Milk from shuttered dairy arrives

ASHWAUBENON - A much anticipated shipment of milk from a bankrupt Wisconsin dairy finally arrived Friday at food pantries in Northeast Wisconsin.
   
The Golden Guernsey dairy in Waukesha closed January 8 leaving thousands of gallons of milk behind.

Food pantries have been scrambling to distribute the milk before it goes bad.
    
A semi truck delivered the goods to the Green Bay area early Friday morning.

The semi truck rolled into Ashwaubenon more than a day behind schedule, but for food pantries receiving the milk, the shipment came just in time.

“I kind of jumped for joy, I was really excited,” said Nan Pahl, the director of social services for the Salvation Army of Brown County.

Pahl coordinated the shipment to the Salvation Army's warehouse.

“We were fortunate enough to receive three pallets of milk. It looks like a combination of chocolate and white milk,” said Pahl.

Pahl says the milk will be served at lunch and available at the pantry.

“The smaller cartons will be able to be frozen, so families can freeze it and use it later,” said Pahl.

Manna for Life Ministries in Green Bay unloaded six pallets of milk. The food bank serves 3,800 people a month. Pantry leaders say a donation like this will go a long way.

“It's great to have milk, because it's not one of the things that we get very often. We don't have milk to give to the people so we're going to be able to give a lot of milk away, a lot of milk away,” said Linda Hogenson, Manna for Life vice president.

Back at the Salvation Army the cooler is full.

“We have to check the sell-by dates, which I believe look like they're the end of next week from taking a quick peek,” said Pahl. “It gives us to the end of next week to distribute it, and probably a week for the families to use it.”

And chocolate milk is on the lunch menu.

“There is nothing better than getting that cold fresh milk out of the refrigerator,” said Pahl. “Lunch starts at 11:30, so we'll be busy.”

Pantries in Oneida, Shawano, and Oconto County also received milk from Golden Guernsey Friday.