Hormel Foods Corp. plant employees continued a generous tradition by once again donating more than $140,000 to the local United Way’s annual campaign.

Hormel presented the United Way with a $140,269 check in the plant lobby in Austin on Monday morning.

“This is an outstanding workplace campaign,” said Mandi Lighthizer Schmidt, United Way executive director. “Hormel Foods has always been a great community supporter. Hormel Plant’s campaign chair Dan Zielke and his team did an amazing job out of the goodness of their hearts, and the generosity of Hormel employees will go a long way in helping those in need in Mower County. To consistently raise this kind of money is fantastic.”

In four years, employees at the plant have raised more than a half-million dollars, as they raised $142,262 last year, $141,000 in 2011 and $132,990 in 2010. The group is consistently one of the largest financial supporters of the United Way campaign.

And the donation is only the first of two from Hormel, as employees at the corporate office present a check to Mower County United Way each year. Quality Pork Producers also presents a check each year.

Plant Manager Tim Fritz said the employees had noticed the need in the community several years ago and continue to step up. And the campaign fosters friendly competition between the plant and QPP, so Fritz and employees are always curious how well QPP’s fundraising efforts are going.

“They’ve always done just an outstanding job,” Fritz said of QPP, “so, yeah, we’ve used them as an example.”

Furthermore, the Hormel plant announced in September it donated $10,000 to fight hunger in the Austin community by donating to Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army and the Women’s Leadership Initiative.

United Way of Mower County is in the midst of its annual fundraising campaign and aims to raise $1.1 million. Last year the organization raised more than 1 million dollars.