Egg donations help Ontario food banks

The annual egg donation Thousands of locally produced eggs are on their way to foodbanks across Ontario. CTV London's Scott Miller reports.

It’s an egg assembly line outside Gray Ridge Egg Farms processing facility in Listowel.

Volunteers with the Listowel Salvation Army are here to pick up free eggs, produced by local egg farmers, for their Christmas hamper program.

“We're happy to donate 310 dozen eggs to the Salvation Army. Egg Farmers of Ontario have been a sponsor to the Salvation Army since at least 2017,” says Listowel area egg producer, Tonya Haverkamp.

The annual egg donation comes at an important time for the local food bank, who have seen a 30 per cent increase in demand this year alone.

“We had 310 families applying for a Christmas hampers, which was up from, I think it was around 270 last year. So, the need is really great, and it's so fantastic that we have farmers from this agricultural area that we live in, stepping up to help out. We really have a lot of farmers who step up in many ways,” says Carolyn Saunders, food bank coordinator for the Listowel Salvation Army.

This donation in Listowel is part of an annual donation from the Egg Farmers of Ontario, going back to 2015, that’s seen 14.5 million eggs donated to over 135 Ontario food banks. That’s over one million eggs donated each year.

“Eggs are such a great, versatile product that you can use for so many different things. And everybody says yes to them,” says Saunders. “Whether it's a breakfast casserole in the morning on Christmas Day, or they can get some extra Christmas baking done for their family, it's important for us to always give back,” says Haverkamp.