Successful CEO gives credit to God

BO PILGRIM Tuesday night's guest speaker at the Go Tell Upstate Crusade in Gaffney wasn't chicken about addressing 3,000-plus attendees.

But he was interested in poultry.

Bo Pilgrim, co-founder of Pilgrim's Pride poultry company, has led his company to the heights of success. And the 78-year-old CEO has appeared in several commercials for the firm, including one in which he skydives from a plane accompanied by several dozen chickens and eggs.

"I've been doing commercials since 1982," Pilgrim said. "To do one you've got a hard day's work of 12 to 16 hours ahead of you just for a few seconds. But, I've got a lot of patience with the process."

While each of the ads sing the praises of the natural goodness of the broilers that Pilgrim's Pride sells and the healthy aspects of the company's EggsPlus eggs, one of the big differences between the group and its competitors is the presence of company chaplains at each facility.

"The people that work for us have real lives, and real families," Pilgrim said. "They face problems just like everyone does, whether it be with their kids or economics, or maybe they have an alcohol problem or dope problem. We want to make help available to them. The program is called Pilgrim's Care and as a result of it, 5,000 people have accepted Christ."

Pilgrim's aim in addressing the Gaffney crowd was simple.

"I came here tonight to give the Lord credit for my success," he said. "When I was 16, I made a promise to Jesus that if I ever amounted to anything, I'd give him the credit, and I'm not here to chicken out now."

According to the company's Web site, Pilgrim's Pride has become the second-largest poultry company in America and the second-largest in Mexico. Today, Pilgrim's Pride employs more than 40,000 people and processes approximately 6 billion pounds of poultry and 40 million dozen table eggs each year.