Angie Reinoehl/MDN Representatives of Cass-Clay, Marketplace Foods and Souris Valley United Way came together Wednesday morning to celebrate a two-pallet milk donation to the Backpack Buddies program, which provides food to Minot area children. From left to right are: Emily Lindquist, director of Outreach for United Way; Jim Schuler, account manager at Cass-Clay; Steve Tedford, sales manager; Arlen Franchuk, sales director at Cass-Clay; Zac Miller, vice president of retail operations at Marketplace Foods; Craig Heupel, firector of the main location of Marketplace Foods; Christy Miller, United Way executive director; Shane Moe, director of the North Hill location of Marketplace Foods; and Seth Zader, manager in training at Arrowhead location of Marketplace Foods.

June is National Dairy Month and this year Marketplace Foods paired up with Cass-Clay to donate two pallets of shelf stable milk to Souris Valley United Way’s Backpack Buddies program.

The Backpack Buddies program provides children experiencing food insecurity with nutritious and easy-to-prepare foods. Each weekly bag costs around $8 and provides both meals and snacks to help parents who are struggling to consistently make ends meet keep food on the table.

The program was started in 2014 at Sunnyside Elementary by a Minot State University student and has grown due to the outpouring of community support. The program now serves 14 schools in the Minot area according to Christy Miller, United Way’s executive director.

The donation was part of Cass-Clay’s Giving Cow Project, a mission dedicated to getting shelf-stable milk to children across the Midwest and Northeast.

This is the first time Backpack Buddies has received a donation from the Giving Cow Project, and it will be the first time milk has been added to the food bags.

“We couldn’t do it without the community. It takes a lot of volunteers and donations to make it work,” Miller said.