ADA North East and King Brothers Dairy in Schuylerville, N.Y., celebrated National Milk Day (Saturday, Jan. 11) with the donation of a milk cooler and $1,000 worth of milk to the Schuylerville Youth Center to help fill the community’s nutrition gap. This project is part of ADA North East’s strategy to grow fluid milk sales through the food bank channel.

The cooler was one of more than 60 coolers recently distributed to food pantries in Pennsylvania and New York, as part of Fill a Glass with Hope®, the charitable milk donation program initiated by Pennsylvania dairy farmers in 2015.

Since the program started, more than 14 million servings of milk have been donated to families in need. The program was introduced in New York in 2019, and more than $35,000 has been raised to get milk to families in need through local food banks.

King Brothers Dairy were awarded the 2019 ADA North East Dairying for Tomorrow community outreach award. Part of the recognition included a milk donation valued at $1,000 made in the farm’s name to a local food bank or organization. The Kings opted to stock the cooler at the youth center with milk produced and processed at their farm.

The Dairying for Tomorrow awards recognize farmers who show a passion for dairying and use practices in three categories — animal care, community outreach and environmental stewardship – that will help lead the industry into the future.