ROANOKE, Va. — This summer, Farm Credit of the Virginias (FCV), a lending cooperative that provides financing to farmers, agribusinesses and rural homeowners in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, hosted its first-ever, drive-thru ice cream socials and donated the cost of their events back to three organizations that provide support and promotion for the dairy industry in their tri-state territory.
The cooperative hosts customer appreciation events at each of its 22 branch offices on an annual basis. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, customer appreciation events in 2020 were cancelled. To safely appreciate its customer-owners in 2021, the association put plans into motion for the drive-thru events, which were aptly named, “Farm Credit Dairy Days.”
Besides appreciating its customer-owners, the association sought to provide added support to the dairy industry. Farm Credit Dairy Days were executed during the months of June and July, which are observed as National Dairy Month and National Ice Cream Month. As the cherry on top of the initiative, the association supported the VA, WV and MD dairy industries through its total donation of $23,500.00 amongst the following organizations: The VA Dairymen’s Association, the WV State Dairy Board, and the Maryland Dairy Industry Association.
Brad Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer of Farm Credit of the Virginias, said, “It was of utmost importance to FCV that we celebrated our customers this year and what better way to do that than with ice cream! We are thankful for our customer-owners’ continued business and are proud to support such a crucial industry with our donation. We anticipate the funds being used to advocate for our dairy farmers and encourage support of the dairy industry.”
–Farm Credit of the Virginias