By Taylor Hale
STEVENS POINT — Some businesses become more than just a place to buy goods.

Feltz Family Farms has been in Portage County for over 100 years, and when they opened their store selling their products four years ago, they instantly began looking for ways to give back.
“We know we wanted to donate and didn’t want to turn anyone down, but the first year we had a lot of new business expenses,” said Jake Feltz.

After their first year, the family-owned shop made a partnership with the non-profit Operation Bootstrap, donating their older products that were rotated out for local families in need. Operation Bootstrap is a volunteer-based organization for people in need in Stevens Point.

“They come once a week and pick up anything that’s ready,” Feltz said. “It’s a win-win, they get products that are still good and we get the space to put out the fresh stuff on our shelves.”

Feltz said that some weeks the shop donates as much as 200 pounds of food products including cheeses and other dairy products, and up to 15 gallons of milk.

“Some weeks we don’t have as much to give and it’s down to around 20-30 pounds,” Feltz said. “It varies by how much we sell week to week before things aren’t as fresh as we would like them.”

Feltz said they work hard to make their products, and they want someone to benefit from their foods, whether they make a profit or not.

“It’s a healthy product, we definitely want it to get in the hands of people who need it,” Feltz says. “Years ago there were just farms dumping milk when they didn’t need it.”

Feltz’s Dairy Store, 5796 Porter Dr., celebrated its fourth anniversary on June 5. The shop also started making cheese curds daily since May, just in time for June Dairy Month. Feltz said that as the farm and shop expand, they hope to continue their charitable efforts.

“As you add more years and more customer base, you get a lot more room to work with,” Feltz said. “We are getting more experience under our belt and we will start to have more resources to start helping everyone out.”

To learn more about Feltz’s Dairy Store, visit: feltzsdairystore.com.