplains, provides help to several meat packing companies nationwide by offering help and hope to their employees in the often stressful and difficult work environment.

Meat packing production has risen in the U.S., and even more so internationally, according to industry figures, and many companies use chaplains to help their employees deal with the stress they face on a regular basis.

“It’s very helpful,” said Reed Brown, Vice President of Brown Packing Company, a large South Carolina meat packing company which has used Marketplace Chaplains since 1994. The company uses several chaplains in their Southeast plants, and one of those chaplains is fluent in Spanish, making it easier to help and communicate with the employees whose primary language is Spanish.

“There are countless personal discussions employees have had with our chaplains that I don’t even know about, but I know they [chaplains] are being used in our company to help others. We just want our employees to know we care for them,” continued Brown.

Among some of the other meat packing companies which use Marketplace Chaplains are Rudolph Foods Company, Inc., based in Ohio, and Texas-based L&H Packing Company and Kiolbassa Provision Company, Inc.

“It is something we have used for many years to help our employees and show them how much we care,” said Rich Rudolph, President of Rudolph Foods Company, Inc. “We have had many positive interactions with our chaplains and employees and it’s a very important part of what we do.”

Marketplace Chaplains, founded in 1984, began with 1 chaplain and 1 company, and now serves in 23 different industry types from Fortune 500 to family-owned, both blue and white collar. Currently, more than 2,800 chaplains serve in 3,180 locations in 46 states, 987 cities, and 4 countries and 1 commonwealth.

“In this stressful, hard-working profession, these company leaders have found that providing Marketplace Chaplains to care for their employees is a great way of showing them [employees] that they care for their total well-being,” said Richard S. De Witt, Executive President and COO of Marketplace Chaplains.