Maine’s Own Organic Milk Company is partnering with Wayside to supply fresh MOOMilk to the many food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and other institutions served by Wayside. MOOMilk CEO and Chairman Bill Eldridge talks about the partnership. What is MooMilk?MOOMilk is a processor, distributor and marketer of organic milk from small Maine organic dairy farms. It was founded to preserve these farms while also educating the consumer on the life of the small organic dairy farmer. Can you describe MooMilk's Wayside donation program?MOOMilk has to produce enough milk to supply our customers without knowing exactly how much is needed for future orders. For that reason there is usually extra milk available when it reaches nine days of shelf life left. To ensure that consumers have fresh milk, at that time the milk, although perfectly good, is not put into the distribution system. MOOMilk calls the operations manager of Wayside to pick up this milk from the Oakhurst warehouse to send out to their pantries and kitchens. What was the genesis of the program?MOOMilk could not bear the thought of perfectly good milk being poured down the drain when we started the company so we contacted Wayside and Good Shepherd to distribute to their clients. How has the partnership been?Wayside has been an excellent partner because of the work of Don Morrison to put systems in place that smoothly stored and distributed the milk. How has the feedback about the program been?The program feedback has been excellent. I know from speaking to Don that both the pantry and kitchen managers rave about the quality and taste of the milk, and MOOMilk routinely gets notes from their clients about our milk. It is worth knowing that many of Wayside’s clients are children and seniors, two groups who would probably never, on their own, have the opportunity to drink healthy organic milk. Can you talk about how the unique partnership manages to help both organizations?The program is actually a win-win-win-win situation for four parties: MOOMilk has solicited donor support for this program and found donors who will support the purchase of organic milk for Wayside. The donors receive a tax deductable receipt. MOOMilk receives a purchase price for milk that helps sustain the farmers. Finally, Wayside gets to expand its supply of healthy organic milk for all of its clients without cutting into its operating budget. And last, Wayside clients get healthy milk to drink with their meals.