BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) Vermont food banks have donations on the way thanks to Rotarian clubs around the Green Mountain State.
The Agency of Agriculture reached out to state Rotary clubs, looking for help with Dairy Recovery and Food Assistance Program efforts.

The Agency needed $10,000 to reach the funding goal for the program, and a handful of Vermont Rotary clubs stepped up to help raise and deliver the funds in less than two weeks.

The program converted excess dairy milk into 48,000 cups of yogurt, more than 11,500 gallons of milk, and hundreds of additional pounds of butter.

It is all going to local food shelves.

"This benefits Vermont farmers," said Brattleboro Rotary Club member, Martin Cohn. "It benefits the kids that're in the summer program, and it benefits food-insecure families; this is a win, win, win scenario."

Meanwhile, the Colchester/Milton Rotary Club has also helped raise funds.

It normally host food drives during the month of May, but could not do so this year because of the pandemic.

So members started fundraising through community donations for local food banks instead. And after only a month, they were able to raise more than $9,000 -- going directly to local food banks.

Club president, Aaron Glosser said the donations are crucial during this pandemic.

"You know this pandemic has hit really hard. Food insecurity is up tremendously in numbers that we haven't seen in over a decade," Glosser said.