Milk Made: Donating Milk & Feeding Chicago During COVID-19
The intensity, longevity and far-reaching consequences of this pandemic have taken us all by surprise. While many of us spent the spring consumed by our own crises and struggles, some extraordinary people saw the unprecedented need in their communities and took it upon themselves to go out and help.
Jan Anne Dubin is one of those people.
In early April, Jan learned from friends and caterers D’Andre Carter and Heather Bublick (of Soul and Smoke catering) that Chicagoans in need were facing an acute shortage of food and bulk quantities of milk, largely as a result of pandemic-related school closures and the associated logistical challenges. At the same time, dairy farmers across the country were fretting about what to do with excess milk, which was previously in high-demand and still needed to be produced, but that was no longer selling because of the disrupted supply chains. In fact, by early April, American dairy farmers were dumping an estimated 3.7 million gallons of milk back into the ground each day [FN1].
After Jan learned of the need for milk in the community and the challenges dairy farmers were facing, she set forth to determine an innovative way to connect the supply and demand. That’s how the Milk Made project was created. She reached-out and connected with Matt & Jenna Kilgus of the Kilgus Farmstead in Fairbury, Illinois, and they formed a short-term partnership that enabled Jan to purchase 200 gallons of whole and 2% milk on a weekly basis. Ultimately, Milk Made was able to donate over 2,000 gallons of fresh milk to families and essential workers during the most critical, early weeks of the pandemic. The Trotter Project also underwrote half of the Milk Made project’s donations using money from a grant. All of the milk that The Trotter Project purchased was delivered weekly to the Englewood Montessori School, alongside fresh meals prepared by Soul and Smoke in partnership with José Andrés, World Central Kitchen and The Trotter Project.
A Lifetime of Giving
Growing up, Jan’s father always told her: “It’s more important to give back to others than to take in return.” He also loved Winston Churchill and cherished the quote, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” These omnipresent refrains, combined with Jan’s naturally sensitive nature, fostered an early and lasting commitment to helping others.
Jan remembers her passion first appearing during a school-sponsored food drive in second grade. Even as a young girl, she was struck by the project; she wanted to know why people needed cans of food delivered to them at Thanksgiving and why couldn’t she just give the staples to them directly. This early interest in understanding privilege and dismantling disparities led to longer-term Girl Scouts projects and, eventually, one of the most impactful projects of her career.
That project started in 1989, when Jan joined Rudnick & Wolfe (now DLA Piper) as their first-ever Marketing Director. The law firm traditionally gave chocolates and wine to its clients each December, but ethics rules that governed lawyers’ gifts to clients were changing and Jan saw an opportunity for the law firm to stand out in a positive manner. So, she worked with real estate partner Bill Rudnick to create a new holiday contributions program that benefitted local hunger relief organizations. Their program changed the holiday giving landscape and created one the first strategic philanthropy programs in the country. Unsurprisingly, the firm’s approach quickly grew in popularity and soon Rudnick’s clients and other law firms began adopting similar models. By the early 1990s, Rudnick & Wolfe had donated millions of meals to local food banks and Jan became one of the first law firm marketers to be recognized for strategic philanthropy by the Legal Marketing Association through receipt of its annual Your Honor Award.
In 2009, Jan started a highly successful legal consulting and executive coaching firm where she continues to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through board and volunteer work in the greater Chicago area and nationwide [FN2]. In recognition of her work, Jan was named one of StreetWise’s “20 Most Inspiring Chicagoans,” Chicago Business Journal’s Women of Influence, Today’s Chicago Woman’s “100 Women Making a Difference,” and the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award [FN2-4].
Origins & Operations of Milk Made
Jan was keenly aware of many Chicagoans’ precarious situations, even before COVID-19, because of her extensive work with local food banks and the city’s homeless population. So, when the pandemic hit, she knew there would be a tremendous need and that she needed to help and not sit on the sidelines.
She started by buying groceries for friends and delivering meals to first responders, but still yearned to do more [FN5]. Jan knew that to develop a helpful, successful project she would need to: (1) identify an opportunity or area of need, and then (2) create a solution and utilizing an innovative way to solve it.
The first step was calling D’Andre Carter and Heather Bublick to learn how she could support their efforts with “For A Neighbor in Need,” which provides free meals to families, first responders and essential workers. Heather told Jan that they needed individual containers for hand sanitizer, pre-packaged cutlery, and – most of all – bulk quantities of whole and 2% milk.
Eager to help, Jan started researching a way to procure bulk quantities of milk. She called several local dairy farmers to ask for help, but quickly discovered that most farms outsource their bottling operations. This was a challenge since she needed to buy pasteurized milk for direct distribution to families.
Serendipitously, in early April the local ABC affiliate (Channel 7) aired an afternoon news segment about local dairy farmers struggling because of the pandemic. Jan wrote down all the names as fast as she could and started calling that day. One of the first people on her list was Kilgus Farmstead in Fairbury, Illinois: the only family farm in Illinois with an on-site bottling facility. They were close-by (106 miles southwest of Chicago), willing to sell to Jan, and able to safely transport the refrigerated milk up to Evanston, IL once a week for a delivery fee. Kilgus Farmstead was the perfect partner for Milk Made!
With a supplier in place, Jan got to branding and logistics. She worked with a Jon Heiniger of Heiniger Design to create a logo that reflected the project’s graphic and straightforward mission – milk made, no elaborate frills. She also arranged for deliveries to be split between Evanston (for “For A Neighbor in Need”) and Englewood (for the Montessori school). While the generous grant from The Trotter Project funded the milk for the Montessori school, the rest of the milk was either self-funded by Jan or covered through individual donations.
Over the course of the spring and early summer, Milk Made donated 200 gallons of fresh milk per week for almost three months and provided more than 2,000 gallons of milk to Chicagoans in need. While all donations were provided on a “no questions asked” basis, milk went primarily to children and families who were nutritionally at-risk because of sudden school closures.
However, like all good things, Milk Made eventually ended. The program came to a natural close by early summer as quantities of milk became widely available and affordable again in the Chicagoland area.
Going Forward & How to Help
Even though Milk Made eventually ended, Jan is pleased with what they accomplished and the relief they provided in those critical, early weeks of the pandemic. She hopes the Milk Made project demonstrates a replicable model for the myriad of available opportunities to help others.
If you’re interested in starting your own project, Jan is available to share her experience and brainstorm ways to make your ideas and projects viable. To start, she recommends finding an actionable need in your community and then identifying your “superpowers.” You need to figure-out what’s needed, what you’re good at and, finally, how you’ll fund it. Once your project gets underway, Jan says the absolute most important thing is communication: talk to your teammates, your suppliers, your recipients, everyone – keep those lines of communication open! If you would like to talk to Jan more about Milk Made or any other project, you can reach her at jan@janannedubinconsulting.com.
If you’d rather get involved with an already-existing project, Jan recommends the following Chicago-based organizations:
1) For a Neighbor in Need (via Soul & Smoke and Feast & Imbibe)
Donate to “For a Neighbor in Need” to fund delivery of pre-packed, no-contact meals to your Evanston neighbors impacted by COVID-19. You can also pay for meal delivery to a specific person.
2) Streetwise
Streetwise provides employment opportunities for Chicagoans experiencing homelessness or poverty. You can support their work by buying a magazine, donating money or supplies, or volunteering.
Click here to learn more and get involved.
3) Greater Chicago Food Depository
As a result of COVID-19, millions of Americans are newly food insecure or hungry. To help alleviate this burden in the Chicago area, consider volunteering at or donating to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Click here to learn more and get involved.
Resources
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
2. https://www.streetwise.org/support/20-most-inspiring-chicagoans/2019-honorees/Dubin-anne-dubin/
3. https://www.legalsales.org/Resources/Documents/Dubin%20AnneDubin%20Biography.pdf
4. https://www.lifecrosstraining.com/blog/Dubin-anne-dubin-20-most-inspiring-chicagoans