Save A Lot, United Way distribute hundreds of gallons of milk
Save A Lot, United Way distribute hundreds of gallons of milk
By Tamela Baker tbaker@herald-mail.com
By Colleen McGrath
Save A Lot grocery store at the South End Shopping Center in Hagerstown donated 728 gallons of milk to United Way of Washington County Thursday. Steve Oberholzer, right, Save A Lot grocery store manager, and Bob Herndon, grocery manager, help load cases of milk for distribution.
By Colleen McGrath
Heather Guessford, United Way of Washington County’s president and CEO, coordinates the distribution of 728 gallons of milk donated Thursday by Save A Lot grocery store at the South End Shopping Center in Hagerstown.
By Colleen McGrath
Allison Dillow, director of marketing and engagement for United Way of Washington County, and her dog Loretta help load 728 gallons of milk donated by Save A Lot grocery store Thursday at the South End Shopping Center in Hagerstown.
The Save A Lot store in Hagerstown has teamed up with United Way of Washington County to distribute much-needed milk that the agency hopes will help hundreds of local households where families are hunkered down, waiting out the COVID-19 crisis.
Save A Lot donated 182 cases — 728 gallons — of milk to United Way, according to United Way President and CEO Heather Guessford.
They're being divided among more than a dozen local agencies that will distribute them to their clients, she said.
"This is needed so much because we have … a dozen agencies here right now that are asking us for food and milk," she said, "so it's gonna go very far. It's not going to just one place; it's going to many. And some of them are actually going out to low-income communities — they're actually taking the milk door-to-door in some of these communities."
Trucks and vans from the various agencies pulled up behind the Save A Lot store on Maryland Avenue on Thursday afternoon to load up. One of the agencies delivering the milk is the Hagerstown Housing Authority. Tacy Myers, a family self-sufficiency coordinator with the housing authority, said her colleague Kelly Mills Thompson would be delivering the milk "to our public housing (in) some of our communities."
They'll be delivering a gallon of milk to 50 to 72 families, she said.
Save A Lot co-owner David Green said one of the store's suppliers called his partner offering the milk.
"My partner got a phone call from someone we do business with and said 'hey, we've got some milk and the local food banks that we deal with are overwhelmed,'" he said. "And I said to my partner Melvin (Shapiro), 'you know, it's time that we give back to the community.' We do it whenever we can."
“We realize what is happening in the world and we had an opportunity to give back, so we did," Director of Operations Bill Marriott said in a statement. "We’ve been in Hagerstown for many years and our customers have been very supportive of us. This was our opportunity to give back and say thanks to the families in this community that needed it the most.”
United Way also is conducting a "huge emergency relief campaign," which has raised more than $10,000 in two days, she said. Community Foundation and its donors are matching those donations, she said.
Those wishing to donate to the fund, which also will be distributed among agencies served by United Way, can go to the United Way website, unitedwaywashcounty.org, and find the COVID-19 relief page.
"All credit-card fees are waived, and there's zero administrative expenses coming out of it," Guessford said. "One hundred percent of the donations go back to the agencies here in Washington County."
"The quicker people get their donations to us, the quicker we can get them deployed out to the community," she said.
The agencies receiving milk through Thursday's donation included:
- The Arc of Washington County
- Salvation Army
- The YMCA
- The Hope Center at Hagerstown Rescue Mission
- Potomac Case Management Services
- Lasting Change Recovery Solutions for Women
- It's a Blessing to Be A Blessing
- Holly Place
- Williamsport Food Bank
- The Town of Williamsport
- Snyder Avenue Blessing Box
- Hagerstown Housing Authority
- Bester Community of Hope
- Interfaith Service Coalition
Will Save A Lot donate again?
"It's hard to predict," Green said. "There's not a shortage of getting product; it's just getting it to the stores, making sure it's delivered in the integrity it should be, and that the drivers aren't overworked. I firmly believe we will come out of this situation better than we ever could imagine."
But if the store is in a position to donate again, he said, United Way will get the first call.
