PITTSTON — Got milk? Many struggling families don’t.
And according to Feeding America, there is a nationwide shortage of the product at food banks.
Weis Markets hopes to help close the “milk gap” locally through its participation in the Great American Milk Drive. The company partnered with CEO Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank to arrange the donation of 3,800 gallons of milk from the company’s Sunbury dairy. Over 20 volunteers from Weis Markets were on hand Wednesday morning to help unload the milk donation at the food bank’s Pittston-area site.
Dennis Curtin, director of public relations for Weis Markets, believes this initiative is timely and crucial.
“It’s the holiday season and we know that in this region one in six people live in food insecure households,” he said.
Every September, Weis Markets collects donations from customers as part of a program called Fight Hunger. The company then makes its own donation, like the 3,800 gallons of milk donated Wednesday.
“Our customers have been incredibly generous in terms of donating to our various programs,” Curtin explained. “At the same time, they want to know that we’re not just the collector, we’re also in there rolling up our sleeves and giving donations.”
The donated milk will be stored briefly at the food bank and distributed to its affiliated programs. Gene Brady, executive director of Weinberg Food Bank, believes the donation will have a great impact.
“We will be able to provide our programs with fresh milk, which is very important for growing children,” said Brady. “This is a wonderful benefit because it’s such a large donation and will have an immediate impact on families that are struggling.”
The volunteers from Weis Markets included managers from each Weis location in the district as well as District Manager Mark Detwiler.
“We have a group of customers that patronize us on a daily basis, so for us to be able to come in and give back to our communities is very important,” said Detwiler. “It’s something that we would like the community to know we take pride in, because we take pride in the community as well.”