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Wisconsin Donating 17,000 Pounds of Cheese to Storm-Battered Houston

Twenty-six Wisconsin cheese companies are sending the donations to Houston’s largest food bank.
Image: Wisconsin cheese is loaded onto a truck for people affected by Harvey
Wisconsin cheese is loaded onto a truck for people affected by Harvey. Wisconsin cheese companies have donated over 17,000 lbs. of cheese.Courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

There’s one thing Texans hit hard by Hurricane Harvey won’t have to worry about: cheese.

Twenty-six Wisconsin cheese companies are donating 17,000 pounds of the “comfort food” to the Houston’s largest food bank, said Suzanne Fanning, vice president of the state’s Milk Marketing Board, NBC affiliate WMTV first reported.

"It's a very small thing for us to do with what they're facing,” she told the station. “But let's face it: cheese is comfort food. It makes you happy. If we can bring a little bit of happiness to the folks down there then that's what we want to do.”

The shipment, which will include everything from string cheese to cheese curds, as well as 300 pounds of butter, is expected to arrive in Houston on Thursday, according to WMTV.

Related: Harvey Threatens to Tip Houston’s Working Poor Into Destitution

After making landfall in Texas, the storm battered Houston as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving 29 dead in Harris County, which includes the city of 2.3 million, the medical examiner said Saturday.

Image: Wisconsin cheese is loaded onto a truck for people affected by Harvey
Wisconsin cheese is loaded onto a truck for people affected by Harvey. Wisconsin cheese companies have donated over 17,000 lbs. of cheese.Courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said it caused major damage to more than 13,000 mobile and multi-family homes in the county.

Federal officials, meanwhile, have said the total number of homes impacted by the storm tops 100,000. Nearly half a million households have registered for aid with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.