Thousands get free milk from Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers
Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers prepare to give away free milk: Noah Mutti, left, Dean Mutti, Brittany Finton, Charlie Finton and Christine Mutti.
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded and some consumers began to hoard products, supermarkets and grocery stores started limiting the number of certain products each person could buy. Toilet paper was one, disinfectant wipes another. As limits were instituted and milk began being dumped in other states, people took notice.
One of those people was New Philadelphia dairy farmer Charlie Finton, vice president of the Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers Committee, which promotes dairy products locally through various activities and appearances at events such as the Tuscarawas County Fair.
Finton said the committee’s June promotional event had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, so he was trying to think of another way to promote milk to the community.
“I thought, what better way than to get local milk from local stores into the hands of local people?” Finton said.
Finton proposed a county-wide milk giveaway to the Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers Committee, which hopped right on board. They decided to give away free milk to all the families who signed up for weekly meals through their children’s schools, but they only wanted to do it if they had the finances to cover every school district in the county.
Once he received approval, Finton set about finding someone to buy the milk. All milk has to go to a processor first; it can’t just be donated or sold in large quantities off the farm. He made a call to the Tuscarawas County Farm Bureau and spoke with Michele Specht, organization director for a four-county area that includes Tuscarawas County. Specht credits a Harrison County member who works for United Dairy with the idea to ask Walmart to sell them the milk for donation.
“I walked into the New Phila Walmart and asked if they could help us by selling us 2,200 gallons of milk,” Finton said. “The woman I spoke to was shocked for a minute, but then she picked up the phone and called corporate and got an instant approval.”
To understand the generosity of the donation, one has to understand milk is typically sold by retailers at a loss to get people into the store.
Why milk dumping started in other areas
Finton explained it this way. “Cows have to be milked every day, and that milk has to go out every day,” he said.
The demand for milk has decreased due to school, restaurant and other institutional closings. So something has to be done with the milk that is coming off the dairy farms every day.
“The milk giveaway is something we can do that also shows people there is no shortage of milk in Ohio and that we are all in this thing together,” Finton said.
Finton compliments all of the local schools for working so well with the committee to make the giveaway possible.
Future giveaways possible.
The first milk giveaway was held April 21. The dairy farmers are working on holding more giveaways in the future, for as long as the committee can handle it financially.
“I know what it’s like to have your kids at home right now and have to feed them meals you weren’t planning to provide on school days,” Finton said. "I’m sure that everyone’s grocery bills have gone up with their kids off school. This is just the dairy farmers’ way of helping out."
“Farmers,” Specht said, “are among the most wonderful, unselfish people you’d want to find. Farmers just want to feed our world. Even if they are hurting financially, they will do everything possible to make sure you’re fed.”
Finton wants people to know milk is one of the most complete, nutritious, natural foods available. And he said, “To a lot of people we are just four words — Tuscarawas County Dairy Farmers. We want to let people see who we are.”
While the dairy farmers are not actively soliciting donations, those who wish to help can call him at 330-340-2243.