The Impact of a Gallon
Summer is here (finally!) and June is National Dairy Month. To celebrate this I was able to attend a special event; yoga on the farm. Midwest Dairy partnered with Common Ground Kansas for this awesome event to kick off the month!
If you are anything like me you usually have some dairy in your kitchen. Mine is mostly in the form of ice cream- yes, you read that right. This dietitian LOVES some ice cream. Other items that I usually have are yogurt, kefir, and cheese. Regardless of the form of dairy they are all going to be great sources of protein, calcium, vitamin D, and potassium.
While I love the start of summer and all the fun events that come with the warmer weather, unfortunately for some children the start of summer isn’t so great.
One in six kids in the United States faces hunger. The problem is further complicated during the summer months, when children don’t have the structure of school meals to provide them with the nourishment they need to grow. This year, America’s dairy community is building on it’s commitment to nourish by focusing efforts in June around food and nutrition insecurity and childhood hunger.
This issue is something that I am SUPER passionate about and close to my heart. One of the biggest periods of personal and professional growth for me was when I was able to serve as an AmeriCorps member at Harvesters, the regional food bank for the Kansas City and Topeka. During my year there I was able to go out into the community and teach nutrition and cooking classes as well as partner with food pantries to help facilitate healthy changes.
I say I was the one teaching, but really I am the one that learned the most. I was able to meet some of the most amazing people that work to help solve food insecurity and learn about some of the struggles people in our own community face. It was doing this work that I discovered my love of cooking and teaching kids how to cook. I was able to introduce kids to foods that they had never seen before and allow them to taste all different types of foods.
Of course get 20 kids in a class room together to cook and there will be some funny moments. One of my favorites was when a kindergartner came up to me and asked if I really was the voice of the little mermaid. Girl, I wish I had a voice like that!
Fast forward to today I am so excited to be teaming up with Midwest Dairy who is joining forces with Feeding America (the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization) to activate communities to help kids facing hunger.
When food banks have the money and resources they need they are better able to provide local families with the nutrition they need, including dairy. I was able to speak with Vickie Lagle of Giving Hope KC Food Pantry to better understand the impact that dairy has for the community the pantry serves.
Vickie shared a story with me that really made an impression:
An older gentleman on a fixed income came into the pantry last summer. He was babysitting his three grandchildren for the summer while school was out and was really concerned that he wasn’t going to have enough food for their breakfast and lunches. He was so excited to learn that he could get milk at the pantry when he came in, especially because there was cereal there as well that day. He was probably able to get enough milk and other food to be able to feed all three grand kids for the week.
When food banks and pantries like Giving Hope KC have the money and resources they need, they’re better able to provide local families like the one above with the nutrition they need, including dairy.
At Giving Hope KC each family get a 1/2 gallon a week. They have to limit the amount because the demand is bigger than the supply. According to Vickie the pantry has milk available on Saturday morning. They open their doors at 8 in the morning and people start to line up just after 6 because they know they can get milk that day and it’s the first thing to run out on Saturdays.
It would be nice to have more resources to get milk and other dairy products especially in the summer months.
Vickie Lagle
This is where you can come in! By going to GiveAGallon.com and donating you can help make sure kids have enough milk over the summer!
So join me, America’s dairy community, and Feeding America to help deliver fresh milk and it’s high quality protein to children and families in need! A $5 donation can help deliver gallons of fresh milk to a Feeding America food bank like Harvesters that serves your community.
Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with Midwest Dairy. I was compensated for my time.
