Georgia Middle School Pioneers Milk Dispenser Program to Enhance Student Nutrition

The Dairy Alliance, a nonprofit funded by dairy farm families in the Southeast, recently celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Red Top Middle School, marking the first middle school in Georgia to offer milk through a dispenser. The installation is part of a statewide effort supported by earmarked funding from Georgia Milk Producers, Inc., with The Dairy Alliance tasked with identifying willing and capable school districts to implement milk dispensers in K–12 cafeterias. Milk dispensers are a great way to upgrade real dairy milk for this generation of students, said Will McWhirter, Manager of Youth Wellness at The Dairy Alliance. It's been a pleasure for me to experience many K–12 students' first sip of real dairy milk from a milk dispenser and seeing their eyes light up while they're still drinking it.

Bartow County is leading the effort as the first Georgia district with multiple schools participating, with plans to install dispensers across all middle and high schools, totaling seven schools. Red Top Middle School is the first middle school in the state to implement the program. I'm proud of our school nutrition team at Red Top Middle School for wanting to be a part of this innovative project, said Betsy Roam, School Nutrition Director of Bartow County. Raising your hand and choosing to be the first middle school in Georgia to offer milk dispensers versus the traditional carton shows the staff's dedication to providing quality nutrition to our students.

Seven Georgia school districts have launched or will soon begin offering milk through dispensers, including Cartersville City, Marietta City, Bartow County, Polk County, Calhoun City, Bremen City, and KIPP Charter Schools of Atlanta. In total, the initiative includes 18 schools and 30 milk dispensers statewide. Our Georgia dairy farmers are excited about this opportunity to help support our schools and provide more and colder Georgia-grown milk to our cafeterias, said Bryce Trotter, Executive Director of Georgia Milk Producers, Inc. This program benefits students while strengthening connections to local dairy farmers.

It's been a lifelong project of mine to improve the quality of milk for students, and these dispensers are by far and away the best thing that we've come up with, said Ted Trotter, Georgia dairy farmer. In my 40 years of working on dairies, I'm glad to see we're finally starting to get some implementation and support from local schools. Cafeteria managers are ready and willing to try it. In the past, many said it would never work, but the ones who tried it really love it. I'm just glad to see it's finally coming to fruition. The Dairy Alliance continues to work with school districts and dairy partners across the Southeast to expand access to milk dispensers and strengthen connections between students and local dairy farm families. To learn more about The Dairy Alliance, visit https://thedairyalliance.com or follow @TheDairyAlliance on Facebook or Instagram.