Ontario’s food banks honour milk industry with award
The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) has announced the recipients of its annual Paul Mistele Memorial Award. This year the award has been given to the partners in the Provincial Milk Program: Dairy Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Dairy Council, and the Ontario Milk Transport Association. The OAFB presented the recipients with the award at the 2009 Ontario’s Harvest Gala in Guelph, an event hosted by the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC).
“The Milk Program is the single largest ongoing food donation program across the province,” said Adam Spence, Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks. “The partners of the program have shown great generosity and initiative over the years. This award is a small way of saying thank you.”
The provincial Milk Program has been an important source of nutritious milk for food banks in Ontario for over a decade. Each year, approximately one million litres of milk are delivered to OAFB member food banks. The milk is donated by dairy farmers, transported by the milk transporters, and processed and packaged by the dairy processors. The final product is delivered directly to food banks across the province on a monthly basis.
“On behalf of the dairy processing companies in Ontario, the ODC is proud to have received this year’s Paul Mistele Memorial Award from the OAFB along with our industry partners – Dairy Farmers of Ontario and Ontario Milk Transport Association,” said Tom Kane, President of the Ontario Dairy Council. “The 14 fluid milk processing plants that are actively supporting the donations to some 100 food banks are honoured to participate in this program that has provided over 10 million litres of milk in the past decade. With the continued support of dairy farmers and milk transporters, the ODC and its processing companies are dedicated to supplying fluid milk products to those in need.”