Thompson repeatedly connected school milk policy to the economic survival of rural America

EAST EARL, Pa. — The applause came often Monday evening at Shady Maple Smorgasbord, and the loudest moments were not for politics, but for persistence.

Nearly 100 people gathered May 11 in East Earl, Pennsylvania for this celebration and fundraiser honoring Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Pa.), the House Agriculture Committee Chairman credited with championing the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids movement from frustration to victory.

The crowd reflected the long arc of that effort — dairy farmers, service providers, industry leaders, grassroots advocates, local officials, and families, including some who have attended similar gatherings and fundraisers through years of setbacks, and others attending for the first time now that whole and flavored whole milk are officially returning to schools.

Like the movement itself, the evening carried a distinctly personal feel as Bernie Morrissey, at nearly 90 years old, ran the show. He gave the gathering the faith-filled touch longtime attendees have come to expect — blending policy talk, personal stories, humor, hymns, and prayer into what felt at times more like a revival than a political fundraiser.

Before the meal, Bernie sang “The Lord’s Prayer.” Later, before any talk of policy, he led the room in singing “Walk with Me,” and closed the gathering with “How Great Thou Art.”

“We walk with God every day of our lives,” he told attendees while reflecting on the nearly 17-year push to restore the whole milk option in schools.

He described the effort not as a campaign, but as a movement. Or, as GT later joked from the podium, a “mooovement.”

“We finished up the first phase,” Bernie said. “Now we’re on to phase two.”

Phase two shifts toward implementation — getting whole milk into schools and helping districts navigate the cost and overcome vendor hurdles with refrigerated milk dispensers capable of serving ice cold whole milk that attracts students’ attention to this new (old) option they’ve not had in nearly two decades.

This reporter and grassroots advocate briefly outlined Pennsylvania efforts involving dairy organizations, lawmakers, and agriculture groups working together toward state pilot funding for milk dispensers in schools.

State Rep. John Lawrence of Chester County also addressed the crowd, recalling his dairy farm roots and warning that younger generations have grown up without knowing what real milk tastes like.

However, the night belonged to GT, who spoke with the familiarity of someone addressing longtime friends, recounting the journey before the movement gained national traction.

“I never even came up with the idea that we wouldn’t get this done,” he told the crowd. “Even back when there were maybe six of us in the country that believed it could be done.”

Now, he said, the fight has moved from possibility to reality. GT announced USDA’s recently published implementation language clarifying that unflavored and flavored whole milk can be served across all meal programs, not just school lunch, covering breakfast, lunch, snacks, after-school programs, and special events.

He does not intend for that victory to remain vulnerable to future administrations.

“I’m an Article 1 guy,” GT said. “I believe we ought to legislate and make things permanent.”

That permanence, he explained, is tied to provisions he included in the pending farm bill that will codify whole milk authority into law across all school meal programs.

“I appreciate what the executive branch did,” he said, “but quite frankly, we’re putting it into law.”

Those gathered responded repeatedly throughout the evening with hearty applause, particularly as GT detailed the path the legislation traveled from repeated setbacks to eventual passage.

“Farmers are falling like flies,” Bernie recalled the words GT said to him on an unexpected call in 2016. The two would go on to become close allies in the effort.

During an extended question-and-answer session, he repeatedly connected school milk policy to the economic survival of rural America.

“If agriculture, specifically dairy farming, is the driving economic base, it’s just crazy that a rural school doesn’t jump on this bandwagon,” he said, arguing stronger dairy demand ultimately benefits entire rural economies. “It will put a fire, in a positive way, underneath the economy in those rural communities.”

On a lighter note, GT talked about the signing ceremony in January, when President Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act into law. The White House staff called his office asking if he had dairy-themed items they could use as props.

He loaned them an antique Thompson Dairy milk jug from his office collection. It was no relation to his family’s former dairy farm, but represented the last operating bottler in downtown Washington D.C.

After the ceremony, a White House aide handed him the jug for a photo.

“I said, ‘Let’s go one better, let’s put this on video,’ and I chugged it, only to think afterwards, there might have been 100 years’ worth of who-knows-what in that jug. But it was good cold whole milk,” GT related. “Whole milk heals!”

The room responded with laughter, but the underlying message remained serious as whole milk’s return represented more than nutrition policy. It was also recognition of dairy farmers and rural communities that often felt ignored.

The congressman also discussed the next phase of agricultural policy battles in Washington, including workforce reform and the farm bill that passed the House in the most bipartisan vote since 2008 now heading to the Senate with the unsettled debate over EPA vs. individual state pesticide labeling.

“There is a real emotional element,” GT said, “but health, like everything else, has to be based in science.”

Within weeks, he said, a discussion draft addressing H-2A agricultural labor reform is expected, expanding workforce access for year-round agriculture including dairy farming and for processing: “Without workforce, we don’t have production, and we don’t have processing.”

During audience discussion, GT also praised the educational outreach being done through 97 MILK, noting the materials and presentations produced by volunteers help parents and school communities better understand the nutritional and economic importance of whole milk, and the realization that the education work is really just beginning.

Even with the policy discussion, the evening never drifted far from its deeper themes of faith, gratitude, and endurance.

Bernie repeatedly referred to GT as “our leader” and “our champion,” while GT redirected credit back toward the farmers, organizations, and families who stayed engaged through years when success seemed distant in the face of prior disappointment.

By evening’s end, as attendees stood together singing “How Great Thou Art,” the gathering felt less like a political fundraiser and more like a faith-filled reunion with hope of a brighter future.

Additional coverage, including remarks by other speakers, further discussion on school implementation efforts, and acknowledgment of Bernie’s co-hosts for the evening will appear in future editions of Farmshine.

A related article appears here: https://farmshine.news/?p=4016.