In a creative program with double benefits Maine’s Own Organic Milk Company (MOOMilk) has partnered with Wayside Food Programs of Portland [ME] to supply fresh MOOMilk to food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and other institutions served by Wayside.
The benefits:
- Wayside Food Program gets donations of fresh, healthy, organic food for distribution to people who need good food
- MOOMilk – a dairy that has faced a number of recent challenges – sells more milk.
Wayside’s mission is to increase access to food for those in need in Southern Maine by providing a system for community based volunteers who serve prepared meals where such meals are needed, and by collaborating with other agencies and members of the community to build and maintain an efficient network for the collection and equitable distribution of food to those who need it.
Wayside receives much of its food through donations from restaurants, retailers and food producers, but on occasion it still needs to purchase food to meet the needs of its clients. The biggest food expense it has is fresh milk.
The joint program works like this. A consumer or business purchases any amount of milk – from gallons to cases – at a discount and MOOMilk delivers the milk to Wayside on behalf of the buyer. Wayside then sends a receipt for the donation of the milk to the buyer. Because Wayside is a 501(c)3 organization, donations of food or money to it are tax deductible.
Read more about the MOOMilk/Wayside Food Programs innovative partnership here.