According to founder and CEO Chad Butters of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, New Tripoli, the company has teamed up with Parkland C.A.R.E.S. Food Pantry to help address food insecurity in the Lehigh Valley.

“At the heart of everything we do is our commitment to help make our community a better place,” Butters said on Jan. 28. “With the graduation of Wargo, the service dog we sponsored, we wrapped up our partnership with Tails of Valor.

“We were looking for a new nonprofit to support and Parkland C.A.R.E.S. Food Pantry was a perfect fit.”

Katrina E. Sundstrom, executive director at Parkland C.A.R.E.S. Food Pantry said she is excited about the partnership,

“A community is made stronger when those who share a passion for making a difference come together,” Sundstrom said. “We are honored to partner with Eight Oaks and look forward to working together to serve families struggling with hunger.”

Parkland C.A.R.E.S. Food Pantry joins the Cancer Support Community of Greater Lehigh Valley and Farmer Veteran Coalition as the third nonprofit organization Eight Oaks’ customers can support when they make a purchase at Eight Oaks Farm Distillery.

“When a customer makes a purchase at any of our locations they can choose to support one of our nonprofit partners, and that organization will receive 50 cents from every sale,” Butters said. “It’s a powerful way for us to show our support for these nonprofits that mean so much to us, and for our customers to feel good about supporting a cause that’s important to them as well.”

In addition to donating dollars, Eight Oaks also plans to donate time each month to hand out food and have a monthly food drive at the Farm Distillery and Kitchen.

Butters said it’s a great way to also partner with their customers.

“Each month, members of our crew will help handout food at the food pantry and, at our Farm Distillery and Kitchen, we will focus on a different food item each month and ask customers to bring in that item when they visit,” he said.

It did not take long for the power of community to happen thanks to the generosity of Timi Bauscher of The Nesting Box.

“Timi is amazing and when I told her what we were doing,” Butters said. “She wanted to get involved and immediately committed to providing 150 cartons of eggs each month for the remainder of 2021.

“That’s the power of businesses coming together to be forces for good in the community.”

Thanks to the generosity of its customers, Eight Oaks has raised nearly $19,000 for its nonprofit partners.

To learn more about the Cancer Support Community of Greater Lehigh Valley, go tocancersupportglv.org; to learn about Farmer Veteran Coalition, go to farmvetco.org; and to learn more about Parkland C.A.R.E.S. Food Pantry go to parklandcaresfp.org.