Hy-Vee Supports Great American Milk Drive

Hy-Vee Inc.is teaming with Feeding America for The Great American Milk Drive, which helps deliver much-needed milk to food banks in the grocer's eight-state region.

Created as a partnership among Feeding America, MilkPEP and the National Dairy Council, the national campaign unites and enables food banks, processors, retailers and consumers to ensure that milk and its essential nutrients, including high-quality protein, are provided to needy families.

“In the past, several of our markets have participated in The Great American Milk Drive and donated more than 120,000 gallons – that’s more than 10 percent of the national total raised among supermarket retailers to date,” said Kevin Sherlock, Hy-Vee’s SVP of merchandising/business development. “We are incredibly proud of that impact, and are excited about how much more we can achieve this year with all 244 Hy-Vee stores participating.”

Through March 14, every Hy-Vee store will offer customers the option to donate the monetary equivalent of either a half-gallon or gallon of Hy-Vee brand 1 percent milk when they check out. The donation amount will vary based on milk prices at each individual store. At the end of the campaign, all donations will be used to purchase physical gallons of milk from processors, and then the milk will be distributed to local food banks.

Each Hy-Vee store is associated with one or more milk processor, and each processor has been paired with Feeding America food banks in local communities across Hy-Vee’s territory. Sponsors for this year’s campaign include Anderson Erickson, Dean Foods, Hiland Dairy Foods, Kellogg’s, Kemps, Kraft Heinz and Mondelez International.

There are more than 5 million food-insecure people in Hy-Vee’s eight-state region, and milk is one of the most requested, yet least available, items in food banks across the nation.  

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee operates more than 244 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $9.8 billion annually.