ConAgra gives $2.5 million to town of Garner
The town of Garner has received a check for $2.5 million from the company that once operated the Slim Jim plant that shut in May, nearly two years after a fatal explosion.
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ConAgra Foods gave the check to Garner as seed money for a community center. ConAgra also has donated the Garner plant, the surrounding 108 acres and $500,000 for marketing and other plans to the nonprofit Garner Economic Development Corp.
That group will oversee redevelopment of the ConAgra site. It's expected to receive the plant and surrounding land in October.
On June 9, 2009, four people were killed in an explosion at the plant caused by a natural gas leak.
ConAgra reopened the plant two months later but laid off about half of the approximately 700 workers in November 2009 because of diminished production capacity. The company decided to move production to Troy, Ohio, for a better cost structure and production expansion.
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