Getting Serious About Food Waste

Cool story about food waste.

Go to http://wrvo.org/post/its-time-get-serious-about-reducing-food-waste-feds-say to check it out.

Take a Selfie at the Butter Sculpture; Help Needy Families Get Milk

There are two days left to the Great New York State Fair.

Remember, if you take a selfie in front of the butter sculpture while holding your ice cold milk from the Rainbow Milk Bar, you will help make a donation to area food banks so needy families can get milk to serve at home.

Go to http://www.adadc.com/sports-nutrition.html for more information.

2015 Butter Sculpture Unveiled at the New York State Fair

"Thanks for the Milk, Moo York," the 2015 New York State Fair butter sculpture

You can call this “Great American Milk Drive – Part Two.”

This year’s New York State Fair butter sculpture was unveiled Wednesday morning and it is a thank you for everyone throughout New York who has donated milk to needy families through the Great American Milk Drive.

The sculpture is called “Thanks for the Milk, Moo York.” The 2014 State Fair sculpture kicked off the Great American Milk Drive, which resulted in more than 22,000 gallons of milk being donated in the state.

Made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter from O-At-Ka Milk in Batavia, the sculpture shows a dairy farmer, milk processor and retailer each holding gallons of milk. There also are key New York state elements behind them, such as Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty and the Carrier Dome.

The sculpture is one of the most popular sites to visit during the 12-day New York State Fair. It is in the Dairy Products Building at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes.

The fair opens Thursday, Aug. 27 and goes through Labor Day, Sept. 7. This is the 47th annual butter sculpture at the state fair.

“We live in one of the top producing milk states in the country, yet many families aren’t getting the nutritious, wholesome milk they want to provide for their children,” said dairy farmer Sarah Noble-Moag, of Pavilion. “The Great American Milk Drive helps draw attention to that need and makes it easy for people to donate, both in store and on line,” she said.

This is the 13th year artists Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, Pa., have worked on the sculpture. This is probably the tallest sculpture they have done, since the top of one of the milk bottles in the piece is only about a quarter inch from the top of the butter sculpture’s refrigerated room.

“It’s 77 inches high,” Ms. Pelton said. "In 2012, the sculpture about Greek yogurt during the summer of the Olympics was 2 inches below the grate.”

As part of the Great American Milk Drive and thanking people for their previous donations, the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council, which sponsors the butter sculpture, also is asking people to donate extra quarters when they buy their cup of milk at the fair’s Rainbow Milk Bar.

The additional donations will go toward purchasing milk for food banks and food pantries so needy families can obtain milk. The Rainbow Milk Bar also is in the Dairy Products Building and serves delicious, cold glasses of white or chocolate milk for 25 cents.

The Dairy Association and Dairy Council also is conducting an Instagram Selfie Contest to help spread the word about the need for milk donations. Take a selfie in front of the butter sculpture with your cup of milk from the Rainbow Milk Bar and tag it “givemilktoo.”

Each day of the fair, one winner will be selected to receive a $50 gift card for dairy products and a $50 donation will be made to a local food bank to help it purchase milk.

One second prize winter will win an Apple Watch. And one grand prize winner will receive an Ultimate Buffalo Bills Fan Weekend package, including access to pre-game practice, an overnight hotel stay in Buffalo and four club tickets to watch the Bills take on the Houston Texans.

Go to www.adadc.com for more contest information.

Feds Feed Families Food Drive Underway

This news comes from the USDA:

Tuesday was the kickoff for the 5th annual Feds Feed Families Campaign.

The campaign is an annual food drive in which federal employees throughout the country collect food for distribution by food banks and shelters. In the past four years, federal government employees around the country have donated over 15 million pounds of food through the Feds Feed Families campaign. 

The Feds Feed Families program started in 2009 and has been managed on an annual basis by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will lead the effort in collaboration with managers from agencies across the government. The 2013 food drive officially began on June 1 and will run through August 28.

All Federal agencies across the country participate in the campaign and federal employees are asked to donate non-perishable food items throughout the summer. Those interested in additional information on the Feds Feed Families campaign can email fedsfeedfamilies@usda.gov. Questions and inquiries can also be directed by phone to (202) 260-8953.