MIDDLEBURY — An effort to give away a couple thousand gallons of milk last Friday was deemed a success.
At the same time that the COVID-19 outbreak has made it difficult for some families to get milk, some farmers are dumping milk that they can’t get into the supply chain.
To remedy that imbalance, Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance along with Dairy Farmers of America, Bourdeau Brothers and Pleasant Valley Farms of Berkshire this past Friday, May 8, hosted two separate milk giveaways one in Middlebury and on in St. Albans.
From noon to 3 p.m. people stopped by volunteers distributed milk to anyone who stopped in to get it at Bourdeau Brothers at 88 Seymour St. in Middlebury and at the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery Store in Albans. This was made possible by the donation of milk from Dairy Farmers of America. The milk was processed at Garelick Farms in New York state and nearly 4,000 gallons was delivered to the two drop-off points — 2,638 gallons to Middlebury and 1,250 to St. Albans.
Among the volunteers passing out the milk at the Middlebury site were Alyson Eastman, deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture; Mandy St. Pierre, executive director of Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance; and members of the Mount Independence 4-H Club. The 4-H’ers were Tenley Chittenden, Morgan White, Mackenna White, Ben Boutin and their leader, Kylie Chittenden.
As cars streamed through the Bourdeau parking lot in a fairly consistent stream, Kylie Chittenden said they had given away about 1,200 gallons halfway through Friday’s event. She expected to give it all away; some would go to a food shelf and some would be delivered to older people who couldn’t get out to come pick up the milk, Chittenden said.