ADA North East plays a vital role in bringing together milk processors and food banks to ensure families have access to nutritious milk and dairy foods as schools and childcare centers are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We help these groups navigate their way through the distribution process to maximize the benefits of government programs for their communities.â€_x009d_ — Rick Naczi, ADA North East CEO.
Today, more than 3,600 families in Venango County, Pa., received a dairy package thanks to Venango County Dairy Ambassador Kaylee Knapp. The 15-year-old partnered with the United Way of Venango County and ADA North East to take advantage of government grants to get immediate food assistance to her community.
Funding was made available to purchase the products through USDA’s Coronavirus Federal Assistance Program (CFAP). Each dairy package included a gallon of milk, a half-gallon of chocolate milk, a quart of buttermilk, two pounds of butter, a pint of cream cheese and 24-ounces of cottage cheese provided by Marburger Dairy of Evans City, Pa.
In addition to CFAP, ADA North East is working to assist milk distribution efforts through Nourish New York programs, a state-wide effort in New York to provide emergency funding to food banks and to support dairy industry efforts to get milk to the food banks during the crisis.
More than 26,000 gallons of milk are scheduled to be distributed through next week through these avenues.