When the coronavirus pandemic started, shelves in grocery stores emptied at an alarming rate, leaving many without essential nutrients in their refrigerators, including milk. Even though the situation has since improved, the amount of milk customers can purchase is still limited in some stores.
To help address any shortages Carroll countians are feeling, some local dairy farmers have organized a milk giveaway in New Windsor on Saturday.
According to a news release by Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, the giveaway will be held at 10 a.m. at the New Windsor Fire Department’s carnival grounds. Two gallons of Maola milk will be given to each vehicle that pulls into the giveaway, while supplies last.
Those distributing the milk Saturday morning will be wearing masks. Those who wish to pick up milk only need to pull up to the carnival grounds and do not need to leave their vehicles to receive the milk.
Katie Dotterer-Pyle, co-owner of Cow Comfort Inn Dairy in Union Bridge, is one of the dairy farmers who helped organize the event.
Dotterer-Pyle and her husband David, Cow Comfort Inn Dairy co-owner, received a grant from the Land O’Lakes Foundation to be able to buy milk to give out to people in need during the pandemic.
“As farmers, we were frustrated as consumers were seeing limits on various stores, but then some dairy farmers were dumping milk, and we just want to make sure that the milk is getting to people that need it because it’s an awesome beverage,” Dotterer-Pyle said.
The event was coordinated through a collaborative effort between Cow Comfort Inn Dairy, Hoober Inc., Land O’ Lakes Foundation, and Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, according to the release.
About 2,160 gallons of milk will be distributed at the giveaway, according to Matt Hoff, local dairy farmer of Coldspring Farm in New Windsor and president of Maryland and Virginia Producer Cooperative.
Hoff has been donating milk to multiple churches throughout Carroll County during the pandemic.
“I have probably seven or eight churches that get milk from me. I just delivered like 50 gallons up to Taneytown Elementary [School] because on Fridays they have the kids coming through to get meals, they also give out some food to families for the weekend,” Hoff said. “So, I’ve been taking 50 gallons every week up there and they’ve been giving it out. About 700 gallons a week that I’ve been giving out through Uniontown Bible Church, New Hope Church here in Westminster, a church in Manchester.”
Both Dotterer-Pyle and Hoff know the importance of nutrients that milk provides, and they want to make sure people have access.
“Dairy does still supply extremely high-quality protein and calcium, which — barely no one gets enough calcium anymore,” Hoff said.
“Dairy is one of the most nutritious products out there; it’s a safe product, it’s a wholesome product,” Dotterer-Pyle said. “There’s nine different nutrients in it. You’re going to be hard-pressed to find another food that delivers all of those nutrients all in one package other than milk. It’s just a phenomenal food that we know a lot of people are missing out on, especially if people are still faced with some limits in the stores; this is another opportunity for people to get milk to feed their family.”
