Foodbank praises its milk program partners

Parmalat, Lion Dairy & Drinks, Fonterra and Saputo Dairy Australia have been presented with the 2019 Foodbank Award in recognition of their collective effort to fight hunger in Australia.

As its national milk program partners, they have supplied Foodbank with 1 million litres of fresh milk a year over their eight-year collaboration. Foodbank praised the four companies for helping it provide relief to more than 710,000 Australians every month.

“Without the support of generous partners such as these wonderful milk companies, we would simply not be able to assist the millions of Australians accessing food relief from our network of 2600 charities around the country,” Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey explained.

“Despite facing turbulent industry and market conditions, Parmalat, Lion Dairy & Drinks, Fonterra and Saputo Dairy Australia supply Foodbank with fresh milk in every state and territory each and every week of the year. This allows school students around the country to have milk on their cereal when they sit down at a breakfast club, it enables pensioners to add milk to their cup of tea or coffee at the drop-in centre, and it provides families with a staple ingredient for meals such as mac and cheese.”

The award was presented at the Australian Food & Grocery Council’s (AFCG) conference dinner in Sydney on 30 May.

Milk industry accepts Foodbank Awards at AFGC. L–R: Kiril Simonovski, Director of Consumer Division, Fonterra; Angela Burr, General Manager Marketing & Commercial Services, Parmalat; John Williams, General Manager Sales, Saputo Diary Australia; Brianna Casey, CEO, Foodbank Australia; Kathy Karabatsas, Managing Director, Lion Dairy & Drinks; Paula Zrilic, Our Community Pantry; and Tanya Barden, CEO, AFGC. 

The event also saw the Flight Centre Foundation’s General Manager, Anita Russell, inducted into the Foodbank Hall of Fame.

“Anita has been at the centre of the Flight Centre/Foodbank relationship since its inception seven years ago,” Casey said. “Thanks to her passion and energy, the relationship has gone from strength to strength such that Flight Centre staff and company have funded 8.2 million serves of long-life milk as well as 2.4 million serves of pasta sauce, canned fruit and rice.”

Top image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/volff