Got Milk? Not long ago, Bellingham Food Bank always ran out of milk early into each distribution. We had been relying solely on donated milk from grocery stores. The amount of milk we received varied greatly, but it was never enough. Finally, one of the volunteers who staffs the “dairy station” said she could not stand to tell all but the first few families that visited each day that we did not have enough milk. “Either get more milk or find another spot for me to volunteer. It’s no fun telling families that we don’t have enough milk for them.”
The volunteer inspired Bellingham Food Bank to create and launch its Milk Money program. Milk Money is a simple to implement and replicable. It was too much for us to find any donor who could buy enough milk for the food bank to meet the demand. But, when we looked at how much it might cost to ensure each family could get ½ gallon of milk each time they visited, the monthly cost didn’t seem as intimidating.
Essentially, Milk Money is a sponsorship program. We determined that if we had $750 each month, we could buy the milk we needed. The food bank began to solicit a dozen sponsors that we believed had the capacity to raise $750 in a month. We knew that if we could get 12 sponsors, one for each month, we could close the milk gap. Churches, local businesses, civic clubs and others were told of the program. We told each sponsor that we not only wanted them to sponsor a month, but to sponsor that month each year. They would “own” the month and would know the impact they were making. If successful, their contribution would purchase all the milk the food bank would need to give each family ½ gallon per visit.
Milk Money has been very successful. We now have more than one dozen sponsors and are buying more milk than ever before.
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