HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. — On June 20, members of the South Branch Reformed Church youth group in Hillsborough NJ hosted a “Milk Drop” milk giveaway event at the church. The group raised money to purchase 500 gallons of 2% milk, and 1,000 half pints of chocolate milk from Cream-O-Land Dairy in Florence, NJ. Together with several members of the New Centre Dairy 4-H club, the youth handed out milk to cars stopping by the church. A refrigerated truck was provided by Norz-Hill Farm and Market of Hillsborough to ensure the milk remained cold.
Organized by the youth group advisor, Joanne Powell, and the church’s pastor, Rev. Stephen Eckert, the event not only provided nutritious milk for families, it helped to highlight some of the many challenges that face dairy producers. Since the onset of COVID-19, dairy farms have been asked to dump milk, or cut back on production. Much of that is due to the closure of schools and food service, as well as restaurants. The information provided about the dairy industry was quite eye-opening for many of the people picking up milk.
The milk was provided to families free of charge, but those families that wished to “pay it forward” were asked to bring a non-perishable food item for the Hillsborough Food Pantry, or a free will offering. The offering was split between the food pantry and the Interfaith Hospitality Network. The group was also able to provide two community feeding programs with milk to distribute to their clientele.
The event was a successful local mission project for the youth involved, and benefited the entire community.
–Joanne Powell, Delaware Valley University