Dairy Farmers donates $500,000 to Ontario children’s hospitals

Who: Dairy Farmers of Ontario

What: The marketing board will donate $500,000 to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and other Ontario children’s hospitals.

Those include McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, Children’s Hospital in London and CHEO in Ottawa.

Since 2019, Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) has donated over $2 million through its Milk & Cookies holiday campaign to support initiatives for families spending the holidays in Ontario children's hospitals.

This year, DFO has also created Santa Milk-O-Grams for patients who cannot be home for the holidays. These care packages include an activity to prepare for Santa's arrival on Christmas Eve, including a customizable milk bottle, milk coupons, a holiday card to decorate and a plush toy.

"Through this donation to SickKids and other Ontario children's hospitals, Ontario dairy farmers are able to show how important it is to give back and nourish the communities we live and work in," said Cheryl Smith, chief executive of DFO, in a statement. "With our new Milk-o-Grams, we hope families who are unable to be home for the holidays can also share in the joy and tradition of leaving milk and cookies for Santa."