Dairy Farmers of America, along with its employees and family farm-owners, is continuing its commitment to help fight hunger by supporting Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month this September. Through its DFA Cares Foundation Farmers Feeding Families Fund, DFA is donating commercial refrigeration to community food pantries across its seven regional Areas and stocking those fridges with milk through the end of the year.

Food insecurity continues to be a significant problem in the United States. According to Feeding America, more than 38 million people, including 12 million children, are facing hunger and food insecurity, with added pressure caused by inflation. And, while every community in the country has families that face hunger, rural communities are especially hard hit.

“Refrigeration is a challenge for so many community food pantries, which means that it’s hard for them to keep fresh foods like milk and other dairy products on hand,” said Jackie Klippenstein, senior vice president of government, industry and community relations. “We are so pleased to not only provide nutrient-rich milk and dairy products to our partners in the food bank community, but also to help ensure that they’re set up for the future with the infrastructure improvements these cold storage units provide.”

In 2020, DFA began donating refrigerators stocked with milk to community food pantries in its local Areas to support Hunger Action Month. With this year’s donation, the cooperative has provided access to refrigeration for more than 34 community food pantries and provided more than 270,000 servings of milk through Hunger Action Month efforts.

“Refrigeration is a challenge for so many community food pantries, which means that it’s hard for them to keep fresh foods like milk and other dairy products on hand,” says Jackie Klippenstein, senior vice president of government, industry and community relations. “We are so pleased to not only provide nutrient-rich milk and dairy products to our partners in the food bank community, but also to help ensure that they’re set up for the future with the infrastructure improvements these cold storage units provide.”

“As farmers, we work hard every day to make food for our local communities,” says Ron Shelton, chairman of DFA Cares and a dairy farmer from La Salle, Colo. “It’s an honor to be a part of this effort and to help provide food for people who are facing tough times.” 

 Since the start of the pandemic, DFA’s Farmers Feeding Families Fund has raised $950,000, along with dairy product donations from DFA’s commercial divisions, which has positively impacted 617 local communities and provided the equivalent of more than 36.4 million servings of dairy to those in need.