Please enjoy another guest blog post from our friends at the Western Dairy Association!

The McConnell Family are dairy farmers near Florence, Colorado. Their family has been dairying in the area since 1987, both at their own family farm and managing the Colorado Correctional Industries dairy in Canon City.

Rob McConnell and his wife, Reanna, work with the Colorado Young Cooperators group, a statewide group that helps educate and develop leadership skills in young dairy farmers while also providing networking and opportunities to serve their communities with activities such as preparing and distributing food boxes to the needy.

McConnell believes that The Great American Milk Drive is an important way to get good, wholesome nutrition into the hands of those in need.

“Thank heaven, we are not hungry,” said McConnell. “For those who are in need, milk provides many essential nutrients of a healthy diet and most people like milk, so it is an easy and enjoyable way for people to get those nutrients,” McConnell said.

McConnell points out that better nutrition helps students perform better in school and helps them succeed in the future. His wife Reanna has seen that firsthand as a teacher at Harrison Elementary School, also in Canon City.

The McConnells often give tours of their dairy farm and are pen pals with a local school – teaching them about dairy farming. “We all need to help each other,” says McConnell. “Milk is an excellent source of protein as well as many vitamins and minerals like calcium. The calcium is very available to our bodies so it is absorbed easily. It makes strong bones. Most fluid milk is fortified with vitamins A and D which are critical to our immune systems. And it tastes good!”

You can help get more milk into the hands of your neighbors at risk of hunger. Just go to www.coloradomilkdrive.com and enter your zip code when you donate to ensure that your donation helps buy milk for local families in need.

Thanks for reading!