As the IDFA Dairy Forum closed, the IDFA Foundation brought nutritious dairy foods to food insecure families in Arizona.
Over the past few weeks, the IDFA Foundation along with several IDFA dairy processing members and food retailers donated more than 33,000 pounds of nutritious milk and dairy foods as well as $15,000 in financial contributions to St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix to address hunger in Arizona. Donations of nutritious milk, cheese, and yogurt were made by The Kroger Co., Diversified Foods, Inc., and Lactalis USA. In addition, Albertsons Companies Foundation and Schreiber Foods Inc. joined the IDFA Foundation in making a combined financial contribution of $15,000 to St. Mary’s. The donations will provide more than 72,000 meals to food insecure families throughout Phoenix and nine Arizona counties.
The IDFA Foundation was proud to partner with St. Mary’s Food Bank —the nation’s first food bank and a leader in hunger relief — to support the greater Phoenix community, and it is grateful to our partners, donors and foundation board members for making the donation possible, it stated.
The food bank hosted a short visit by IDFA Foundation board members Steve Cooper of Continental Dairy Facilities, LLC, Allison Bolet Cafaro of Great Lakes Cheese Co. Adam Wylie of Leprino Foods Co., and Dave Coble of Schreiber Foods Inc. The group was able to tour the facility, speak with food bank staff about how dairy fills an important nutritional need in Arizona, and see some of the donations firsthand.
According to St. Mary’s, approximately two million Arizonans face food insecurity every year, including one in four children. In 2022, St. Mary’s Food Bank distributed 102,227,360 pounds of food throughout most of Arizona.
“Dairy items are high on the list of need for our neighbors and often difficult for food banks to obtain through donations,” said Milton Liu, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Food Bank. “In addition to the monetary gift from the IDFA Foundation and its partners, which will allow us to distribute enough food for 45,000 meals around Arizona, the shelf-stable milk, yogurt, cheese and other high-nutritional dairy items will be well received by those we serve. Huge thanks to IDFA Foundation for reaching out to help struggling Arizonans.”
The IDFA Foundation is also coordinating additional donations of milk, yogurt, cheese and other nutritious dairy foods to St. Mary’s Food Bank following the conclusion of the IDFA Dairy Forum event in Phoenix to prevent food waste while continuing to address the nutritional needs of Arizonans.
