Shamrock Farms is encouraging the public to get involved with the Great American Milk Drive and help those in need obtain up to 10,000 servings of nutrient-rich milk with a “Like Drive” on the Shamrock Farms Facebook page now through June 30, 2014.

Hungry families are missing out on the essential nutrients supplied by milk because it’s not typically donated to food banks – even though it’s in demand. The Great American Milk Drive, launched earlier this month, makes it easier for Americans to lend a hand and contribute nutritious milk to food insecure families with a simple click of a mouse or text message for as little as $5. As part of the launch, Shamrock Farms helped jumpstart the program inArizona with a 500-gallon donation to its local Feeding America Food Bank, St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance.

“We want to make it easy for all Arizonans to get involved with this effort. As Arizona’s hometown dairy, we regularly support the food banks and this ‘Like Drive’ is one more way we can continue our mission of nourishingArizona families.” said Sandy Kelly, vice president of marketing for Shamrock Farms.

The public has multiple options for getting involved in the Great American Milk Drive, including:

– Follow the on-screen instructions to “Like” Shamrock Farms Facebook page and Shamrock Farms will donate a serving in your honor.
– Donate online at www.milklife.com/give. When you enter your zip code, you can ensure that the milk is delivered from the farm to a local Feeding America food bank in your very own community.
– Text “milk” to 27722 to donate a gallon of milk to a local food bank.

“When every meal and food item counts, milk is one of the most important items we can provide. It is naturally nutrient-rich, with nine essential nutrients, including 8 grams of high-quality protein per serving and three of the top nutrients most likely to be missing in the American diet – calcium, vitamin D and potassium,” said Jerry Brown, director of media relations for St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance.

Donations earned through Shamrock Farms’ Facebook drive will benefit the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance inPhoenix, Ariz., ranked third in the country for high child food insecurity and hunger rates higher than the national average. Of those statistics, 40 percent of households in Arizona receiving emergency food assistance have at least one person who is employed.