The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), funded by the Dairy Farm Families of Wisconsin, coordinated a state-wide effort with Wisconsin cheesemakers to send almost 20,000 pounds of cheese to Houston to provide nutritious food for those affected by Hurricane Harvey.
“We are deeply saddened by the devastation facing Texas residents in the wake of Hurricane Harvey,” said Suzanne Fanning, WMMB vice-president of marketing communications. “Our Wisconsin cheesemakers and dairy farmers are inherently focused on helping others so we offered them a way to get involved. Their response to our call for donations was overwhelming. We were initially hoping to send 200 pounds of cheese, but the donations keep pouring in—now totaling almost 20,000 pounds.”
WMMB employees, cheese company employees and dairy farmers recently packed a delivery truck in Madison with almost 20,000 pounds of smoked string cheese, cheese curds, muenster, parmesan, and classic cheddar. The shipment also included 300 pounds of butter.
This delivery was destined for the Houston Food Bank, the nation’s largest food bank with distribution to its network of nearly 600 hunger relief charities in 18 Southeast Texas counties. Shipping and logistics support is being provided by Independent Procurement Alliance Program (IPAP), based in Appleton WI.
Twenty-six cheese companies from across the dairy state were involved in the relief effort. Participating companies include Agropur Inc, Arena Cheese Inc, BelGioioso Cheese Inc, Burnett Dairy Cooperative, Carr Valley Cheese Company Inc, Chula Vista Cheese Company, Decatur Dairy Inc, Cow Candy, Ellsworth Co-op Creamery, Emmi Roth USA, Foremost Farms USA Cooperative, Grande Cheese, Grassland Dairy Products Inc, LaClare Family Creamery, Marieke Gouda, Nasonville Dairy, Odyssey Feta, Pine River Pre-Pack Inc, Ponderosa Dairy Products, Sartori Company, Schreiber Foods Inc, Swiss Valley Farms Co-op, Vern’s Cheese Inc, Widmer’s Cheese Cellars, Winona Foods and Zimmerman Cheese.
The WMMB is a non-profit organization of dairy farmers that promotes consumption of milk, cheese and other dairy products made in America’s Dairyland. For more information about WMMB, visit www.wmmb.com.
