Got Flavored Milk?

Lay Meas

April marks the third month of Munroe Dairy’s Share the Love program, in which 10% of proceeds from sales of a limited edition flavored milk go to a local charity. The East Providence dairy’s April release is orange creamsicle, and it will benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank. February’s beneficiary was Project Undercover, which supplies essentials like diapers, clean underwear and socks to more than 45,000 underprivileged children in Rhode Island. RISE, Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education, was featured in March. RISE helps children whose parents have been or are incarcerated to break the cycle of poverty through education.

“Share the Love gives each charity a bit of PR in communities that they might not normally reach while raising money for them. Hopefully it also raises awareness for them,” said Lindsay Armstrong Mitchell of Munroe Dairy.

Mitchell is the fourth generation of her family to work at Munroe Dairy. Her father, Robert Armstrong, Jr., is the president of the company. Like so many in small, family-owned businesses, Mitchell’s responsibilities are varied. She oversees marketing and product development, and was instrumental in developing the Share the Love program.

“Last year, we did a donation to Rhode Island Community Food Bank for the month of February, and it worked out really well. We knew that we were going to do a flavored milk of the month, and decided that rather than discount the milk, we’d take that discount amount and give it to charity.”

The response from Munroe Dairy’s customers has been very enthusiastic, with 7,762 quarts of Strawberry milk sold in February, totaling nearly $2,000 in donations to Project Undercover. “Strawberry was a big hit in February, Chocolate-Mint is out for March, and in April, we’ll have Orange Creamsicle,” Mitchell says, “but there are literally thousands of flavor combinations we can make.”

When queried about the future of Share the Love, Mitchell says, “This is a great program, so we’d like to see it continue, not just throughout the year, but for years to come. With so many charities out there, why limit ourselves to just 12?” Mitchell revealed that this year we can look forward to flavors such as Cookies and Cream, Blueberry, Root Beer and Egg Nog. She also mentioned the return of Strawberry for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. “I can guarantee you that Strawberry milk will be back,” Mitchell says. “You can quote me on that.”

To order Orange Creamsicle milk and to support the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, sign up for Munroe Dairy’s delivery service, or, to taste a sample, visit the Munroe Dairy Cowtruck at Garden City Center for the Junior League of Rhode Island’s Touch a Truck event on Saturday, April 20.