Dixie Eggs Company sends 300,000 eggs to Second Harvest to help with critical food shortage, spiking demand
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The inventory of shelf-stable and perishable food in the Second Harvest North Florida warehouse is at its lowest level in more than two years as a result of spiking demand by families struggling to make ends meet. To help, Dixie Egg Company responded with a generous donation of more than 300,000 Grade A brown eggs to provide an important boost of protein-rich food.
The eggs arrived at the Second Harvest warehouse on Thursday, Aug. 16, and distribution to the Second Harvest network of more than 500 nonprofit agencies began shortly after their arrival. Thursday’s shipment arrived in the form of 22 pallets, presented by Dixie Egg Company President Jacques Klempf.
"This donation is incredibly generous," Second Harvest Executive Director Bruce Ganger said. "And the timing couldn't be better. This time of year tends be our most difficult each year because of the increase in demand during the summer months. Food drives decrease. It leaves us in a difficult position to feed the thousands of families that depend on our services to get by. Dixie Egg Company heard of our challenges, and it responded in a big way. We can't thank them enough."
Fresh eggs are always a prized item for food banks due to their dense nutritional and high protein content, but they are also one of the hardest food categories for food banks to acquire.
A record number of Americans are currently relying on food assistance. More than 342,000 individuals in the Second Harvest service area are deemed to be “food insecure” – which means they might not be hungry, but they also don’t know when they will eat again. Of that total, 117,000 are children.
Second Harvest is on pace to distribute a record 24 million pounds of food in 2012 – the equivalent of 20 million meals. The food bank distributed 20.1 million pounds in 2011.
Dixie Egg Company’s is a third-generation farm with corporate headquarters in Jacksonville.
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