SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Students at James Buchanan High School in Mercersburg, Franklin County, sampled yogurt smoothies on Thursday, February 14, thanks to the Hissong family of Mercer-Vu Farms, and American Dairy Association North East (ADA North East).
A smoothie blender was donated by ADA North East on behalf of the Hissongs, who were recognized as the organization’s 2018 Dairying for Tomorrow environmental stewardship winner. The purpose was to help the district promote healthier breakfast options in school that include dairy.
The school offers two smoothie flavors daily for breakfast and lunch. The featured flavor for the event was “Chunky Monkey,” a blend of chocolate milk, yogurt and bananas.
“It’s great that we can offer these healthy, fresh smoothies to our students,” said Adam Carlson, Food Service Director at James Buchanan High School. “In addition to being a convenient grab-and-go option for breakfast or lunch, the smoothies also qualify as a full meal through the National School Lunch Program, which means any student, regardless of their meal status, can enjoy a yogurt smoothie.”
Dairy farmer Rick Hissong attended the smoothie sampling event along with Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess Kara Stultz, Franklin County Dairy Princess Zoey Baer, and Blair County Dairy Maid Madison Benfer.
“We decided to donate the smoothie blender to promote dairy to students in our local schools,” said Hissong. “It’s great to see students enjoying real dairy in the smoothies. This is a program that we hope to see continue on for years to come.”
The Dairying for Tomorrow awards recognize local dairy farmers and showcase on-farm practices that will help sustain the dairy industry now and into the future, and are given in three categories: animal care, community and consumer outreach and environmental stewardship.
Applications for the 2019 Dairying for Tomorrow awards are being accepted through March 15 and are available at www.AmericanDairy.com under “For Farmers.” Contact Callie Curley at ccurley@milk4u.orgfor more information.