Ontario's food banks honour milk industry with award - Milk program delivered over 10 million litres to Ontario's food  banks in the past decade

For immediate release

Guelph, ON (November 2) – 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.”

The Paul Mistele Memorial Award is presented each year by the Ontario Association of Food Banks to an agricultural partner that has shown a long-term commitment to reducing hunger in Ontario. The award is named for the late Paul Mistele, a London area farmer who started the Donate-A-Hog program. In 2008, the award was presented to Ontario Pork.

If you would like to find out more about food banks in Ontario, please visit www.oafb.ca.

About OAFB
The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) is a network of over 100 food banks including communities across the province from Ottawa to Windsor, and Niagara Falls to Thunder Bay. For more information about the OAFB, as well as hunger and poverty in Ontario, please visit www.oafb.ca.

About OFAC
The Ontario Farm Animal Council ís the voice of animal agriculture representing 40,000 livestock and poultry farmers and associated businesses. To learn more about OFAC and farming in Ontario visit www.ofac.org or www.farmissues.com

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For further information, contact:
Adam Spence, Executive Director, Ontario Association of Food Banks,
Mobile: 416-543-0897