Busch’s milk donations to local food banks tops 107,000 gallons
Mootilda (right) is pictured with a carton of milk.
Busch’s Fresh Food Market is proud to announce that its customers donated 107,648 gallons of milk to food banks in its bi-annual milk drive.
Last year 103,698 gallons of milk were donated. The first milk drive of 2025 was held in March, and the second from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5.
The 2025 goal was 105,000 gallons of milk and this year the drive achieved 2,648 over that goal. Milk donations make their way to Food Gathers of Michigan, Forgotten Harvest, Gleaners and South Michigan Food Bank.
In addition, this year United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) also matched $20,000 in funding to these food banks. For images from the milk drive click here.
Celebrating a decade of giving
Busch’s milk drive was launched in 2015 in partnership with UDIM, providing a vital source of nutrition to low-income families in SE Michigan. Since it started a total of 825,983 gallons of milk have been donated, plus $284,469 cash has been raised to support the project.
“Every year we are astounded at the generosity of our guests,” said Busch’s Center Store Category Manager Joelle Forbes, who heads the milk drive.
“We are a local Michigan company, and the guests know that the struggling families they are helping are in their community too. They dig deep because they know milk is such an important part of most of our diets.”
Mootilda sightings
During the milk drives, Mootilda, the dairy cow mascot from UDIM, makes regular appearances at Busch’s stores.
“Our associates really love this event and dress up as cows too. We have signs and balloons everywhere highlighting the milk drive, and it’s a lot of fun.
“But there is a serious message too – Busch’s is committed to fighting hunger and our staff know that their efforts will help to ensure that local children will have milk for their cereal in the morning,” said Forbes.
Busch’s Fresh Food Market is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary and has 16 stores in southeast Michigan.
Annual donations to schools hits $200,000
The company is proud to invest in the well-being of the communities it serves. Every year Busch’s donates up to $200,000 to neighborhood schools and educational initiatives through its Cash for Education program.
The supermarket chain also provides monthly donations to food banks. For example, its Washtenaw County stores provide food to Food Gatherers, and it also helps the nonprofit food rescue organization raise funds to provide additional food to hungry local families. Forgotten Harvest is another food bank that receives monthly donations.
For more information on Busch’s, visit buschs.com.
