A California egg producer has donated 324,000 eggs in partnership with several regional food banks to support fire victims.
Rosemary Farms, a producer based out of Santa Maria, partnered with its sister farm in South Dakota to make the donation possible to both “Gather For Good” and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
A mixture of the recent Eaton and Palisades fires alongside ongoing price hikes at the grocery store have placed extensive strain on SoCal food banks who are having trouble keeping up with the demand.
“When you look at the average pounds of food going out sort of year over year, we’re able to compare this January and February to last year’s January and February and we’re seeing about a 35% increase,” said David May, LA Regional Food Bank director of marketing and communications.
Among rising prices, no item has been hit harder than eggs as hatcheries around the nation grapple with the ongoing bird flu epidemic.
Rosemary Farms Bakersfield location was no expectation.
“Our Bakersfield location, where we had 50,000 hens and pullets, was unfortunately decimated by the avian flu in the Month of December,” said Linda Sanpei, a Rosemary Farms representative.
The shortages have forced many retailers, including Trade Joes and Costco to impose customer purchase limits, and restaurants to raise their prices of egg-based dishes.
“We’re very grateful to Rosemary Farms for the donation of eggs, especially at this time when those are so valuable and so rare to come by,” said May. “It’s really important that we’re providing nutritious food into the community, not just fighting hunger, but we’re also fighting nutrition insecurity.”
Rosemary Farms intends to donate another 240,000 eggs to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank next month.
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