The Great American Milk Drive Follow Along Live 11:45 #MilkDrive

This is a partnered post with MomItForward

Today I’m going to spend the afternoon in Seattle at the Food Bank learning about what Milk has in store for the Great American Milk Drive. Did you know that many Americans are pressured financially due to a convergence of economic stresses – which means more people are turning to their local food bank for help. Compared to four years ago, one million more people are seeking emergency food assistance from the Feeding America network each week. Increasingly, food banks have introduced nutrition criteria for the meals served to clients. For Feeding America, two-thirds of the food banks in the network follow the USDA’s MyPlate guidelines for a balanced meal – which includes a serving of milk. Only 2/3 we can do better.

Milk tops the list of the food items most requested by food bank participants (85 percent), followed by fresh fruits (77 percent) and fresh vegetables (74 percent). While several recent initiatives have focused on getting more produce into feeding programs, The Great American Milk Drive is the first program to help resolve the milk shortage. With the help of Jesse Tyler Ferguson of ABC’s Modern Family and nutritionist Ellie Krieger the goal is to deliver two million gallons of milk to food banks across the country.